It seems , to some, to remove the wheat from a meal is an act of congress.(ie budget cuts.)

Gluten free menus are offered in restaurants. Gluten free options are on airline flights. Gluten free meals are options in hospitals. Yet when you check that box for ‘special diet’ or ask for that Gluten Free menu, it is as if you pulled a gun on someone and asked for all their money.  They get these panicked looks and start to stammer and look around for the emergency button.

Recently we went on a trip to South Africa, a looooong flight with Delta.  Three meals were served in flight, coming and going, so a total of 6 meals..  We were given the option, when we bought the tickets, for special diet requirements, we checked the Gluten Free box. We many times manage meals by eating around the wheat, and most times we can, but on an airplane it is a bit harder.   On a previous flight our  breakfast consisted of a crousant, with egg, and a muffin. We had the egg, and had to peel the soggy bread peices from that. After that experience we decided to play the ‘special’ card and check the box.

On the flight over two of the meals were identical, for us. Rice with steamed vegetables and a peice of ‘grilled’ chicken, a bowl of fruit (we had this fruit for all 6 meals), and a rice cake.  On the way back the one meal was this again and the next had a peice of grilled fish instead, and a pretty good salad.  All the meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner all had ‘THE RICE CAKE’, instead of a peice of bread. And desert, NONE.  I suppose they knew we could not have the brownie, and could not figure in a pudding, or even make the effort find out where British Airlines get’s their little gluten free cakes.

The meals were actually good, I am not complaining. I just don;t understand what is sooo hard about removing wheat.  No bread, no pasta, basically.  This does not mean only rice and chicken and rice cakes. Rice and Wheat are not the only starches in this universe.

Many people when you say “gluten free” or “no wheat” seem to first not comprehend what wheat is in, then once they do they can’t seem to get past what it is in to get to what it isn’t in.  A great friend, who happened to be our pastor, explains; The best way to change oneself is NOT to dwell on what NOT to do, but what TO do, to be successful.  This is the same concept.  Some of the other meals served to the ‘normal’ people were gluten free also, yet the meals were not prepared to be gluten free, so they were not considered so.  Chicken grilled with mushrooms and cheese, beef tips with wine sauce these are gluten free. The salads and fruit dishes were different for the ‘normal’ and GF’s , yet neither contained gluten.   Instead of just subing a rice for a pasta, or leaving gravy off, not including toast, giving a banana instead of a muffin, everything was changed, they whole meal was prepared with all different ingredients. They made it too hard. And they did not give me a desert! Not a pudding, or a jello. At breakfast  though,I did get a package of jelly, to put on my RICE CAKE, I suppose that made up for it all.