Gelato/Ice Cream Stands

[Sammy_B]

Greetings-

One of my treats when I travel is to find gelato shops and have some sorbet (i cant have dairy), now that im super strict with my GF diet do I have to cut this out as well. Does anyone go to gelato/ice cream shops ? the nice thing about gelato places is that they have dedicated scoopers for each flavor, but you still never know where cross contamination can come from. This is my one little treat and if I have to give this up im gonna be miserable. I go to philly a lot and they have an amazing gelato place with incredible and diverse flavors

thanks

[ostrich]

If you're staying in a hotel room with a fridge, why not buy some sorbet you know is safe and store it in there?

IMHO the risks of this are just as great as any restaurant.
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Ostrich :>--O==={

Time falls away, but these small hours
These little wonders still remain

[Sammy_B]

Honestly its just not as good- stores only have standard boring flavors (raspberry, lemon, etc) - gelato shops have unique flavors such as guava, banana, avocado, plum, etc and they taste so much better because they are "homemade" and not processed in a factory with preservatives

[celiacmaine-iac]

[Sammy_B]

Hi Steph-

thanks for your feedback. Out of curiosity do you eat out at all? its going to be impossible for me to avoid restaurants completely with my lifestyle

Sammy

[cruelshoes]

Do they use the same equipment to make the dairy flavors and the non-dairy flavors? If so, it's likely that the sorbet would be contaminated before it even got to the display case. I guess it would depend on how sensitive to dairy you are. Have you asked what their cleaning practices are?

Perhaps you could ask them to get some out of the back with a clean scoop. That way it would not have had a chance to get contaminated.

I hope you find a way to make it work for you.
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-Colleen

Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handcart?

[celiacmaine-iac]

Yes, I do eat out. Not as often as I used to pre-GF. I've eaten at home so much in the past couple of years, that I really don't enjoy the meals I eat out as much as I used to. It all seems too salty to me now. I have found a few restaurants that I trust and use those most of the time. I have found that in a restaurant that is an "unknown", talking to the manager really helps assure I get a safe meal.

If you are dining out with clients, then I think a phone call placed ahead of time to the restaurant would be a good place to start. Ask to speak to the manager, and ask questions. You should be able to judge the manager's knowledge/competence level very quickly. If you have any doubts, then trust your instincts. If you have to deal with the issue in any way with the client there, just be matter of fact about it. I think almost everyone is impacted by food issues these days, whether it's allergies or CD, family members with food issues, etc. As long as you don't tell the whole story in all its gory details, I can't imagine that anyone would have a problem with it. If you deal with things ahead of time you will be less apt to feel like the spotlight is on you. And don't ever hesitate to send something back if it is wrong.
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Steph

[Sammy_B]

Thanks Steph! Are there any chain restaurants you trust? I travel to some obscure locations on occasion and aside from PF changs and outback, not much is available..to be honest im not even crazy about that food and would prefer to pick something up at the market and prepare in my room, but sometimes is just nice to get out I guess. Obviously a more high end restaurant will most likely accommodate folks like us.

Part of my problem (if thats what you want to call it) is that I dont really get symptoms when i eat gluten, so i never really know when its entering my body. So many foods cause bloat and discomfort that its hard to single out gluten as the culprit. therefore im a bit more laid back about eating out and always assume if i discuss with a kitchen manager in detail I will be fine, but I imagine its different with people who get severely sick from a single breadcrumb..a lot more is on the line

[celiacmaine-iac]