San Francisco

If you live in Singapore you are likely to be a frequent traveler, so I have decided to share some of my gluten free travel experiences as well. On the way to a conference in Las Vegas, My colleagues and I took to the streets of in San Francisco during our 6 hour stop over. We took a cab to the Piers for lunch and look at the Golden Gate Bridge, ending up at a delightful little cafe called The Plant Cafe Organic down near the organic weekend markets by the single diget piers. Now, you may not need much guidance for San Francisco, as the health and wellness capital of the USA is very gluten aware. However, just as with my home town of Sydney, San Francisco is susceptible to the trends of health and lifestyle. This means that a menu with items labeled gluten free may be there to meet the needs of trendy 'low gluten' eaters and not of Coeliacs. After confirming the bonafides of the gluten free label of the Cob salad (lettuce, tomato, blue cheese, turkey, bacon, hard boiled egg, yum!), I settled down with that and the best latte I have yet had in America and felt right at home - for a while, before continuing on the last leg of my 36 hour journey.

Cob Salad at The Plant Cafe Organic, San Francisco

Harry's

When it comes to Gluten Free eating out, keeping it simple is best. Though most of the dishes on a typical pub menu are loaded with gluten of some form, it is possible to find a gluten free meal at your local - provided the staff are willing to discuss preparation with clean utensils and are open to altering the menu slightly. Usually this means a  basic steak, (cooked in a clean or separate saucepan or grilled on top of clean aluminum foil), and steamed vegetables or sometimes mashed potato. Though plain, if the ingredients are good quality, this can be quite tasty. Though there might not be a pub on every corner in Singapore, there are a few iconic pubs around and with transport so easy in Singapore, they may as well be your 'local'. Harry's is one of the most well known of the British style pubs in Singapore and they went a step further than the classic coeliac plain steak. They were able to convert their 'steak sandwich' into a gluten free version, without bread but still with the sauteed onions and peppers cooked without sauce and with clean utensils, topped off with some melted cheese, and served with salad - yum! There are a few locations for Harry's throughout Singapore including Boat Quay, (which I tried tonight), and Dempsey Hill.

Rice Dumplings - Zong Zi

Bingo! The elusive $1.50 Singapore meal that is Coeliac safe. Rice dumplings, or Zong Zi, are individually wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. There is no pastry-like wrapper as the leaves serve the purpose of holding the rice in place. There are rice dumpling stands all over Singapore, all year through. During the Dragon Boat festival in May Zong Zi abound as a commemoration of Qu Yuan, a legendary poet who is said to have drowned himself about 2000 years ago in protest against corruption in the ruling classes. The legend goes that the people threw rice dumplings into the water to stop the fish from eating the revered poet. These days in Singapore the dumplings are exchanged between family and friends to be eaten. Be aware that most of the dumplings will have soy sauce or other gluten containing sauces mixed through, but most stands seem to sell at least one coeliac friendly variety. The gluten-free variety sold at the dumpling stand in the Care Four in Suntec City contains only glutinous rice, (glutinous being a description of the consistency, not an indicator of gluten), crushed peanuts, legumes, mushrooms, salt and pepper. As well as checking that your dumpling does not contain sauce, be sure to check that no additional grains have been added for 'health benefits'. I have been warned by a friend that sometimes wheat or barley is used to add fiber and that these would be visible as full grains, not as a flour. As always, stay away from processed meats where you don't have the opportunity to check the ingredients. Looking forward to seeing the new variety of dumplings that come out in May - fingers crossed that some of these rely on gluten free flavors!