Ohio Gluten Free?

[JayT]

I am the Central Ohio contact for the Celiac Disease Foundation. Whole Foods has asked me to host a fun and interactive (very casual) event once per month in Columbus, Ohio. Is anyone interested in participating?

[casnco]

I am the Central Ohio contact for the Celiac Disease Foundation. Whole Foods has asked me to host a fun and interactive (very casual) event once per month in Columbus, Ohio. Is anyone interested in participating?

JayT, I am definitely interested. Can you give some details? Are looking for help planning or just participants? I have been to wine tastings at Whole Foods which were nice, but all of the appetizers were loaded with gluten. I would love to participate in a cooking class but have never ventured to do so because of the gluten issue. So let me know what is happening and when and I will be there. I will probably drag along some friends and family.

[standyk]

I am the Central Ohio contact for the Celiac Disease Foundation. Whole Foods has asked me to host a fun and interactive (very casual) event once per month in Columbus, Ohio. Is anyone interested in participating?

Yes, I would come. I am only about 40 miles away from Columbus. We have a local support group and there may be more that would come also!

Let us know! Thanks! -Sandy

[wolfie]

Oooh!! I love Whole Foods!! Both my son & I eat gluten-free and I am always interested in new stuff!

[mmaccartney]

I might be able to make it. I'm east of cleveland so its about 2.5 hrs....however I have freinds in Columbus that I haven't seen in about 6 months....

[kb8ogn]

I'm a little south of Cleveland and approx. 2 hours from Columbus. I would be interested but participation could be questionable based on my schedule.

Thanks for asking.

Shelli

[kara7]

I would also be interested. I am very new with gluten free. It would be nice to go to an event to help me keep on track, as long as my schedule alows it.

Kara

[Jim B.]

I am the Central Ohio contact for the Celiac Disease Foundation. Whole Foods has asked me to host a fun and interactive (very casual) event once per month in Columbus, Ohio. Is anyone interested in participating?

[Jim B.]

I am the Central Ohio contact for the Celiac Disease Foundation. Whole Foods has asked me to host a fun and interactive (very casual) event once per month in Columbus, Ohio. Is anyone interested in participating?

I moved to Columbus, OH from Chicago, IL nine months ago. I would be interested in attending an event in Columbus, but

I do not drive (seizures - could be related to gluten intolerance). Unless it is in the city, I will not be able to attend. The buses in Columbus take forever to get anywhere and don't run often enough to make public transportation convenient.

I have been gluten free for two years. It was a struggle trying to figure out what I could/could not eat, but my symptoms have finally been eliminated and I feel better than I have in a decade. A meeting would be a great place to share info.

[casnco]

I am the Central Ohio contact for the Celiac Disease Foundation. Whole Foods has asked me to host a fun and interactive (very casual) event once per month in Columbus, Ohio. Is anyone interested in participating?

Hey JayT, just wondering if anything ever came of the Whole Foods activity? I have been watching when they send me the email of events. Hope I havent missed it.

Debbie

[jesse]

hey,

where can i eat in columbus that is gluten free?

im gonna be coming in there sometime over the 18th and 19th of May and just would like to go somewhere advisable.

please email me if you have any good idea's....

peace and thanx in advance,

jdog

[Cheri A]

Any Buckeyes around??

We will be traveling to Cedar Point Amusement park in July. Are there any good restaurants near there that are good about catering to gluten-free??

Thanks!

[Guest Ashley88]

I am the Central Ohio contact for the Celiac Disease Foundation. Whole Foods has asked me to host a fun and interactive (very casual) event once per month in Columbus, Ohio. Is anyone interested in participating?

Yes I'm very interested in attending. I've only been on the diet about 3 weeks, any info is very helpful. I just got diagnosed in the middle of may and its been a nightmare trying to find gluten-free in my small town. I live an hour from columbus

Ashley

[Cheri A]

Since noone posted a reply to my ? about restaurants near Cedar Point in Sandusky OH, I thought I'd post an update in case anyone is looking in the future.

Three words... Great Wolf Lodge! We stayed there because the rates were reasonable compared to the outrageous rates of the resorts on site at CP. They also have a water park that the kids really enjoyed a lot! I called ahead before making reservations and spoke to a head chef who told me that they could definitely accomodate all of the my dd's needs. They were WONDERFUL! He went over all that they could make for her. Everything was so easy! The first vacation I've had from food in 8 years!!

BTW, Cedar Point NEVER called me back. We chose not to eat anything there! Oh, we did get free water and splurged for a snow cone that fed 3 of us. It was HUGE!!

[pricer15]

Cheri,

Even though the Cedar Point website says there are no gluten-free foods in the park (in the FAQ section), there is hope. This was posted recently on the ICORS listserv. Very helpful. I will be filing it for our next Ohio visit to Grandma and Granpa in Tiffin, OH.

Cheryl in Colorado

Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:37:18 -0500

Subject: S: CedarPoint in Sandusky OH

Last week I asked for gluten free eating experiences at Cedar Point Roller

Coaster/Amusement Park and received some very helpful responses. One in

particular gave me the name of Gary Jones, executive director and manager of

food services in the park. I emailed him and the following is his response,

the rest of the summary will follow Gary's email. Thanks to everyone who

helped!!!

