While she was surfing through some of my gluten free recipes on my website trying to decide what she could make that fit the bill, in walks her husband who suggests they go out to eat. She said her stomach did a little flip flop since she knew that this was going to be her first adventure dining out since learning of her gluten intolerant condition and she said she wasn’t totally sure what she could and couldn’t eat. To make it simple for herself, she suggested they go to their favorite local Soup & Salad place down the street. Thinking, what the heck there’s no gluten in salad and soup is mostly water, what could be safer and healthier, right? Well she told me that while walking down the salad bar walkway, she was enlightened beyond belief as she started to apply some of the things she had learned.
Knowing to avoid the breads and muffins was a no brainer, but then it came to the salads the questions began to surface. Those Chinese Chicken and Asian Mango mixed salads look really tasty. But that pretty innocuous look, in truth, may not be. These pre-mixed salads are made with salad dressings that all contain binding agents and modified food starch. Dressings which are not part of the gluten free diet plan. Tip – when going for salad, it is best to stick to dressings of lemon/lime juice, olive oil or just the plain wine vinegar and oil gluten free meals
What about those delicious creamy pasta salad mixtures which, I agree are hard to resist, are they okay to eat…nope! Unless you are at a restaurant that caters to the special diet needs of all, you will rarely find a pasta dish that is gluten free. Not only do you need to be aware of the pasta but the sauce they are mixing in with it. Many of those creamy mixtures contain additives, possibly MSG or soy isolate, which are not healthy for some.
Lastly, when dining out be aware of the fact that most all cream soups, unless stated otherwise, WILL contain gluten. Anything which needs to be creamy and thick will have some form of starch or thickening agent which almost always contains gluten