How Gluten Friendly Is Your State?

[cyberprof]

I'm in Seattle and it's pretty good. We have Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Metropolitan Market and a local co-op Puget Consumers' Co-op (PCC). I find that I have to go to all of them at different times for different products but all are good.

We have a few gluten-free dedicated restaurants plus awareness is pretty high in those high-end restaurants with chefs and some small family restaurants. There are finally some restaurants that serve gluten-free pizzas.

I think both coasts are pretty advanced on gluten-free, at least compared with the mid-west. In California, some of the colleges list gluten-free on menu items in the cafeteria.

[Mama Melissa]

Shauna thank you soo much for your advice i seem to be reacting to gluten-free macaroni its weird and also pasta sauce but i can have tomatos in other things i dont get it lolzzz I do see an improvement with time like the symptoms lessen which shows hope so i tend to think that cypress your doctor may very well be on point with what hes saying that most intolerances go away with time and with gut healing,i also have realised when i go to others homes i seem to get glutened unless its my mom who knows the ropes.It stinks but i just cant stay in for the rest of my life and never eat out im too much of a social person and that in itslef would drive me crazy and get me more depressed than what i already boyyy i cant stand when that depression sets it:(

Also thank you for all the great cannolis links my bday is the 5th of jan and i think those will come in handy xoxoxo

[lynnelise]

I'm in WV which in my opinion is terribly gluten free unfriendly. We have no Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Seeing as how these tend to be in more affluent areas I don't see WV ever getting either store. As for restaurants we only have chains like Outback and Chili's. These are hit or miss as to safety. People in this area do not understand what gluten is or why people would want to avoid it.

I will say that Krogers has a decent gluten free section that appears to be growing (fingers crossed!!!). Other stores don't stock much at all. About an hour away there is a small drugstore that actually just started carrying Udi's. It was like a miracle to me! lol!

[GlutenFreeManna]

I live in Virginia Beach, VA and my area is somewhat gluten free friendly and getting more friendly all the time. We have a Trader Joes and an entire store of gluten free and other allergy free foods--Open Original Shared Link

Another local chain store, Farm Fresh, has an aisle labeled gluten free although the selection varies by store.

Harris Teeter recently started expanding their gluten free items and added a "gluten free" button to their online shopping feature which lets you see all the gluten free items in the store.

Bloom stores and SOME larger Food Lion stores with an expanded organics section have a section for gluten free pastas, mixes and flours (Food Lion and Bloom are owned by the same company with Bloom being the upscale, full service, organics and more expensive store and Food Lion being the "low price store").

Kroger has some items in the "diet food" aisle and then they also have gluten-free items scattered throguh out the store like the King Arthur's gluten-free flour in the middle of the regualr flours.

Even Super K-mart here has a small selection of gluten free items. Walmart has gluten-free pasta but not much else.

We have many chain restaurants with gluten free menus and at least two places with gluten free pizza-- Z-Pizza and Uno's.

Eating gluten free is actually not that hard for me. Eating soy free is harder.

[FooGirlsMom]

I think it's what I call this whole intermontane basin between the Sierra and the Rockies, the high plateau country, cowboy country still. You almost expect to see the chuckwagon roll in and the cook pull out his sourdough starter and bake some bread. The big events in Reno over the summer are Rodeo, Hot August Nights (hotrods), and the big chili cook-off. It doesn't even sound vaguely gluten free

I hear you!!! You nailed it. It's the same here. We've lived here now for almost 13 years and things are slowly getting more 21st century, but there is a strong heritage toward "the old" here. So whole wheat is king. You can find 101 ways to use wheat you grind yourself We're sort of at the beginning of the curve, so to speak. gluten-free products are becoming available at Whole Foods, Harmons, Smiths, Macey's (a local Associated Foods store), etc. but you will pay for the privilege.

I envy those in Mass. & Colorado & the Northeast. A number of our family members live up in the Oregon/Washington area and gluten-free is so much easier to come by...*sigh*.... I knew we were in a different place when the day we drove into our smallish town to move into our new home I saw a sign for a donkey basketball event. ** Ye haw ** lolol It's a far cry from California where we came from.

FooGirlsMom

[hazelbrown10]

I live in Boulder, CO and it is GREAT for gluten free! In fact I just found out that there is a pizza place that has regular and gluten free pizza... FOR THE SAME PRICE!!! AHHH!!!!! I am sooooooooooooooo excited. This is a pretty wealthy area too so there are lots of whole foods and stuff that I do not go to very frequently No Trader Joe's though! I used to live in Boston and I just loved TJs. There are a lot of restaurants here that have gluten-free food. I was at a place the other day and when I asked for a gluten-free hamburger bun, the owner came out to see how sensitive I am to CC! It was awesome. Where my mom lives in Maine though... I'm guessing it's not very gluten-free friendly.

[cap6]

we have Fusion Pizza here in the west. Yum! And the gluten-free is only $2 extra.

[MelindaLee]

I'm in Wisconsin. It's not bad around here. It's gettting better, all the time!

Lunabell-I was up north by my in-laws and was worried about foods. I brought a lot so didn't venture out. But later, I found out that the local grocery store Trigg's, was one of the sponsors of a celiac/gluten-free expo in that area! You might be pleasantly surprised!

[compucajun]

This is my very first post on the website. I've only been gluten-free for about 6 months, I have tons of questions I will post in their own topic.

I live in Covington, about an hour north of New Orleans. Some of the local restaurants are becoming more aware of the necessity for gluten-free items on the menu. Our favorite quarterback, Drew Brees, has gluten sensitivity (I'm not sure if it is Celiac, he just states he can't eat gluten). So, the New Orleans restaurants are becoming better at having gluten-free items. I really can't afford the famous New Orleans restaurants he frequents, plus they are far from my house just to eat a meal. But, being able to order gluten-free items in my area is definitely improving just since my diagnosis.

[TPT]

The only gluten-free ravioli I've seen is Conte's--at Whole Foods. I've never had it because it uses tapioca and I'm intolerant to it. I've heard good things about it, though

I'd love a canolli

[/quo

I forget the exact name, but Fallon's Gluten Free Bakery in Fords has ravioli. I've never had them though. Her bread is good. I'm not a big cake person, but her cupcake was good too.

[Gibbit-43]

We moved to Missouri from Colorado last year. Colorado was SUPER gluten free friendly. So many restaurants and places to shop. The Vitamin Cottage was the best. I find Missouri very ungluten friendly. With the exception of the Hyvee Grocery store chain, and one or 2 restaurants far from me, there is not much in my area.

We have whole foods here but it's an hour away so I don't get there often at all.

I find that interesting. My inlaws are in Lamar Colorado and I can't seem to find anything Gluten free when we visit. Even in the surrounding cities its hard.

[Gibbit-43]

I live in central Oklahoma and though it was difficult for us when we were kids, I grew up with Celiac Disease, Oklahoma seems to have gotten a lot more gluten free friendly. I live near an Atkin's that has everything I need. and even better our Wal*mart and Homeland stores sell gluten free! I have a harder time in Colorado where my inlaws live but That's probably just the fact that it's such a small town. Their walmart only sells 3 types of noodles I can have... but it's enough to get us through when we visit.