Janet L.

Nashville

FROM GARY JONES:

In answer to your questions:

-At Burger Patio, the frier is dedicated.

-The Burgers at Johnny Rockets are safe...they are the ones that are 100%

angus beef!

-We do not have any gluten free Corn Dogs yet be we are diligently working

on that.

-I am not sure if Chick-Fil-A has dedicated fryers but will try to look into

that for you today.

***I found out that the fryers at Chick-Fil-A are dedicated. They only fry

the french fries in them.

-Yes, you can bring a small soft sided cooler into the park. If you have any

difficulties at admissions, just give them my name and/or have them call me

so that I can verify that with them.

-We have a flame broiled chicken breast at Skyride Refreshments that is

Gluten Free.

-Most flavors of Dip-N-Dots Ice cream are gluten free with the exception of

-Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. There are dedicated

scoops for each flavor so cross-contamination should not be an issue.

If you have any further questions, please give me a call.

Sincerely,

Gary J. Jones

Manager of Development, Standards & Safety

Food Service Division

Cedar Point Amusement Park

One Cedar Point Dr.

Sandusky, Ohio 44870

419.627.2315

419.627.2130 (fax)

gjones@cedarpoint.com

SUMMARY #1:

Call me crazy but I'm planning on taking my 3 girls AND 3 of their friends

to Cedar Point Aug. 6-8. There may not be enough beer in the park to help

me!! Anyway, i emailed CP about their gluten-free food choices (if any) for

Mollie (age 11). Much to my surprise, I got a call from Gary Jones,

executive director and manager of food services in the park. He was SO

extremely helpful and has researched gluten-free food, Celiac Disease, and other

allergans that folks have for the past two years. It was very apparent that

he was knowledgable about gluten-free foods and cross contamination issues. In fact,

he is trying very hard to put together a gluten-free food section of the park and

they are very close to doing it (has already found wonderful gluten-free

hamburger/hotdog buns from a company in NY and pizza crusts!)! He told me

that there is rarely a day that goes by that he does not get a call from

someone that has celiac disease or needs a gluten free diet!!!

He gave me a list of food places in the park that have fries in designated

oil (about 5 locations!), pure angus beef hamburgers, grilled chicken,

dip-n-dots (except for two flavors). He asked me to go to a food service

location and ask to have him paged so he could meet us too. He was just so

helpful and NOW i know we will have a wonderful time! Mollie is thrilled

(at least she will not be throwing up from the food, and hopefully not from

the roller coasters either! ha!)

I told him i would share this with all of you and he would like for all of

us to send him emails so that he may document all the folks NEEDING gluten-free food

so that he can continue to "work on" upper management to open a gluten-free section

in the park. He said it nearly happened last year and they even had it on

their website but at the last minute upper management got "cold feet". So

he is documenting all of his emails - he KNOWS there is a real need and this

Cedar Point (in Sandusky) is a flagship so if it happened there, it would

happen at all parks!

Just wanted to share this so all of us with kids and teens and even us

grown-ups can go and KNOW we can have an enjoyable time without worry of

food issues.

Here's Gary's email:

Gjones@cedarpoint.com

SUMMARY #2

We went last summer and stuck to the safe type things like plain burgers and

some chicken. My family had some fries from one of the fry places on the

main strip near the front - all they have at that stand is fries anyway. We

also had some chicken from a restaurant back in the Old Western town - it's

not too far from the train station and it was a buffet line, sit down place

with wagon wheel type decorations! (Obviously, I can't remember the name!).

We made sure to arrive at the park at around 9:30-9:45 am since they open at

10 usually. That way, we could get a close parking space. For one of our

meals, we just walked out to the car, turned on the air cond. and had an

"indoor picnic". This also helped save a lot of money since the food prices

are outrageous! Have a great visit.

SUMMARY #3

There is a Johnny Rocket at the park. When we were there I didn't know about

gluten-free at Johnny Rocket. The only thing I can remember having is corn on the

cob. Cat said I had FF somewhere but don't remember where. I did contact

the park and they were helpful.

SUMMARY #4

I was just at Cedar Point this May and have been there about 10 times since

going Gluten Free (16 years ago). I really didn't have any problems finding

gluten-free food. TGI Fridays (inside the Breakers Hotel), Famous Dave's and the

other full service restaurants have enough choices for me (mostly steaks and

salads but Famous Dave's has great ribs). Fresh fruit is available in the

park, along with popcorn, salads, beef hot dogs, nachos, turkey legs, etc.

I did bring a couple of gluten-free bars with me to snack on. Also, you can also

bring your own bread or bun for a hot dog, burger, etc. Have fun!

[Cheri A]

Hi Cheryl ~

Thanks for the information. I will keep that in mind if we go again. I guess "John" was not the person to leave a message for. He was who I was connected to and I forget his title now. I think I will send Gary my input and experience because they missed out on a lot of $$ because we chose not to eat there.