Buddha's (non)delight

[MarkO]

Ugggh,

Popped into an Asian restaurant yesterday for lunch. Was pressured to order quick (when I asked them to give me a minute, the waitress returned in exactly 60 seconds) Anyway, 60 seconds barely got me through 1/4 of the 400 item menu. So I chose the Buddha's Delight. Sounded like veggies, tofu in a sauce.

Now mind you I've never been officially diagnosed with Celiac, but my older sister and best friend have. So I decided about 6 months ago to go gluten free. Ever since (with the rare intake mistake) I've felt 99% better.

Well the meal was great, but I knew something was up... stomach growled when I got home, then passed out on the couch to a sweaty power nap. No sleep last night (churning stomach, gas and sweats) and on and off the toilet this morning.

Anyway, what do people eat when going Chinese, southeast asian? Or do you just stay away?

[lovegrov]

I stay away. Period.

If your dish had soy sauce, it had wheat.

richard

[Lisa16]

It could also have been pure wheat gluten. This is called "fu" in Japanese and sometimes it is also called seitan.

And of course, as any christian will tell you, seitan is evil!

[Ahorsesoul]

When I visited our little local china shop, the waitress actually knew about celiac and the restrictions. She told me a good rule was to order nothing with a brown colored or tinted sauce and of course nothing breaded. I now order something with just meat and veggies. I had ordered some fried rice to go and she wasn't going to let me have it until I told her it was for me husband at home. lol She took good care of us, even checking out their brands of sodas so we would know what we could order next time. She gave us a take out menu with all the ok dishes circled.

Turned out her former boss, at another restaurant was a celiac. This waitress even tried explain it to the cooks who had limited English. She finally just told them gluten would make me very sick. This they understood. Every place needs a person like this working for them.

[MarkO]

My sister is very strict when it comes to her gluten free diet. Me, not so much, although I have weened myself from beer and even products like Doritos, Hot fries and other snacks that are made of corn, but contain wheat, or modified food starch in the flavored coatings. But I must admit that I don't get the reactions of other Celiacs... as if I have a higher tollerance. But I still take chances with soy sauce and MSG. 90% of the time I have little to no noticible symptoms. The weird thing about it is sometimes I may accidentally eat a burger or a hot dog and it's no where near as bad as having something like the Buddha's Delight. It kind of seems as though I react worse to a gluten sauce than an entire hamburg or hot dog bun. Is this all in my head?

[celiac-mommy]

We order only steamed chicken/beef and veggies with sticky rice. Not as much fun, but it's healthy too

[Jestgar]

Ya gotta figure, since it's food, your reactions could depend on how fast your body absorbs it (just as with medicine and nutrients). Gluten eaten with lots of fatty foods is likely to be less of an issue, if you react only to large amounts, but more of an issue if you have problems with sustained exposure.

Vietnamese food is very low in gluten, even if you aren't careful.

[momxyz]

Ya gotta figure, since it's food, your reactions could depend on how fast your body absorbs it (just as with medicine and nutrients). Gluten eaten with lots of fatty foods is likely to be less of an issue, if you react only to large amounts, but more of an issue if you have problems with sustained exposure.

Vietnamese food is very low in gluten, even if you aren't careful.

You know, I miss Thai and Chinese food more than I miss bread!

Are there any Vietnamese (or Chinese, Japanese, or Thai) dishes that are gluten free and could be safely ordered out?

My favorite is Panang Chicken. I know I didn't spell that right but its a spicy curry made with coconut milk. Would that have gluten?

[Jestgar]

Whatever you order, it will depend on the restaurant, however, I eat thai curries, vietnamese roll ups (veggies in rice wraps), buns (rice dishes, not like american bun), vietnamese pancake (some fried egg thing with veggies), and no chinese.

[tarnalberry]

lots of gluten-free thai options. if there's a "let's go out to dinner. oh, where can we go that you can eat?" sort of thing, I'll generally suggest thai. (or sushi, at least when I could still eat raw fish. ) curries are often gluten (and dairy) free. phad thai is usually gluten free. there are a few other things too (the ones with rice noodles, but definitely not all of them. while thai soy sauce is more often gluten free, depending on where you live, the japanese (wheat based) version may be more easily available to the restaurant. and vietnamese and thai restaurants often have summer rolls (rice paper, wrapped around veggies (and sometimes shrimp), and not fried (just check to make sure they don't add wontons! happened to me once!)

I would recommend getting a set of Open Original Shared Link. while it's no guarantee, the specialized notes about each cuisine have been quite helpful for me.

[momxyz]

jestgar and tarnalberry,

you have just made me a very happy woman!

[chrismilne]

Well the thai people i know mostly use this sauce and its heavily made from wheat

This bites (recently diagnosed)

Open Original Shared Link