I Would Like To Thank Vietnam...

[penguin]

I must have a gaurdian angel from Zagat, because what sheer coincidence.

Yesterday, I had to go to my local copy place to pick up some printed materials for work. When I got there, the copies were wrong, so they had to be redone. Normally, we have this stuff delivered, but I schlepped over there because I had to go to the other office to do what I needed to do with the copies. I'd never been to this copy shop before. So I had about a half hour to kill.

I noticed a little vietnamese place in the same strip mall and wondered, hey, I wonder if I can eat Vietnamese food. I went in there and talked to the owner guy, who was manning the counter, and I asked about wheat. He said they don't even have wheat in the place, that EVERYTHING was made with rice, and they never use soy sauce in anything. They keep it around for the americans, but they don't cook with it. He was actually almost insulted that I thought they might. He said that "people like you" ie: celiacs eat there all the time. I can walk in there and eat anything off the menu.

Awesome. So even though I had already gotten a smoothie at Jamba Juice for lunch, I got a chicken and noodle thing. IT WAS EXCELLENT! The rice vermicelli was so good, the chicken was yummy, and I wasn't glutened! YAY!!! I called DH as I was eating it I was so excited!

I <3 Vietnamese food!

Check into your local restaurants, people!

[Nancym]

Thai food is similar to that. In fact, that whole SE asian area has lot of good food choices for us folks. I'm such a huge fan of the cuisine of that region!

[jerseyangel]

Wow--I never knew that! Good to know--thanks

[Carriefaith]

That's great news! Do they cook with dairy too?

[penguin]

That's great news! Do they cook with dairy too?

I'll look at the menu when I get home, but I think most of their stuff is dairy free, as well. I don't think milk is used much in asian cooking.

[Carriefaith]

Sweet... I would love to eat in a restaurant that had no gluten and was relatively dairy free.

[jerseyangel]

I know--no dairy or gluten in the whole place!! I'll have to get busy and find one here.

[kontrabass]

Has anyone had any bad luck with Vietnamese noodle soup (pho)? I ate some last night, thinking it had to be safe with clear broth, rice noodles, beef, and herbs... but man, I'm in the middle of a full-on gluten reaction now. :`-( Any ideas what might be the culprit? This reaction is more than a little cross-contamination, I think.

[penguin]

Has anyone had any bad luck with Vietnamese noodle soup (pho)? I ate some last night, thinking it had to be safe with clear broth, rice noodles, beef, and herbs... but man, I'm in the middle of a full-on gluten reaction now. :`-( Any ideas what might be the culprit? This reaction is more than a little cross-contamination, I think.

Some restaurants might pander to American tastes and use soy sauce with/instead of fish sauce. You always have to ask. Look for the owner to have a heavy accent and a clear dislike for wheat and everything wheat related

Sweet... I would love to eat in a restaurant that had no gluten and was relatively dairy free.

I looked over the menu and the only dairy I could see was sweetened condensed milk in coffee and tea. Everything else seemed dairy free, unless I missed something.

I ate there 3 times last week! I'm going today for the SUPER YUMMY egg rolls!

[Mango04]

Has anyone had any bad luck with Vietnamese noodle soup (pho)? I ate some last night, thinking it had to be safe with clear broth, rice noodles, beef, and herbs... but man, I'm in the middle of a full-on gluten reaction now. :`-( Any ideas what might be the culprit? This reaction is more than a little cross-contamination, I think.

Yes, I had pho with just rice noodles, broth and veggies and it made me SICK. They assured me there was no soy sauce or anything like that. I have no idea what it was...

[JenAnderson]

YAY!!!!! Anyone know of one between Baltimore and DC?

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Has anyone had any bad luck with Vietnamese noodle soup (pho)? I ate some last night, thinking it had to be safe with clear broth, rice noodles, beef, and herbs... but man, I'm in the middle of a full-on gluten reaction now. :`-( Any ideas what might be the culprit? This reaction is more than a little cross-contamination, I think.

If they use a commercially prepared beef or vegetable "base" (it comes as a condensed paste) for the broth, it might be thickened with wheat starch. If they make their own broth, it should be okay.

[breavenewworld]

did you ask specifically if they had MSG??

also did they put fish sauce in the broth, usually they don't but there is ONE brand of cheap fish sauce that uses wheat, the rest are just fermented fish and salt

i'm in vietnam right now for work and got the enterolab results email right when i got here. i'm pretty lucky to go gluten-free in this country huh!

[doughboy]

I'd like to add to this revived thread. Pho has rice noodles which though made of rice flour, might be coated with wheat flour to separate the noodle during the packaging so that it doesn't stick. Not all noodles used in pho has wheat flour as a "separator" - a particular brand (I forget) uses rice flour instead. The only way to find out is to check the plastic packaging at your pho/vietnamese restaurant.

[breavenewworld]

ya and they could put that chicken powder flavoring stuff in it thinking it's just chicken but sometimes that stuff has wheat and they dont know - happened to me when i ate pho but yeah the rice noodles thing is a little scary cause they dont know if they supplier dusts them with wheat or not...