Friday, January 2, 2009

"They can't even crack open a couple of eggs?"

Well, we're back from our visit to Rhode Island. All in all it was a good visit; however, eating in restaurants all week was a real challenge. I know I'll never step foot in a Cheesecake Factory again. We had been trying to find a place to eat on New Year's Day that could accommodate Becca's GFCF diet, as well as my vegan son, vegetarian sister, her two foodie kids, and a few meat and potato eaters. I had spent a good part of New Year's Eve checking out menus online. I saw that the Cheesecake Factory served breakfast all day and figured I could order eggs and bacon for Becca. I was wrong. The server told me the egg batter had been mixed that morning and that there was sour cream in it. I asked if they could just scramble a couple of eggs separately for her. No, they couldn't do that. She was adamant. Do they even have eggs in restaurants anymore, or is it just that frozen pre-mixed batter? That's not real cooking. The thought of it sitting there all day was gross. Seriously, there was not one thing on the menu that Becca could eat. ALL of the salad dressings and seasonings contain gluten. The fries are cooked in the same oil as other breaded products. Even the applesauce contained some seasoning that had gluten in it. The server said they get questions about gluten all the time. If so, why can't they come up with one or two menu items that are safe? How hard would that be? Oh yeah, it might require cooking, and apparently restaurants don't do that anymore. Becca ended up with a plain, dry, unseasoned grilled chicken breast. Yum.

I'm going to be honest. We had already cheated once on the diet during the vacation. It was the only time we had ever deviated from the diet. We didn't have any ill effects, but I was not going to make a habit of it.

We're not having much fun with this diet right now. When we got home from the trip I started going through emails. Earlier in the week I had responded to a birthday party invitation a friend of mine had sent Becca. I had let her know I would be bringing a GFCF snack for Becca. This was the email response.

"I'm sorry Becca won't be able to partake of the refreshments at the party, and I hope she won't be too disappointed. No outside food is allowed except for the cake, which of course contains wheat."

Can she be serious? I'm supposed to bring my daughter to a party where they will be serving food she can't eat, and she's supposed to watch the other kids eat and NOT be TOO disappointed? That's torture! We've always brought GFCF pizza and cookies to parties, and while Becca wasn't thrilled with it, at least she had something to eat. I consider this woman a good friend, but I'm afraid it's one more person who just doesn't get it. I am sure she didn't even bother to ask if an exception could be made for a child with food allergies/sensitivities. Now I don't know what I'm going to do. Becca wants to go to the party. It is rare that she gets invited to parties. But I think it's just mean to expect her to not be allowed to eat anything. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people?

3 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Yes, it is tough eating out at restaurants, and to be honest, we simply don't do it very much. Have you seen the following list from TACA: http://www.talkaboutcuringautism.org/gfcf-diet/restaurant-bakeries-serving-gfcf-fare.htm ?

    As for the party, of course they can make an exception for a child with food allergies/sensitivities. You may have to call the place yourself ahead of time and explain the situation. But my youngest daughter is severely allergic to gluten, dairy, nut, egg, soy and we have never had a problem bringing in food for her (or Rhema) after we gave an explanation.

    Best wishes!

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  2. Thanks for the info from TACA! That should be a lot easier than going online and looking up each restaurant menu individually.

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  3. We don't go to restaurants anymore. Also, I pack a lunch anytime he goes to an event where there will be food. We don't do too many parties these days since my son doesn't do well at them. No one, but another mom going through this, could possibly understand the sacrifices the entire family makes in an effort to save our children. God bless!

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