Help Choose the Most Gluten-free Friendly Destination!

One of the main things people give up when they start following the gluten-free diet is traveling – assuming they traveled before. It is a lot of work to learn how to eat out gluten-free around the corner from your own home. Therefore, many people wouldn’t dare trek across the country (or Atlantic ocean) if they can avoid it. This is one of the saddest aspects about the gluten-free community in my opinion. It IS possible to eat out and it IS possible to eat excellent gluten-free food while doing so. And though it does take extra time for planning and organizing to travel gluten-free, it too is doable.

When I ate gluten we picked vacation spots based on the dining options. We prefer to avoid chain restaurants and were considered ‘foodies’ by people who weren’t. In fact, we are not true foodies but that’s beside the point. Almost four years ago I had to relearn how to eat at home and then how to eat out. Finally, within three months of living gluten-free, I had to learn to eat out outside the country. I seriously thought about cancelling the trip but instead I spent every extra hour I could find scouring the internet for safe places to eat on our travels. I looked for places to buy food at destinations as well.

These days everything is easier in terms of dining out and traveling gluten-free. This is thanks to Triumph Dining, Kim Koeller and an exciting travel website called Gluten Free Travel Site. Think of it as the Trip Advisor for the gluten-free set. Until now, most gluten-free restaurant listings I’ve found online have included boring chains and that’s it. That means those sites are of no help to me because the only chain I enjoy dining at on a regular basis is one Outback in GA.

Since I’ve always been a huge user of Trip Advisor and people have never steered me wrong about where to stay, I often go there looking for help finding gluten-free dining spots but it’s completely hit or miss. Many times people  direct me to vegan or vegetarian spots. They don’t do it because they know there is gluten-free food available there – they don’t know what gluten-free is and direct me to health oriented restaurants. At times I’ve hit the jackpot finding out about places that no one else has on any list, but those are far and few between.

Gluten Free Travel Travel Site is dedicated to collecting and sharing information about gluten-free friendly destinations and dining. But they need your help to create the database of countless places that many people don’t know about. Last year the site held a contest to find out what city was the most celiac friendly. It’s no surprise that New York City won. Well, the site is doing another contest and will announce the winning city early next year. My goal is that Atlanta can win the title one year but we’re not quite there yet. If your city deserves to win, make sure to get a review in and make your voice heard!