AIBU to not choose a gluten free cafe for lunch if I’m not gluten free?

[TenuousTed]

This was prompted by a post I saw on social media where someone who has coeliac disease complained about overhearing someone say that they walked into a cafe and when they realised that it was gluten free, they left.

Personally I fail to see the problem with them choosing another cafe, though I appreciate that it’s not so good for the gluten free cafe owners.

I appreciate that I eat plenty of naturally gluten free dishes and some like tempura chicken, work well gluten free but if I’m looking for a sandwich and cake I wouldn’t actively choose gluten free bread and cakes because gluten free bread isn’t nearly so nice.

I am very happy that gluten free cafes exist for people with coeliac disease and gluten intolerance but if you have no such issues, is it really so unreasonable to choose to go elsewhere?

Gluten free cake is generally crap, so yes I would leave.

I'm gluten free and i would never eat gluten free by choice

We have the opposite issue - DH is coeliac and dairy intolerant - which is really common in late diagnosed coeliacs
We find gf cakes. And vegan cakes. But rarely both together when out

I’ve a nut allergy, I’d leave as I couldn’t risk having almond flour or something. Same as I avoid vegan places since frankencheese became a thing.

I had an amazing brownie recently. Only in passing did owner say it was gluten and dairy free as she bakes her own.

YANBU at all! I can't eat gluten, but if I suddenly magically could, there is no way I'd eat in a gluten-free café! I'd turn right around and go to one with lovely proper bread and cakes! Yes, some gluten-free alternatives are fine, but most of them are a bit rubbish, especially bread.

There are LOADS!

www.mygfguide.com/fully-gluten-free-uk-restaurants-cafes-bakeries/

GF cakes can be crap, but as someone who now bakes GF all the time I feel offended at the assumption that GF cake is always inedible. I still eat gluten and I know my cakes taste nice.

Freedom of choice is a basic human right YABU to ask if you're allowed it

Gluten free stuff makes me nervous, it often has pea protein or other légumes in it. So I wouldn't choose a gluten free place on purpose, same as I would generally avoid an entirely vegan place. In both instances there might be something I can eat but I'll have a very limited choice and it will involve interrogating the staff to try and work out what is and isn't edible, so I generally try and avoid it where possible.

Awesome. I just need to travel either back to 2020 for the nearest (only about 2 hours travelling time) or add on another 70 miles for one in the opposite direction that might still be open.

I spend so much time walking in and then walking back out again, usually in response to a Huuuuuuhhhhhh? from a member of staff when I ask if they have something suitable for coeliacs, I suppose somebody turning their nose up at being able to choose to eat something or not (rather than having to leave because the alternative is being poisoned) rankles at times.

As someone who has to eat gluten free bread I wouldn’t force anyone to eat it. I miss normal bread.

I'd avoid a gluten free cafe simply because anything made with gluten free flour is nasty. If they had food I wanted that was naturally gluten free I've no problem with. Definitely wouldn't go for wraps and sandwiches and cake for example. Chips and jacket potatoes not an issue. I used to order the GF fish at one restaurant because the batter was much nicer. Tesco seeded GF bread is okay. Cake is just spoiled though.

I would walk out of a gluten-free cafe if I wanted a sandwich or a slice of cake or a cookie or something, because the gluten-free alternatives for those things are almost always awful. I’ve walked out of a pizza restaurant once because it was vegan - I actually really like most vegan dishes but vegan cheese on a pizza is not something I could ever enjoy eating.

Because most GF food (except bread) is delicious!!

I got a gluten free roll in a Too Good To Go bag recently and it was horrible. The bread was just awful. So I wouldn't eat in a gluten free cafe if I wanted a sandwich based on that experience.

I would expect a gluten free cafe to not be particularly sandwich focused because everyone knows GF bread is a bit shit, so if I for some reason couldn't bear the idea of something other than a sandwich for lunch then I wouldn't choose a GF cafe. However there's so many non-bread things to eat that would be great - loads of salady things and different kinds of foods that are naturally GF rather than made using a GF alternative. Or foods where flour is not very important so the substitution doesn't matter.

No one is obliged to go to any cafe but it's just really rude to choose to walk in, and then announce ones departure like that. It comes across as deliberately insulting. It's not hard to check that an establishment does food you'll be happy with before you go in.

I'm GF. A well made GF cake is indistinguishable from normal cake and I could make 10 different cakes and fool you with all of them.
GF bread is the devils food.

even in london I can’t think where all these GF cafes are?!

I think you're confused, pea protein is commonly used in supermarket vegetarian meals as meat replacement. GF flour is usually some sort of mix of rice flour, corn starch, oat flour and potato flour not a legume in sight

I wouldn’t choose a gluten free cafe if none of us were gluten free.

I happily would if one of us was.

I can’t see how that could be a bad thing. Nothing worse than all the omnivores suddenly deciding the limited number of vegetarian dishes look great on the buffet and leaving the vegetarians with sad chicken sandwiches.

Similarly, I wouldn’t want to fill the seats at a (very hard to find) gluten free cafe if all of us can just go next door and eat all the gluten we want.

Usually the ONLY GF option is a chocolate brownie. Boring.........

Except for common use of gram (chick pea) flour in many savoury pastries / dishes

I couldn't care less about anyone's reasons for leaving a place. It's odd that the person felt so strongly that they had to have a discussion about it.

I have walked into places before and left because I didn't like what was on the menu. I don't see why that would be a problem.

I havnt been too impressed with gluten free foods much so I would probably go elsewhere too.

Well yes, but the OP’s premise was based on wanting a sandwich and a cake for lunch so that’s what I’m basing my answer on. If I want a sandwich and the place I go in only has GF bread, I would leave and go somewhere else. Still struggling to see why this is silly.