One of the primary messages Beckee Moreland gives chefs about gluten-free dinerslike herself: “Thisis not a choice. Thisisour medicine. Thisishow we deal with our medical issues.”
Moreland’s life’s work fits in with the growing
awareness in the United States of the prevalence of celiac disease, a digestive disorder for which the only current treatment is adhering to a gluten-free diet. (Left untreated, the disease can lead to seri- ous conditions, such as malnutrition, osteoporo- sis, and cancer.) According toNFCA,three million people in the United States, or one in 133, are affected by celiac disease, but 95 percent of them don’t know it; the organization predicts that diagnosis rates will increase by 500,000 patients over the next decade. That amounts to a lot of meeting attendees
with an often-insidious food allergy that demands a level of accommodation beyond simply keeping one or two specific ingredients off the menu. (See Take Away, at right.) And while Moreland points to an explosion of new gluten-free products
recently—and while an annual survey of chefs conducted by the National Restaurant Association ranked gluten-free and food-allergy consciousness among the top 10 food-and-beverage trends for 2010 — the current level of education about gluten-free diningamong kitchen staffs, Moreland said, is “sporadic.” Even highly trained chefs may have blind
spots when it comes to gluten-free food prepara- tion, because it occupies a small niche in their over- all training. One of the primary messages that Moreland gives chefs is that gluten-free dining is not a “nice-to-have” but rather a“must-have” for people with celiac — and that someone who requests gluten-free meals isn’t a picky eater or a prima donna. “This is not a choice,” Moreland said. “This is our medicine. This is how we deal with our medical issues.”
What Does It Mean to Be Gluten-Free? Plenty of foodsare nat- urally gluten-free, such as meat, dairy prod- ucts, fruits and vegeta- bles, and rice and corn. But gluten often lurks in the additives used in commercial food preparation, making it tricky to identify “safe” food. Basic: Gluten is a
type of protein in barley, rye, and wheat, including spelt, kamut, triticale, durum, farina, semolina, cake flour, matzo, and couscous. (But buckwheat is gluten-free.) Advanced: Soy
send the message that you’re able and willing to provide gluten-free food. If you simply provide a blank space labeled “Other,” we gluten-free folk aren’t sure whether you’re a) aware of what it means to prepare gluten-free meals, or b) willing to do so. Follow through. Honestly, it’s better not to provide gluten-free meals at all than to say you’ll
offer them and then drop the ball. I once attended an elegant seated dinner at a convention center for which the organizer had asked beforehand about dietary requirements. At the table, when I identified myself to the server as a gluten-free diner, it became very clear that the kitchen hadn’t gotten the request. The chef, a gifted, passionate professional, tried hard not to seem irked, but clearly was annoyed. I felt needlessly embarrassed, as well as disappointed. Serve large-enough portions. Many kitchens practice the subtraction method of serving
gluten-free meals, removing offending ingredients without substituting other foods in their place. That’s a perfectly reasonable way to do things—except when an attendee can’t eat a morning bagel, the cookies or crackers at break, anything from the breadbasket, or even vegetables and salads that might be safe if we knew they were additive-free. So we appreciate it when you fill up our plates with the stuff we know we can eat. Prepare to be adored when you make an effort. People like me who navigate daily
through a gluten-filled world get used to not having what we want to eat at dinners, parties, events, and restaurants. So when someone makes the effort to provide not just a meal that is technically gluten-free, but one that is delicious and artfully prepared, I am very grateful. And I can’t stop talking about how great you are.
—Barbara Palmer www.pcma.org ILLUSTRATION BY TERRY ALLEN
sauce contains gluten, as do imita- tion crab, licorice, and malt. Gluten may or may not be found in many of the ingredi- ents listed as flavor- ings, stabilizers, starch, emulsifier, and hydrolyzed or plant protein. Because of these and other addi- tives, commercially prepared foods such as sour cream, ham- burger patties, hot dogs, sausages, chili, yogurt, packaged rice mixes, chocolate milk, marinated veg- etables, salad dress- ing, and more may contain gluten.