Let's Talk Tex -Mex

[snifter]

OK, so I live in DFW, TX and I LOVE Tex Mex it's my favorite food! So I know I can't have flour tortillas but I can have corn? Correct? Are those 100% corn? Now the chips and hot sauce. Unless they say they are 100% corn chips then am I to assume they are tortilla chips and they are not safe correct? What about the salsa would they add anything in there? I'm trying to figure out what is safe to eat. I guess I can have Chicken fajitas with corn tortillas. Any other Mexican food lovers?!

[kareng]

In these restaurants, they often fry the all corn chips ( yeah) in the same oil they fry things made with a flour tortilla ( boo). This makes the corn chips no longer gluten free. It makes the flour ones no longer corn free because little bits fall off & stay in the fryer and can attach to the next food fried. You have to be careful. Have you googled " gluten free Dallas"? You have so many Tex-Mex places, you might find a few that do gluten-free.

[Skylark]

"I guess I can have" will often get you glutened. You need to ask the restaurant whether there is flour in the seasonings on the meats, what's in the sauces, whether their tortillas are 100% corn, and so forth. You will find that refried beans, Mexican rice, salsa, guacamole, and corn tortillas are usually safe. You have to be more careful with meats and sauces because they're often Americanized by dredging them in flour or with flour in the sauces. Anything that comes out of a deep fryer like corn chips is very likely to be cross-contaminated with gluten unless the only thing that goes into the fryer is corn.

[Judy3]

I have found that mexican is the ONLY cuisine that I can eat (passing on the flour tortilla's of course) that I don't have to worry about. We have a local place here that were very good about answering all my questions (I speak Spanish so it was a bit easier lol) but they only use corn tortillas unless the dish specifically says flour tortillas. I eat there all the time now (about once a week) and have never had a problem. Even when I was sick before diagnosis, I remember wondering why when I ate there I felt better. I just passed it off to a love of mexican food and not wanting to hurl it up... (sorry lol)

But in truth it was because I wasn't eating gluten!!!