Gluten Free Travel Blog

Delight Gluten Free Magazine's Executive Editor Vanessa Maltin Weisbrod Reviews The Gluten-Free Friendly Resort Where She Honeymooned

People with Celiac Disease and others following strict gluten-free diets are often intimidated by the thought of traveling abroad. It can be scary to take a trip to a foreign country where the food and its preparation isn't familiar -- and there may even be a language barrier in communicating your gluten-free needs. That's why we launched GlutenFreeTravelSite years ago...so that people could share their gluten-free dining and travel success stories and advice with others. Our hope is that travel lovers that just happen to be gluten-free will see that it is indeed possible to find safe places to eat and stay -- virtually anywhere in the world. 

One frequent gluten-free traveler is Delight Gluten Free magazine Executive Editor Vanessa Maltin Weisbrod, and she was kind enough to share highlights from her wonderful experience at Banyan Tree Resort in Phuket, Thailand, where she and her husband honeymooned almost a year ago. 

The resort had many restaurants to choose from, and Vanessa and her husband dined at many of them during their stay. Each showcased a particular cooking style, and all were very happy to adapt the offerings to Vanessa's gluten-free diet (although many of the choices on the menus were gluten-free by nature). 

You can read all about this beautiful resort, its highl level of service, and its attention to gluten-free guests in Vanessa's review which we showcased as October's Featured Review on GlutenFreeTravelSite. Your mouth will be watering, and you'll be longing to travel to this far-off magical locale. 

If you'd like assistance planning any trip -- within the U.S. or abroad -- we recommend travel agent Lesley Hayden with Travel Leaders. She can be reached at 800-487-6110. Be sure to mention you heard about her though GlutenFreeTravelSite...she'll be sure to plan around your gluten-free needs and arrange for you to meet with the Executive Chef upon your arrival at the hotel or resort where you're staying. It's never too early to start thinking about Holiday plans, a mid-winter cruise, or a Springtime Caribbean getaway. Lesley has built up a very happy gluten-free clientele over the past few years, and we are pleased to be able to recommend her. 

Rockfish Restaurant Offers a Gluten-Free Menu of Fresh Fish and Seafood

If you're gluten-free, you've no doubt tried many of the well-known chain restaurants that were among the first to offer gluten-free menus...places like Outback, Legal Seafood, P.F. Chang's, and Uno Chicago Grill. But it's always exciting to discover a lesser-known regional restaurant chain that takes its gluten-free customers just as seriously -- and offers them an extensive gluten-free menu.

Rockfish Seafood Grill is just that type of place, and if you live in -- or happen to be traveling to -- Texas or North Carolina, you'll have to make a point of stopping in to one of their 14 locations. You won't even need to ask for the Gluten Free Menu, since they bring it to each table, along with their "Body and Sole" (cute play on words!) health-conscious menu. 

As you'd expect, you'll find mostly seafood options on the menu. Want to start with a unique appetizer? Try the Mexican Shrimp Martini (shrimp with avocado, pico de gallo and salsa) or the Ahi Tuna Nachos -- both consistent crowd-pleasers. Another special choice is the Roasted Jalapeno Cream Soup, thickened with corn starch so it's totally gluten-free.

Fish entrees can be either grilled or blackened and are served with your choice of four gluten-free sauces. Their Cedar Plank Salmon is a popular choice, topped with roasted corn salsa nad blackened shrimp. Steak options are available if you're not in the mood for seafood, as is a Chicken Caesar Salad. But it's the seafood selections -- including many entree salads topped with shrimp, Ahi tuna, or grilled salmon -- that are most in demand. 

Corporate Chef and Culinary Operations Manager Matt Baum, who's been with the company for almost 10 years, says that, with the exception of anything fried, they try to make as many menu items as possible gluten-free. For example, at many other restaurants, a rice pilaf would be off-limits to gluten-free diners, if the restaurant uses a chicken stock that contains gluten. But not at Rockfish...they switched to a vegetable-based stock which is not just gluten-free, but vegetarian as well. (The mashed potatoes recipe was recently altered to make them gluten-free as well...in fact, it was so recent that it is not yet printed on the GF menu...but you can request them.)

Chef Matt said he goes to great lengths to check every single ingredient from suppliers to ensure it's gluten-free. It's this effort that was behind the relaunch of an expanded Gluten Free Menu over this past year. Rockfish was already offering a GF Menu, due to the previous Corporate Chef's daughter needing to avoid gluten. But when they realized the growing need for gluten-free options as a result of fast-rising Celiac Disease rates, they put even more effort behind examining ingredients used in their "regular" menu so they could expand their GF selections.

Unfortunately, Chef Matt said they aren't able to offer gluten-free fried options on their menu, due to lack of space to add dedicated fryers. But you won't be lacking for choices at this eager-to-please restaurant, and Chef Matt stressed that they always try their hardest to make any new items added to their regular menu available on the gluten-free menu as well. In fact, they roll out a new version of the menu about every six months. Every ingredient for a new menu item is checked, and gluten-free ingredients are used whenever possible. (They also have a policy of using products that don't contain MSG.) For example, a new menu item, which will be printed on menus in February (but the servers already offer to all guests) is Barbeque Chicken, which is completely gluten-free.

