Bringing Your Own Items To Restaurants?

[hiphobokenmama]

i just read somewhere that someone has to bring their own salt and butter to restaurants...salad dressing, i undertand, but what's wrong with salt and butter? this is the first i've heard of it so i'm concerned. my 3 year old was just diagnosed with celiac and we haven't eaten anywhere except McDs since then... but what's the deal?

[angel-jd1]

I know I have seen a saltine cracker in some shakers in Mom and pop type places. It helps absorb moisture. I dont' take my own salt and pepper to places. For me, those things are not that necessary.

-Jessica

[Guest gfinnebraska]

I have brought my own butter, sour cream and salad dressing. I never thought of the salt issue... hmmm... now I will make sure I check! Living in a small town, we eat at a lot of "mom and pop" type cafe's.

[lovegrov]

If a restaurant puts something in a salt shaker to absorb moisture it will probably be rice, not a cracker. Personally, I see no reason at all to carry salt or butter to a restaurant. I have yet to see a real butter that has gluten, and I don't think I've ever seen a margarine with it, either.

richard

[KaitiUSA]

Alot of places that I have been to they have little packets of salt and butter. I haven't been out to eat alot since being diagnosed though but I wouldn't find it a concern. I still check the ingredients on the mini butters though.

[plantime]

Every place I go uses packets to avoid contamination with anything else. The salt shakers that are used by the cooks didn't have anything else in them because they used up the salt long before moisture was able to set in. The only place that did have something with the salt had mixed in pepper.

[angel-jd1]

If a restaurant puts something in a salt shaker to absorb moisture it will probably be rice, not a cracker

I have seen crackers in shakers before.

-Jessica

[skbird]

My mom used to always do that! And in the sugar shaker, too. Rice would have gotten through the top for the sugar.

I hadn't thought about that.

Do restaurant butter-ish things sometimes have gluten in them? I have been avoiding anything that they might dip meat in first.

Stephanie

[cdford]

I always avoid using the pepper out unless they have a grinder available, but I had not thought to check the salt shaker. I do take butter with me to certain restaurants if they use margarines instead of butter because I react to soy and I have yet to find a margarine without soy in it. Thus far I have not run into any problems once I show them my restaurant card (every so often I have to explain the visit to the hospital problem if I get into something...that usually gets cooperation if nothing else does).