Gluten Free Mom

Traveling to London Gluten Free 2010

I love it when the gluten free community comes together to help each other out.

I started this blog after I planned a trip to NCY with my gluten free kid.  I had done so much research preparing for the trip that I thought it would be a waste to not share the information in the hopes of making someone else's trip a little easier.

That is why I was so happy when Marina, another fellow gluten free Mom who also likes to travel, contacted me about a guest post about her trip to London.  

The Gluten Free Teen and I went to London summer 2009.  Marina and her family, including her 11 year old daughter who also has celiac, recently visited London over Thanksgiving break in 2010.  Marina has graciously complied her travel and eating information to share here in hopes of helping you on your next trip to London.

 
Marina and her daughter in front of Westminster Abbey

 A London trip we took in November 2010 was one of the best trips we’ve been on yet. The trip was just 5 days on the Thanksgiving week.  Since our daughter has celiac disease we planned the entire trip very carefully.

 

We flew with US Airways from Philadelphia. I called US Airways customer service two weeks before the flight date and asked for two gluten free meals for me and my daughter. I am not on GF diet but I always order two GF meals for us in hope that if I order two, at least one will be available. We both got nice GF dinners: grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables, a rice cake instead of bread, and fresh strawberries for desert. For snack they brought us more rice cakes. I packed a lot of GF food for the flight (fruit, sandwiches, and snacks) and didn’t have to use it at all.

 

When planning the trip, I looked for a hotel room with a kitchen and came across serviced apartments. (http://www.londonservicedapartments.co.uk/)  There are a lot of them in London and the price is not higher than for a regular hotel. So we booked an apartment at No 1 Mansions. For more information on services apartments click  London Serviced Apartments.  

 We booked a 3 bedroom apartment for 5 people. They had a promotion at the time: stay 6 nights pay for 5.

It was a nice, clean, and very big apartment with fully equipped kitchen in Kensington area called Earls Court. It is a beautiful residential area with a lot of restaurants and stores. Earls Court underground station is in less than 5 min. walk. A small but very nice supermarket ,Marks & Spencer Simply Food, is right near the underground station. They have a little gluten free shelf with some bread, cookies, and cakes.  They didn’t have any gluten free pasta.

We had breakfasts at our apartment as well as suppers. I packed and brought with me UDI bread, GF pasta, buckwheat grain, Chex cereal, some GF snacks. The rest we bought at the supermarket there.

 Dining out GF in London:  

I found a Greek restaurant nearby  called As Greek As it Gets.   We had a dinner there on our first evening. I contacted them by email and they told me that the chef knows how to cook GF. When we ordered food we let the waiter know that we need a GF meal and the chef came out to talk to us. He told us what can be cooked GF. My daughter had chosen a salad and chicken shish kebab. The prices were very reasonable and food was good.

 

Cotto Restaurant is the best place for gluten free food in London.  The owner is celiac himself. They serve many GF meals and GF bread. The owner came to talk to us when we had dinner there. Good Italian food and not expensive. The restaurant is in walking distance from the London Eye.

 

J D Weatherspoon pubs is a huge chain of English pubs that has gluten free menu at all locations.  We found one Weatherspoon pub right across the street from the Tower of London. Great experience, we all loved it. The GF menu is big enough. They have a chart with all the allergens in their meals. GF chicken was good. The bill was more than reasonable.

 

Here is a list of chains that have GF menu but we didn’t have a chance to eat there:

•           Leon -  A popular "healthy fast food" chain they have a wide range of gluten free options (GF is marked on their takeout menu, but not their regular menu).

•           La Tasca - Tapas chain, they mark all their gluten free items on their menu.

•           Carluccio - This Italian chain has a special gluten free menu, which includes gluten free pasta.

•           Starbucks - The well known coffee chain now does gluten free cakes.

•           Nandos - Most of Nandos chicken dishes are gluten free, gluten isn't marked on the menu, but each resturant will have a menu specification book which lists the dishes containing gluten. ( I saw one of their restaurants not far from the British Museum).

•           Pitcher & Piano - All of their sandwiches are available on gluten-free bread

•           Wagamama - Although they don't mark GF on their menu, they're very allergy aware and can modify many of their menu items to suit a GF diet.

One last tip!

