My Wife.....funny Story.

[GeoffCJ]

My wife is Chinese/Vietnamese, born in Vietnam, raised in the San Gabriel Valley in CA, and her family is very traditional, they eat just chinese or vietnamese food, speak Chinese at home, etc, etc.

When we first started dating, and I started spending time with her family, I remember giving her a hard time about her family always eating rice. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Pretty much every day. I remember asking her "don't you get bored with rice? Doesn't your family ever want a pizza or pasta or mexican food sometime? "

Now I eat more rice than her. She and her brother were teasing me the other day, saying that my new diet was karmic retribution for giving her a hard time.

=>

Her family has been great. Vietnamese food is great for Celiacs, and Po-Po (grandma), who I share no language with, always watches out for me by talking to the cooks and servers at the Vietnamese places. Po-po was super excited when she found gluten free Soy Sauce for cooking at home, and is really careful to use clean pots and pans.

Geoff

[jerseyangel]

Hi Geoff, and welcome!

What a great story--your wife and her family sound like such wonderful people, and Po-Po is taking very good care of you! So sweet

[Guhlia]

Your wife's family sounds amazing!

[kbabe1968]

Awwww!!! LOL

so....what's the name of the gluten-free soy sauce?

[larry mac]

Awwww!!! LOL

so....what's the name of the gluten-free soy sauce?

Please excuse me for jumping in here. This post reminded me of a soy sauce I bought a couple weeks ago and hadn't tasted yet. So I just did and it seems really good. It's Eden Organic Tamari Soy sauce, naturally brewed. It says it is the type of soy sauce that is characterized as wheat free, mash brewed for six months. Ingredients: water, organic soybeans, sea salt, alcohol (to preserve freshness), koji {soybeans are innoculated with this, whatever it is - lm}. It's made in Michigan.

I've always been extremely particular to Kikkomans, and this is close, I think.

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

hey Geoff,

Is there any way you can post what the Grandma says in Vietnemese to the restaurant folks.

I would love to be able to eat at a Vietmanese place, but have been afraid to do so due to the language barrier.

This way, I could print out what she says and take it in with me.

Thanks

BB

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Hi Geoff,

Welcome to the forum! I love your story, that's cute . I always get teased by my martial arts students, too, because I'm not only teaching it, I'm pretty much living it, cause rice is a good alternative and cheap.

hey Geoff,

Is there any way you can post what the Grandma says in Vietnemese to the restaurant folks.

I would love to be able to eat at a Vietmanese place, but have been afraid to do so due to the language barrier.

This is a great idea.

Stef

[Viola 1]

That is funny, the turn around in diets And you have such a wonderful family!

[happygirl]

Geoff, That is a great story! Thanks for sharing. Having a supportive family makes such a difference, in my opinion.

kbabe: one of the most popular gluten free soy sauces is made by San-J. They have a regular and no sodium version for us Celiacs . They also make "regular" ones so be careful to grab the right one. They all have different colored labels. I have found it at places like Whole Foods, regular grocery stores, and specialty health food stores.

[GeoffCJ]

It's Eden Organic Tamari Soy sauce, naturally brewed.

That's the one Po-po found too. She says it's almost as good as the stuff she normally buys.

[GeoffCJ]

Is there any way you can post what the Grandma says in Vietnemese to the restaurant folks.

I would love to be able to eat at a Vietmanese place, but have been afraid to do so due to the language barrier.

I'll see what I can do. It might be tough, since I don't know how well anyone in the family writes in Vietnamese, but I'll try. Between my wife, mom-in-law, and Po-Po, we should be able to get it done.

Geoff

[kbtoyssni]

Awwww!!! LOL

so....what's the name of the gluten-free soy sauce?

LaChoy is also gluten-free.

[missy'smom]

It says it is the type of soy sauce that is characterized as wheat free, mash brewed for six months. Ingredients: water, organic soybeans, sea salt, alcohol (to preserve freshness), koji {soybeans are innoculated with this, whatever it is - lm}. It's made in Michigan.

I'm not questioning the gluten free status of your soy sauce, just providing some information.

Koji yeast is "A natural sweetener, known as an important ingredient for sake. Rice, barley, soy beans, or bran are steamed and then fermented with aspergilli, which changes the starch in such grains into a glucide."

This comes from a Japanese cookbook that I have. I just share this info. because if you or others do research into Japanese or other asian products it may come up. It is found in products other than sake, as you have found.

Your comment stuck in my mind when I read your post a while back because I had come across this ingredient and was trying to find out what it or the process was.

[AliceW]

[eleep]

Isn't most sake distilled? If they don't add the mash back in afterwards, it should be safe.

[AliceW]

Isn't most sake distilled? If they don't add the mash back in afterwards, it should be safe.

I really hope this is true, because I adore sake!

Also, does anyone know if this issue affects the safety of miso, too? I think miso uses starter cultures too. I wish I could find a guide to the gluten status of asian foods, because I love them and have been mostly afraid to eat them since starting my gluten-free diet.

Anyone have any thoughts??

Alice

[missy'smom]

One of the issues I'm trying to check up on in Japanese food is the presence of barley. There is a barley tea called mugicha(mugi meaning barley and cha meaning tea). To be able to say that all miso is safe would be difficult because some are made with barley(mugi miso) or mixed grains. This particular one is from a certain region in Japan. These two examples are not widely used in the U.S. but there are so many different kinds of miso. Also sake lees are used in some products and dishes, but they may be things that I use or used to eat at restaurants that the general public in the U.S. doesn't run into. (I used to live in N.Y. and L.A. where there is a wide variety of Japanese food) Still, it's better to be aware of it so that's why I share it. It's important, I think to ask about barley, not just wheat or soy sauce when checking out Japanese food. Im also trying to understand some of the processes to help determine the safety.

[missy'smom]

Hi Geoff welcome to the boards. Thank you for sharing your story. You are a lucky man. There is a Vietnamese restaurant near my home and the owner is wiling to work with me but I need to learn more about the ingredients first and get some dining cards.

[Amica]

hey Geoff,

Is there any way you can post what the Grandma says in Vietnemese to the restaurant folks.

I would love to be able to eat at a Vietmanese place, but have been afraid to do so due to the language barrier.

This way, I could print out what she says and take it in with me.

Thanks

BB

If anyone is looking to eat ethnic food at a restaurant (or even travel) The Gluten Free Bible has a "Celiac Card" printed in many different languages in the back of the book. You could easily copy them for the chef to get the process started!