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Celiac.com 05/16/2014 - More than half of U.S. chain restaurants plan to expand their gluten-free menus in the next year, according to a national menu price survey by restaurant supply-chain co-op SpenDifference. "Operators recognize that a growing number of customers have health-related dietary restrictions, and they are revamping their menus to include choices for them, as well as for those who simply want more healthful choices,” said SpenDifference president and CEO Maryanne Rose. Currently, 55 percent of restaurants surveyed serve gluten-free menu items. According to the new survey, the majority of those businesses will be expanding that selection in the coming year. The survey supports projections that indicate that the demand for gluten-free menu items “will be with us for a long time," said Rose. The findings are included in SpenDifference's third menu price survey, which for the first time asked chain-restaurant operators about their plans to offer more healthful menu options. Read more at: Fastcasual.com.

Celiac.com 10/29/2008 - Equality. That’s all any parent wants for his or her child. In this case I’m talking about food at school. Are you completely frustrated that you can’t get a gluten-free lunch for your child at school? According to a recent survey by the American Celiac Disease Alliance, many parents of celiac children may feel the same way. The survey conducted during the summer of 2008, found of 2,200 respondents, 90% had to regularly pack gluten-free lunches for their celiac child. I used to be one of them and was stuck feeling like I was banging my head against a wall trying to get a few hot lunches for my child. That goal of equality saw me through a journey — years in the making — that would eventually pay off. Just before my celiac daughter’s kindergarten year began, I thought I covered all my bases. I talked to the school nurse, Emma’s teacher, and the head of the cafeteria about her condition and her diet. I found there was very little she could have at school except beef tacos, which she loved. Eventually that one menu item, which made my daughter feel just like the rest of the kids, vanished; a near tragedy for her, sheer frustration for me. I would ask myself “Why do the schools have to serve up so much food with gluten?” I also didn’t feel like I was taken seriously by the cafeteria employees. I housed some small gluten-free food items in the freezer at school in case of emergency. That expensive food was thrown away, with no one even realizing they did it. That told me, they weren’t paying attention. And I was done. It seemed as though Emma was destined for cold lunches until she graduated from high school. Honestly, school lunches may not be the perfect meals for our children, but suddenly many parents feel an urgency to feed them school food when their celiac child starts to feel left out. The good news is: times may be changing. Sherri Knutson, Student Nutrition Services Coordinator for the Rochester, Minnesota School District, and her staff have developed a monthly gluten-free, menu for students. “We’re making it come together…to meet the needs of the student,” Knutson said. It is more like students! As many as 20 children every day order from this menu which actually mirrors the “regular” monthly menu, including gluten-free chicken nuggets, spaghetti and hamburgers WITH a bun. Knutson says they started slow in 2004, offering only a few gluten-free options each week and then expanded from there. Offering the menu comes at a cost – to the district. Officials with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the school lunch program, say schools cannot charge parents more for specialized, expensive diets. A regular school lunch in that district costs $2.05, but the gluten-free lunch costs about double. Knutson’s district essentially “eats” the cost. “Cost is not one of the factors that should impact [implementing this diet in schools].” But she admits they look into finding ways to cut costs, like baking their own gluten-free goodies. Now word is spreading about this groundbreaking menu. Knutson says she is getting calls from school districts across the country asking her how she does it. Her answer is simple, start small and do what you can. She also asks parents to be understanding and patient; accommodating the gluten-free diet is very new for most school districts. My conversation with Knutson was enlightening and empowering, but back at home I was struggling with my own district. There were times in the last four years, where I wondered if the district even cared about my daughter’s health and nutrition needs. After months of many unanswered emails and phone calls with my district nutrition department in late 2007 and early 2008, I finally called my school board member to get some attention. That one phone call got the ball rolling. In the six months since, I have had several meetings with key employees in the district and school. My district also appointed a coordinator for specialized diets who works directly with schools that have special food requirements for certain students. In October of 2008, I saw a first draft if it’s two-week, gluten-free menu. The nutritionist I work with tells me it is just the beginning. I am so pleased and proud of them for finally taking some much-needed action. It is amazing how far you can come with a lot of work, tenacity and passion for equality. If you are in the same situation that I was, I urge you to take action. If your school cook won’t help you, go to the district nutrition director, if they won’t help you go to the superintendent, if they won’t help you go to the school board, and if they won’t help you, contact the education department in your state. That group may oversee statewide compliance of USDA rules. I was able to get this done without a 504 plan for my child. Simply put, a 504 plan is detailed paperwork which gets you the needed accommodations for your child and their diet. You may need to create a 504 plan to push along the lunch changes for your child. Watch for much more on this important issue in upcoming posts. I cannot guarantee you will get drastic changes in lunch offerings from your district, so if you are still in a slump, check out the American Celiac Disease Alliance. Serving specialized diets in school is a hot topic right now and the ACDA is trying to advocate for all of us. Your child has a right to eat school food. And this is one food fight – worth getting in on! *For much more information on the Rochester, MN School District’s Gluten Free menu, see this article I wrote for FoodService Director Magazine in September 2008.

