Tai/asian Restaurants

[lilliexx]

i am the kind of person that would rather stay home then have to bother the restaurants about gluten in the food. i do not feel comfortable asking questions and explaining gluten intolerence. so i thought a tai/vietnemies rest. would be fairly safe. but i have felt sick for the past two days.

i ordered vermicelli noodles with vegies, crushed peunuts, and fish sauce with fried tofu. and i didnt feel like this meal would be likely to contain gluten. i am sick now tho...so i'm thinking it has to be the tai food...arg

can anyone suggest some safe tai dishes to order in a restaurant?

[tarnalberry]

You're not really going to be able to get away with it without asking questions. The fish sauce may have contained gluten, and many of the other sauces may also have gluten, so you've just go to ask. :-(

[lovegrov]

I agree that it just can't be done without asking questions and talking to folks. Ask for the manager. The VAST majority of people are quite willing to help. The first chef I talked to after diagnosis told me that any chef worth his or her salt would see cooking for me as an interesting challenge.

Yes, the fish sauce and even the tofu could have had gluten.

Many Thai dishes SHOULD be gluten-free. I like Pad Thai, but it has fish sauce and COULD have soy sauce, although it shouldn't. Many Vietnamese dishes SHOULD be gluten-free (the last Vietnamese restaurant I went to the owner was almost insulted that that I would think he would use wheat), but as with Thai dishes, they sometimes alter them for Western tastes and that might add gluten. One I like a lot is Pho (pronounced something like fuh), bascially a huge bowl of soup with great stuff in it. But you have to make sure they haven't used a commercial stock with wheat.

Eating at a restaurant is risky enough, but if you go in and don't ask questions and don't explain your situation, you're going to get sick. I'm not real aggressive about it myself, but my wife sure is.

richard

[Boojca]

Aren't vermicelli noodles wheat based?

[lovegrov]

I know that Asian restaurants use rice ones. Not sure if there are wheat ones.

richard

[lilliexx]

they were definately rice noodles!! i didnt even think about the tofu maybe having gluten in it.

it was my first time eating out in the 2 months that i have been gluten-free. I dont really have a problem not eating in restaurants but friends always suggest eating out.

what should i say next time?? do you normally just ask if they use flour? or if the sauces have wheat??

i'm just wondering what the easiest way to phrase it would be. especially in an aisan restaurant because of the language barrier with the servers.

[glen4cindy]

i am the kind of person that would rather stay home then have to bother the restaurants about gluten in the food.......

I am not ashamed at all to ask, but, the overall response I have found

is one of NON CONCERN.

Maybe that is the wrong way to put it. I have gone to restaurants that are supportive, but, many just tell me that they cannot assure me that I can find a menu item that I want that is gluten-free.

So, more often than not, I would rather just stay home and eat.