With a little preparation beforehand and during your visit to a restaurant you will be well on your way to enjoying a good experience. The Society provides Eating Out cards, which are available in many languages, including English, and can be given to a waiter or chef.
 
The cards provide information on the diet and a suggested menu and can be helpful in trying to communicate what you need. Call the office to order.

Before you go

If you are not familiar with the establishment telephone or drop in beforehand to check that they are familiar with the condition and are able to cater for someone on a gluten-free diet. Ensure that they understand the following:

• The gluten-free diet is not just a problem with wheat. Wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut and their derivatives all contain gluten.
• The diet is affected by many processed foods, where there may be modified starch, malt extract or cereal fillers. Gravy, dressings, ice cream, sauces, powders, mustards, processed cheese, processed meat are some examples of products where this can be a problem.
• Cross-contamination must be avoided. Suggest that they cook your food separately with uncontaminated water / oil and handle all your food with clean utensils.

The chef and maitre d' may find it useful to read the catering section of this website.

At the restaurant

• If they’re not familiar with dealing with the gluten-free diet show them your Eating Out card.
• In a busy establishment information is often lost between multiple staff so ensure that you politely question anything that you are uncertain of.
• Remember that not everyone will check an ingredient label as knowledgeably and thoroughly as a Coeliac so when it comes to processed foods, such as dressings, mustards, sauces, ice-cream etc, err on the side of caution if you cannot be sure that it has been checked properly. You could ask to check the label yourself.
• Despite your best efforts there will be times when your food arrives and it is obviously contaminated. For example your salad arrives with croutons. When this happens you will need to make sure the staff understand that a new dish needs to be prepared and that simply removing the offending morsels is not acceptable due to cross-contamination.

What to do if you think there was gluten in your meal

If you were sold a gluten-free meal and think your meal contained gluten and you wish to complain please follow the advice of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) on complaining. The Society does not police or report restaurants. You could let the manager know about the information available to caterers on this website.