Most Gluten-Free-Friendly City

[kdonov2]

Originally posted in travel, but I thought it would get more hits here.

Anyone know what cities (U.S.) are the safest for Celiacs? This includes safe options in restaurants, products offered in stores, labelling laws, public knowledge (of the disease), acceptance of the public/medical community, and promotion of general healthy living. I am sure I am missing something, but you get the idea. I am considering moving from my native Chicago. I am not happy here.

Thanks

[DougE]

It's not the U.S. but I think my home city of Halifax in Canada has to rank near the top. But the absolutely best Celiac-friendly city I ever visited was Boulder CO.

[bartfull]

I don't blame you for wanting to get out of Chicago. The traffic alone is good enough reason!

From what I've seen here, San Diego is another celiac friendly city. I used to live there many years ago, long before I was hit with celiac, but I can tell you that San Diego is a beautiful city with the best weather in the country. It's a lot more crowded than it was when I lived there, but it's still beautiful.

[mamaupupup]

Hawaii! Our vacation there was amazing (Maui). Loved it, found all the foods we needed, the chefs at restaurants were great...so many fresh fruits and veggies!

I think Boulder and San Diego are also good choices (though less tropical!).

[YoloGx]

Portland, Oregon is another great celiac aware city. Very good for the arts, health and all things progressive. Community oriented. Lots of biking and excellent rapid transit. Cosmopolitan population. Beautiful landscape and lots of bridges -- two rivers with the Columbia and the Willamette. Wonderful parks. Lots of celebrations. Its an affordable, down to earth, progressive city. It rains, but considerably less than Seattle. The ocean too is within easy driving distance, as are the desert and mountains. Smaller cities like Eugene are nice too, but its harder to get jobs in Eugene, plus Eugene is more lilly white.

[Salax]

I live in Vegas and although we have alot of places to eat, the doctors here suck.

I traveled to Seattle last summer and they have alot of gluten free places there as well...I wanna move there myself...maybe one day.

[ravenwoodglass]

Upstate NY is pretty gluten freindly. Rochester is good midsized city and there are smaller cities that as long as they have a Wegmans you would be able to shop with ease. The owners of Wegmans have celiac in the family and they are very good at labeling their store brand items. The Finger Lakes area is really pretty and has a pretty low cost of living if you want to get away from big city life.

[GottaSki]

Great thread!

I'm a native San Diegan - San Diego is becoming much more gluten friendly - my daughter lives in Santa Rosa (hour north of San Francisco) - our family finds that the entire Bay Area is much more gluten friendly/knowledgeable in comparison with San Diego.

[sa1937]

My daughter (also celiac) lives in Denver and it sure sounds like a gluten-free haven to me. She has no idea how fortunate she is.

BTW, Denver is the home of Udi's, Rudi's is located in Boulder and Canyon Bakehouse is in Loveland, CO.

[mamaupupup]

And I think WOW bakery is also in Colorado...and our pediatric GI said there is a higher incidence of Celiac in the Denver population than other places!

[mamaw]

University of Chicago is very celiac friendly... New York City has many dining/bakeries... Denver has many bakeries.....

[sa1937]

And I think WOW bakery is also in Colorado...and our pediatric GI said there is a higher incidence of Celiac in the Denver population than other places!

Actually WOW Baking Co. is in Kent, WA. I've tasted their Oatmeal Cookies and they're really good.

[Huggenkiss27]

I'm actually from Loveland but living in Houston right now. I had no idea all those bakeries were from Colorado. It's intersting that Denver has a higher rate of Celiac too; wonder why? Maybe more doctors diagonosing?

[kdonov2]

Thank you all for your input! I have some research to do. I did not even consider Boulder before.

[RonSchon]

I'm actually from Loveland but living in Houston right now. I had no idea all those bakeries were from Colorado. It's intersting that Denver has a higher rate of Celiac too; wonder why? Maybe more doctors diagonosing?

I wish my doctor of 15+ years in Denver had diagnosed me, or even suggested the possibility.

I developed several of the symptoms while living there - bloating, constipation, joint pain, other unexplained pains, inability to absorb nutrients.

I assumed my body simply couldn't handle the altitude, but maybe there is something to the environment if it has a higher diagnosis rate.

[kareng]

My son goes to CSU in Ft Collins. CO. The dorms do a good job of gluten-free food. The school has a professor who studies gluten-free grains and cooking. They offer gluten-free cooking & baking classes to the community.

[mamato4]

I live in San Diego. I am new to this, but I am not finding it hard at all to find gluten-free products in stores or gluten-free restaurants. I think SoCal is an excellent place to live with any kind of food restrictions. In general, people here are very health conscious and there are LOTS of resources for fresh foods of all kinds.

[Cara in Boston]

Boston is getting better. Many local places offer gluten-free food (and actually train their staff to keep it safe) and on a recent trip to Fenway Park, my son and I enjoyed a hot dog on a gluten free bun. They had a separate Gluten Free cart that sold hot dogs, cookies, brownies, etc. We also have a few bakeries that are 100% gluten-free in the area. On the Cape, there is a place in Chatham that fries everything using a gluten-free batter. We can finally get fried clams and good french fries when on vacation. We also have the Celiac Center at Beth Israel and one for kids at Children's Hospital Boston.

People from Chicago seem to fit in well in Boston . . .

Cara