Celiac in the California Desert. The (Mostly) Not so Good

Beautiful California poppies

When I order in a restaurant, I prefer to tell wait staff that I am celiac rather than saying gluten free. My concern is that servers will slot me with carb-avoiding, fad-diet folks rather than as someone with an autoimmune illness. Identifying myself as celiac can also lead to a teachable moment for many servers, even though one would think they’d be knowledgeable about food related issues. Strangely, many celiacs find California a place where gluten free/carb avoiding is understood but celiac and cross contamination much less so.

From the LA area where our friends had scouted excellent, safe food choices for me, we traveled to Palm Springs to visit with our aunt and uncle. Having stayed a
little too long one early evening enjoying their company, we missed our dinner reservation so decided to take our chances at Las Consuelas, a well-known Mexican restaurant a few blocks from our hotel. This restaurant, right in downtown Palm Springs, is a popular drinking stop, especially on Saturday nights, among the over 50-bad-bar-behavior crowd. Our hour’s wait for a table wasn’t pretty, though it was kind of creepily entertaining.

Once seated at a table, I identified myself as celiac. The server puzzled a moment, said “Yeah, ok” and then quickly said “You are what?”
He understood gluten free, retrieved a GF menu for me that was filled with chicken, pork, and beef items but no fish. When I asked if the kitchen could grill a piece of fish for me, he first said no and then said he’d ask. He was gone a few seconds before coming back with a firm no. The kitchen, too busy, did not want the bother.

In some ways, I get it. It is high season in the desert, this is a packed bar and restaurant and no one feels the need to accommodate. However in my food world, an undereducated, unmotivated server and an uncooperative kitchen can serve up a celiac disaster.

I carefully cobbled together a bit of a meal –a bed of lettuce and beans with tomatoes, onions, and avocado on top, a tortillaless tostada probably safe from cross contamination. I vowed to do better the next day.

Breakfast is a tricky meal for me since typical foods are glutinous and/or dairy. I’ve learned to compromise by eating scrambled egg whites (hence the veganish piece of my diet) and fruit if nothing else is available but gluten free protein bars we’ve toted.
I’m lucky because I travel with R, my biggest supporter and advocate and a guy who likes to educate food service workers about celiac.

One morning while ordering scrambled egg whites to bring back to the room, R discovered that the Hilton offered gluten free toast. He found his teachable moment when the kitchen worker started to place the gluten free bread in the same toaster as the wheat based bread thereby contaminating the gluten free bread. The workers had no idea about cross contamination, which of course is not an issue if someone is following a carb-avoiding gluten free diet but is a big deal to a celiac. Luckily, these workers were willing to learn something new about food safety.

Gorgeous steamed mussels. Thank you Pacifica.

However, not all food options are grim in the desert. We ate a stellar meal at Pacifica Seafood Restaurant in Palm Desert. I wished I taken more photos. The kitchen and staff understand celiac and offer lots of wonderful options and have no problem cooking with olive oil rather than butter or making other modifications. We feasted on crab, mussels, prawns, and scallops. Yum.

I consider my recent experiences a warm up for our upcoming trip to Japan, a place known for hidden gluten in the food. We’ll be armed with a detailed celiac card and lots of safe, freeze dried food, just in case.

Recent Travels of This Celiac: The good and not so good.

Wildflowers, sun, sea and friends

We’ve just returned from a week’s adventure to Southern California where we saw friends and family. It was our first trip in many, many months not connected to a medical test, evaluation, or procedure. What bliss.

Anyone with celiac, food allergies, or just general eating problems probably finds traveling challenging. I usually think I’ll have an easier time eating stateside than I will in a foreign country but my belief frequently isn’t born out. In all honesty, I’m not just a person with celiac; I follow a veganish-pescatarian diet which means I can be tricky to feed.

We started our trip visiting friends in the Newbury Park-Westlake Village area. These friends are not only excellent hosts but thoughtful, careful planners. Ahead of our visit, they provided a list of recommended gluten free friendly restaurants, places certified and frequented by one of their careful gluten free friends.

Within a few days, we visited Deliteful, Holdren’s Steaks and Seafood, Lure Fishhouse, The Landing Grille and Sushi Bar, and Mediterraneo. These are all upscale restaurants in sophisticated areas with educated staff that know the difference between just gluten-free and celiac, a perfect combo for safe eating. At these restaurants, I ate lots of delicious seafood, roasted veggies, salads, and vegan bowls; nothing overly fussy, just excellent food.

After a hike at Point Dume on a gloriously clear, sunny and just warm enough morning where we spotted migrating whales, admired wildflowers (see photo above), marveled as brown pelicans flew so close overhead that we felt like we could almost touch them, we needed lunch. Our friends had limited knowledge of restaurants in the area so two of us went on Yelp looking for suggestions. We found Coral Beach Cantina in Malibu, a Mexican restaurant with a sketchy, weathered sign and outside seating. Even though the menu did not explicitly state gluten-free, I was fairly certain at a minimum I could put together a vegan meal.

While the chips were off-limits to me because they shared the fryer with gluten items, I enjoyed the fresh guacamole on my succulent Mahi-Mahi tacos served with a side of vegetarian beans.

Yummy and safe Mahi-Mahi tacos.

Although Coral Beach Cantina is not an upscale restaurant, though apparently some A- list celebs dine there, an educated staff and a menu that included fish made the experience a safe and delicious one.

Next time, tales of what did not work so well with food in the desert.