The Hardest Part About Celiac For Me Is...

[lynnelise]

I USED to say I am so glad I got to visit New Orleans before Katrina. Now I'm glad I went before being gluten/corn free. The food was absolutely the best I ever had!

This exactly! I love New Orleans more than any place I've visited!!! I know I could make the dishes at home but it's not the same as being there and having the experience of trying all the good restaurants. Celiac makes you lose a lot the carefree attitude that makes vacation fun.

So to answer the overall question I guess what I find hardest is the constant planning and the way an unexpected hurdle can throw everything off. Like today for instance. I got called into a meeting before I had a chance to eat my breakfast...well they served donuts so it was a really bad time to be hungry. Then things get intense and they decide to work through lunch and order food in....from a pizza place I'm unfamilar with. I was way too scared to chance a salad so I just said no thanks. So that made two meals I had to suffer through. Finally I snuck out for a restroom break and scarfed down a Larabar. Normal people don't worry about that...they just enjoy donuts and pizza on the company's dime!

[xjrosie]

If you are staying somewhere with a kitchen you could cook - but that's hard to find there unless its a cottage or a liberal B&B.

That's why I have hope of going back soon. My uncle still lives there....so he has a kitchen!

Look for an extended-stay hotel, I know the Holiday Inn company has one but I can't remember the name. Anyway, those hotels typically have a little larger room with a fridge, mini-stove, and microwave. The one I stayed in even had a bit larger table where my kids and I could sit down.

[srall]

Look for an extended-stay hotel, I know the Holiday Inn company has one but I can't remember the name. Anyway, those hotels typically have a little larger room with a fridge, mini-stove, and microwave. The one I stayed in even had a bit larger table where my kids and I could sit down.

I think this is really good advice. When we went to England last summer I made sure we had a kitchen. This trip to New Orleans we won't have the luxury, but hopefully a fridge. (The hotel is part of a convention). But in our travels we have learned to research ahead of time and book our hotel based around proximity to a Whole Foods, Outback, or nicer restaurants, a fridge or kitchen in the hotel, or even rent a house if we need to...traveling is just not at all carefree anymore.

[HalfBaked]

There is at least one that you can get gluten-free King Cakes, I know I get mine from a guy that is at Who Dat Cafe in Marigny neighborhood, which is just outside the Quarter. He always has different savory items and sweets as well. Talk to him, if you have special restrictions, he will go for it if he can (eg Nut Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free.) I go there regularly, and honestly I don't feel as though I'm missing out at all on the gluten-free items. The reason I found this thread was that I was looking for a gluten-free muffaletta bread recipe for Mardi Gras. At last I got to help someone find King Cakes, now back to the trawling of the internet oceans for that one special recipe...

PS, there is a restaurant in this Cafe, the same guy supplies the biscuits (Green Onion Cheddar!! Yum!) with your breakfast, and believe this... gluten-free Grillades and Grits!

Also, El Gato Negro has been extremely accomodating for me in the past, and I've not once been "Glutened." They are right off the French Market, so definitely another place to check out if visiting.