The year was 1999 and my wife, after a prolonged phase of bad health and countless tests, had just been diagnosed a celiac patient. It was the first time anyone in my family or friends had even heard of this disease. In North India where wheat is a staple grain and consumed as part of every meal, our options for her future diet looked rather bleak.
In addition to cutting out gluten entirely from her diet and making sure our kitchen wasn’t cross-contaminating her food, we soon realised that we would need to give up on eating out. The reason – awareness of gluten and gluten-free diet was woefully limited in India, many times we had to explain her dietary restrictions and many times we were served dishes by a not-so-confident server. Multiple times, my wife fell sick after eating out; which is when we decided to stop eating out. On occasions like my kids’ birthdays etc, me and my wife would eat at home and then take the kids out. In a nutshell, my wife & I didn’t eat outside for years. When we were travelling and absolutely had to, my wife would survive on fruit.
I am glad to share though, that things have significantly changed since. Over the last 6-7 years, when I have travelled to countries like Dubai, Singapore, Entire Australia & Thailand - awareness on dietary restrictions has improved. While we still cannot simply walk into any restaurant and expect to be served a gluten-free meal, there is a growing number of restaurants that are aware of and cater to these and many other similar needs. Discoverability of these eating places, and these chefs that customise their dishes to meet these special needs is, however, limited.
Having been through this for years, I know how it feels not to be able to eat out at will, and especially while travelling can mar the entire experience. Hence, as my wife and I make up for lost meals by trying out new eating joints, I am committed to reviewing my experience accurately in each and every one of them – so that other people with similar restrictions can see my reviews and take an informed call on where to go. My reviews are not just around whether I liked a particular place or not, they are a detailed account of gluten free products available where ever possible because my intent is to give people a realistic picture of what to expect and then make their own decision.