jimboger1

Hi all
Can anyone give me info on how available GF food is in. BC (abbotsford in particularly, but an idea would be great)
What is the availability like for bread, biscuits, cookies, sausages, bread mix etc etc as my 11 year old requires GF food
Thanks
Jim

not2old

begin with the following link & good luck

http://www.saveonfoods.com/gluten-free-products

tee1

Gluten free is a fashion statement here and as such most places cater quite well.

bats

Sadly yes, which means those if us with a medical condition who need to be gluten free suffer from carelessness and cross contamination. Places offer gf without understanding what is involved.

To the OP, make sure you quiz the servers about cross contamination, separate toasters etc. Ask them to cook in a skillet rather than a flat top, to toast bread by dry frying in the skillet. There is a good selection in stores now and the food labelling regs have changed recently so it should be easy to spot wheat, barley, oats, malt, rye in the ingredients.

Lychee

Everywhere seems to be offering gluten free options these days. I wouldn't imagine it being hard to find. Google search for "gluten free" and "Abbotsford" brought up lots of suggestions, from bakeries to grocery stores to restaurants. This link might be helpful: http://www.theceliacscene.com/map219...bbotsford.html

bats

They offer, but they don't understand. Gluten free in a restaurant is no use if the chef handles gluten and then the gluten free food. People blithely say something is gluten free when they really aren't sure or they think wheat free is the same thing. I know to my cost, glutrned last week by chocolate and again today by breakfast at the village diner.

Silver Hills Bakery is in Abbotsford and they make good gf bread. Oo and New York Fries fries are gf, as are their poutines. South street burgers do gf buns. Montana's has an allergens list, never had a probkem there. A few other places do gf pizza and pasta. Wendys do baked potaoes and salads, their chilli is gf.

printer

Fully agree with Bats on this one. My OH is a celiac and often has to point out to coffee shops and other such places that you cannot have the gluten free stuff uncovered and stored next to the whole wheat stuff. But 9 times out of ten we meet with blank expressions and staff who clearly don't understand or don't want to understand cross contamination.
The wheat belly book has done wonders for the gluten free selection that's popping up everywhere but sadly has done little for the real sufferers of celiac disease. The latest fad is to tell everyone you are cutting out gluten and feeling so much better for it. Sadly my OH has no choice in the matter and will pay the price for even the smallest morsel.

Milestone restaurants are very good in BC, a good GF selection and tasty too. London Drugs seems to carry a good range of GF products as well as the Natures Fare stores, there are also many smaller dedicated bakerys popping up, we just got one in Kelowna and the french sticks she bakes are so much like real bread even i will eat it. The best pre packaged bread we found which is often available in Save on is the Udi range, it is not heavy like some breads and toasts nicely, they also make bagels, muffins and other stuff, all usually in the freezer dept. Walmart also started stocking the "All but gluten" range of bread and mini muffins, the chocolate mini muffins are really tasty.
http://allbutgluten.ca/
Superstore now also have their own labelled bread and cakes.

Hope this helps

jimboger1

very helpful indeed
thanks to all for the info, seems the availability is better that i expected
jim

Shard

I have confess ignorance on this. Is gluten that toxic that is can cross contaminate merely by items sitting next to each other?

jimboger1

no it cant actually
having a GF item uncovered and sitting next to a standard gluten item will make no difference whatsoever

bats

No, not just sditting there, but the chances of cross contamination increase once the gluten goodies are moved, touched, breadcrumbs dropping as the bread is carried over the non gluten goodies, gloves not changed, hands not washed. It's so easily done which is why separate preparation and storage areas are best.

However careful you are there's always a risk of contamination. Apart from the more obvious effects of being glutened: the squits, pain, fever, skin rash, the long term effects can go unnoticed for some time: malnutition, osteoporosis, B12 deficiency, lymphoma

Shard

But would someone get such adverse effects from just a crumb or two of something containing gluten? I mean, it's not plutonium..

rivingtonpike

Our ice cream is gluten free. It's surprising how much ice cream has gluten in it (from the dextrose which is often wheat based).

bats

Yes. I ate one piece of chocolate containing barley malt, was ill for three days. Breakfast at the diner was contaminated somehow. Only had the squits from that.

Zoe Bell

seeing as proper celiac ( not just fad , "intolerance") is an allergic reaction causing inside bits to swell and screw around with your ability to digest any food , then I can see how a relatively small amount could cause serious issues.
Peanut allergies can be triggered by small amounts of cross contamination, this is no different