Celiac.com 05/25/2008 - When traveling should you go to a restaurant with a gluten-free menu or not—that is the question. It is important to let you know that because of your comments I can come up with discussions like this, so please keep them coming. Let’s talk about gluten-free menus (this is, of course, only my opinion). Gluten-Free Menu Pros: Gives the person a chance to order from a menu that was made for them. The restaurant should know about all the ingredients that will make you sick. Gluten-Free Menu Cons (Sorry but experiences when going to restaurants with gluten-frees menus have only been bad ones, although I am sure that there are good restaurants out there. I live in a very small town that is surrounded by small towns. I am the only celiac for 100 miles that I know of. I’m sure that in a big city it would be different. I have eaten in the big city too, and also had a terrible experience with their gluten-free menu): The staff often has no idea what gluten-free really means. ï€ The staff thinks that it is only wheat and not all the other items that are on our forbidden list. Sometimes they don’t even know that their restaurant does offer a gluten-free menu. The staff has not been properly trained. That goes for the wait staff and the cooks or chefs who are making your meal. Cross-contamination occurs and there is nothing that you can do about it. The restaurant is trying to do something nice for us but may be focused more on the extra money that can make with such a menu. The gluten-free menu is so small and only offers a few items, while regular customers have 50 items to choose from. We travel so far to go to one of these restaurants, when we could be getting the same or better service from a nice, local restaurant. You can see were I am going with this, so I will stop. Let’s look at traveling options and my experiences. I have traveled with my boys around the USA. Normally we live in a tent and stay at state parks where it is cheap. We have hit Gettysburg, Niagara Falls, Hershey Pennsylvania, Boston, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, South Dakota, Chicago, New York, and many more places. I also have gone with my wife to Las Vegas, Washington and some more places. I have traveled in the USA and do not plan my meals around gluten-free menus at restaurants—and I want to explain why. I was in New York twice. I went with my two boys and the other time it was just me and my wife. The first time in New York with my boys we stopped at Nathan’s in Coney Island. We watched them eat hot dogs on July 4th on the TV—you know every year somebody eats 50 or so of them. So we traveled to Coney Island just to go to Nathan’s. We went to Nathan’s and I waited until there was no line at the window (Rule 1—always wait until it is slow). I approached the window with my boys (Rule 2, observe how they cook the item you are going to ask for—are they sloppy when they are serving the food? If so ask them to change gloves or give them a fork to get your food). Noone was behind us so I knew it would be no trouble to ask for special help. I told the server I have a special diet request and could they help me. I asked if they had the package handy so I could look at the wrapper the dogs came in. They go through a lot of dogs so it was right there. After I reviewed the package I asked them if they could use a plastic fork to get me a couple of dogs. They did and they were great. Ask for condiments to go, those had the ingredients on them. Another time I was with my wife and she wanted to go to T.G.I.F.—at that time they had no gluten-free menu (they might now, I don’t know). We went in at a slow time and I gave them my Chef Daniel P. restaurant form and I also ate very well with no illness the next day. I used the two rules mentioned above that I always go by. This year my wife and I went to Las Vegas. My wife wanted to go to the Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower to eat while overlooking Las Vegas. They also didn’t have a gluten-free menu, and she made our reservations. She used Rule 1 and made it for the last reservation they would accept. I asked for the manager and told him I have a special diet request and tonight I would love to have the duck breast if they were not marinated. He said he would check with the chef. A few minutes later the executive chef came out to our table to speak with us (this chef is well paid, and this is what I have been saying from day one to you about chefs in fine dining establishments—they care just like I do). The fact that he had time to come to our table happened for a few reasons I believe: ï€ They were slow enough that the chef could take time away from the kitchen to help his customer. ï€ This is the type of place that cares what you think, what you say about their establishment to others—and they don’t want to make anyone sick. ï€ I was direct and to the point in what I wanted to eat and the chef could do it. When the chef came out I told him exactly what I told the manager about my illness and the nature of it. I asked him if he could sauté me some duck breast. Duck breast was on the menu but it was with a terraki sauce and the soy sauce normally has wheat in it. I wasn’t in the mood for terraki anyway, so this how I ordered my meal—and yes I did write it down on my chef Daniel P restaurant form: Sauté the duck breast in olive oil until ¾ of the way done. Pull it out and put it to the side and deglaze the pan with white wine. Add orange juice, a hint of pineapple juice and tighten it with corn starch or arrow root. Add the duck breast, orange zest and a splash of lime juice. Microwave some white rice. Microwave any fresh vegetables. No seasonings or garnish. I just had them make Duck ala Orange for me—and you can do something like this too if you just believe in yourself and do it. Our meal took extra time but we were on top of the world so who cares? It is worth the wait to not get sick, and we ended up having a fantastic meal.I have a few thoughts to share with you for when you start to look for gluten-free menus. Gluten-free menus are good but they are not great. If I was in Japan and I had to go out to a restaurant, I would want to go to a sushi restaurant. I would not search around for a place with a gluten-free menu. I am always going to use Rules 1 and 2 anyway. In Japan I would look for the restaurant that cuts and serves the sushi right in front of me. If I was in France, I would use the two Rules first, and also try to find a place that does table-side cooking. If I was in Louisiana, I would do rule 1 and rule 2 then go to a restaurant that I know has a good reputation and give them my Chef Daniel form and enjoy my meal like everyone else. You need to eat where you want to eat and not limit yourself. How many of you would want to eat at Wolfgang Pucks restaurant? Are you going to say that eating where there is a gluten-free menu will be better than eating at Wolfgang’s place? What if you were visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris or a bistro across the street from it? It would be nice to have a gluten-free menu in those places, but it is unlikely. We have to come together as one group and order the same way. In time I will convert menus at the cruise ships or the chains of motels that have chain restaurants. Traveling is what we do and it doesn’t matter if you have to restrict your diet or not. We all love food and we will pay extra if we have to, but we must expect not to get sick. My ultimate goal is to be able to walk into any restaurant and have a great gluten-free menu. I would love to see a real gluten-free menu with lots of great entrées to pick from. Ultimately it is up to us to educate workers in the places that we eat in about the gluten-free diet. We need to come together and start standing up and saying that we are special too. Chef Daniel.