Even though Rockfish is not a dedicated gluten-free restaurant, both the kitchen staff and servers are thoroughly trained by Chef Matt himself regarding proper precautions for gluten-free food preparation. So if you live in Texas (or Durham, NC) or have reason to travel there, you're in luck...you have a choice of a regional chain that takes its gluten-free guests' needs seriously. 

And to thank their customers, Rockfish rewards them with occasional special offers. Just sign up for their Email Club on the Home page of their website. Another great way to stay in the loop about Rockfish's special offers and events is to Like their Facebook page. 

If you've dined at a Rockfish restaurant in Texas or North Carolina, be sure to share your thoughts about the experience by submitting a review to our website, GlutenFreeTravelSite. 

 

 

Submit Your Reviews for our Annual "World's Most Celiac-Friendly Destination" Contest

As some of you may remember, each January we tally the prior year's gluten-free dining and travel reviews submitted to our website, GlutenFreeTravelSite. We then name the location with the most reviews from the prior year the "World's Most Celiac-Friendly Destination." 

In 2009, when we first started the contest, the winner came as no surprise: New York. As most of us know -- whether we've visited the Big Apple or not -- New York City is fast to embrace food trends, although using that word sometimes makes me shudder, since we all know that gluten-free diets are not a choice -- and a lot more than a "trend" -- for many of us. Nonetheless, New York City was among the first cities to give gluten-free diners dozens of safe restaurant options. Many of these restaurants are NON-chain restaurants...independent, neighborhood restaurants who may have initially been motivated to create gluten-free choices (and safe practices) for a family member, employee, or regular customer who was suddenly diagnosed with Celiac. 

In the contest's second year, Florida was bestowed with the honor, due to the Disney theme parks and resorts -- and the surrounding Orlando area -- emerging as a gluten-free diner's magical paradise. And indeed, the numerous glowing reviews submitted to our site attest to that fact. Just about every restaurant in each of Disney's hotels, resorts, and parks has gluten-free options, and lists are even available to guests in advance on their trip, by contacting the Special Dietary Needs Department (more information on this, along with the contact names and numbers can be found on our site's Resources page). 

Last year, Washington, DC emerged as the front-runner, thanks to the numerous reviews submitted by members of a very active local Celiac support group: DC Celiacs. Their members seem to have frequented all the "gluten-free friendly" hot spots, and most got rave reviews. (To search the reviews in these -- or any other city or state -- visit our Search Reviews page. 

Will the East Coast continue to earn bragging rights? Or will this year's winner, announced in early January, be a state west of the Mississippi? California shows some potential, but we'd love to get even more reviews from that state's many diverse towns and cities. Do YOU have some reviews to share from YOUR state -- or perhaps a destination where you've traveled (and enjoyed a wide range of "GF friendly" dining establishments)? If so, please submit your reviews soon (how about taking a few minutes right now?) to make sure they're factored into our tally to select our next WINNING DESTINATION! 

If your review is particularly helpful or has wide appeal, we may even select it to showcase as our Featured Review of the month -- and offer you a choice of two great prizes: a set of four different Triumph Dining restaurant cards, or a gift certificate to a restaurant with a Gluten Free Menu! 

Best of all, you'll know your feedback is helping so many others looking for gluten-free dining and travel guidance. Thanks so much for all your contributions and feedback!

 

 

A Source for Gluten Free Communion Wafers

Practicing Christians often wonder how they will fully participate in Holy Communion if they cannot eat the bread or wafer (host).

The Catholic Church in particular is rooted in Scripture and Tradition. In keeping with the belief that Jesus used wheaten bread at the Last Supper, the Church has required that breads used for communion be made with wheat and contain gluten.

Thanks to the research of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a company was found that produces wheat starch, which is wheat that has had most of its gluten removed.  After much trial-and-error, the Benedictine Sisters were able to make low-gluten bread out of this special wheat starch and water. The gluten content is only .01%, or 100 PPM (parts per million). But it is the 37 micrograms that is significant, because the best current information shows that 10 milligrams per day should be safe.

 The low-gluten wafers are made, stored, and shipped in a dedicated gluten-free environment.  Best of all, these wafers meet both the stringent requirements of the Catholic Church as well as the requirements of the gluten-free community, as confirmed by data from the Center for Celiac Research.

You can order 20 wafers for $5.15, plus shipping and handling by calling 800-223-2772 or visiting their website.

Does YOUR church -- whether Catholic or a Protestant denomination -- already offer gluten-free communion wafers? If so, please help other Celiacs find out by submitting a "review" to our sister website, GlutenFreeTravelSite. It's a website with thousands of gluten-free dining and travel reviews, and we are anxious to help get the word out about "GF-friendly" churches, in addition to the reviews of restaurants, hotels/resorts, grocery stores, and cruises we have on our site. Once your "review" is posted, visitors to our site who are searching that particular geographic area will see your church listed. Please help your church -- and us -- spread the word!