Don’t forget to use a very popular promotion: 2FOR1 London attraction. To use it you have to go to a London train station (not an underground station) and buy your travel card (the best way to pay for  your travel in London) from them. We walked to Paddington station on our first day and bought 7 days travel card there. It is really worth it since you can then buy 2 tickets for most of the popular attraction for the price of one and get the best price for you transportation. It includes The London Eye, The Tower of London etc.

What would a trip to London be without Tea?

Lastly, on Days Out Guide I found an offer for 2FOR1 Afternoon Tea at Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt Hotel (walking distance from our hotel). I emailed them, booked the afternoon tea, and let them know that one of us will need GF food. They told me that it would be no problem. The GF food for my daughter exceeded all our expectations. They served finger sandwiches on GF bread as well as some GF pastry and fruit.

 The price for the tea is £15.00 and we only paid half of it. If you decide to have tea,  email the hotel directly before you make your reservation and ask if they can provide gluten free afternoon tea for you.

Sherlock Holmes Museum

 The trip was a lot of fun. We didn’t have any problem finding GF food. The kitchen in the apartment helped us a lot and saved us a lot of money too.

 

 Thanks Marina for so much great information!!

 

What does "certified" gluten free mean to you? What does it mean to Post Foods Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles?

Jules has posted an article on her blog which discusses the fact that Post Foods is claiming that their Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereal is "certified" gluten free without going through an independent certification process.

I encourage all of you to read the article at Post Foods Fruity & Cocoa Pebbles NOT Certified GF, Despite Corporate Declaration.   In a nutshell the article points out that:

Post Foods has issued a press release stating that Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles are "certified" gluten free.  The issue comes down to what it means to be "certified" gluten free.

Currently there are no federal regulations defining what certified GF means. 

Many  in the "gluten free community"  will only purchase processed food items that have been "certified" GF and would answer that "certified" GF means certified by an independent organization such as Gluten Free Certification Organization.   I personally feel much better eating food that has been certified  GF by the GFCO because I know that the food manufacturer has been held accountable to an outside agency.

When asked what "certified" means to Post they indicated:

Post followed a gluten free validation procedure that included certification from all ingredient suppliers, outside laboratory testing of all ingredients, testing the production line, and outside laboratory testing of the finished product.  In addition, Post has instituted process controls to ensure there is no cross-contact with gluten containing products.  We do not have third party verification symbols on the product boxes. 

As Jules points out, while it is great that Post went through this process, without a federal standard or independent third party certification, what checks are present to hold Post to this standard - will they do regularly testing?  what if a batch comes through that does not meet the GF standard, will they toss it out or pass it along to the consumers?  

What do you think?  

What does "certified" GF mean to you?  

Would you purchase from Post knowing they are self-certifying without any outside-imposed controls?  

For us, this is the same issue we face every time we buy a bag of Lays potato chips or eat a Bob's Candy Cane.  Granted, these companies are not using the words "certified" as part of their marketing campaign, but every time we eat these items we take the risk that we will get gluten.  And while we try to only eat food that is made by us or certified  GF by groups such as GFCO, we are only human, and we are a family of five, including three kids who like to eat chips every so often.  

Will we eat Post Cereal - most likely No, for the same reason we don't drink Starbucks Coffee (which has been a really hard one for us) or eat products made by Snyder of Hanover.   We vote with our pocket books and I personally  do not like the feeling that Food Manufactures are trying to "trick" the gluten free community by using words such as "certified" to lure us into feeling that their products are safe for us, when in fact they may not be.   

 

 

Redmond WA Gluten Free

I received an email from someone coming to interview at Microsoft and staying at the Marriott at Redmond Town Center who needs to eat gluten free.

The following is the list of local options that I came up with.  

Any more suggestions:

Matts Rotisserie - On the second floor of the mall.  I have eaten their several times.   Just  let them know diet restrictions. 

Pomegranate does not have a GF menu but can accomodate the diet.  Probably one of favorite places to eat GF in Redmond.

Pomegranate

Claim Jumper is also in the mall parking lot, on the South side of the mall and they have a GF menu.

Garlic Jim's pizza is also really good and I am guessing they would deliver to the Marriott.

Frankies Pizza has a GF pizza as well.  I have not tried this one yet.   

Sages has a gluten free menu.

Sages Restaurant

Tyhpoon is a thai restaurant with a GF menu.

Wow, we do have a lot of choices!

I have also heard that Microsoft has some GF options in their cafeterias and, of course,  the Whole Foods in Redmond has an amazing GF section loaded with tons of good food