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?

I would have to leave as I have an allergy to potato flour/starch which most gluten free flour mixes contain. Risking anaphylaxis to avoid offending someone just isn't worth it.

I am gluten intolerant. Fortunately not celiacs. But I would probably go elsewhere if I was not gluten intolerant. Tbh, all bread/cake/pastry without gluten is second best. And if you are paying, let's face it £20 for a lunch, I'd want the nicest

I’d probably go somewhere else. I do totally get why they’re needed , to prevent cross contamination of gluten etc. However I don’t have gluten intolerance or coeliac and don’t really like gluten free breads etc.

id probably stay in a vegetarian cafe as while I’m a meat eater, I do like falafel, soups etc, though tbh I’m not sure about vegan.

We've got a local cafe that tends to have a selection office cake types. Two types are usually GF. Both have signs saying that you should only ask for those cakes if you have to eat GF. I can understand why, but usually one of them is a lemon drizzle which would be my cake of choice. Of the three I'm 'allowed' to order, one is usually chocolate which I dislike, one often has freeze dried raspberries or strawberries which I'm allergic to, and the third is usually an interesting and worthy thing made with a vegetable (just no). I always ended up feeling cheated I was paying for a (not cheap) cake that I didn't want just because I wasn't allowed to want a GF cake. I stopped going there in the end, which was a shame because it lost my most local cafe a weekly (most weeks) trip of a family of five customers.

If I wanted a sandwich I'd leave. If I wanted salad or something where it doesn't make any difference then I would stay.

As the 'owner' of a family, two-thirds of whom have coeliac disease, I am quite used to eating GF for most of my meals. For that reason alone, if I am going to eat at a cafe that doesn't need to cater to our GF needs, I would sieze the opportunity to choose 'normal' food.

Because a lot of GF food is utterly crap. And honestly, who would actively choose a sandwich made with sawdust, a pizza with a shoe-leather base, or a cake with budgie grit in it? Nobody, that's who!

We once wandered into a nice-looking cafe, were shown to our table, perused the menu and only then did we realise (from the blurb inside the menu) that it was a gluten-free cafe. Felt it would be awkward to leave but literally everything was sandwiches or cake. So we stayed, ordered the soup of the day, even ate the horrible GF roll on the side.

Not money well spent, but at least a lesson learnt in looking very carefully at the sort of establishment before sitting down. The soup was quite good, to be fair.

I'm gluten free and have been for over 4 years. I'd happily eat there but if I was with my family, we'd probably go somewhere else as gf bread is truly awful and I promise, I've tried many, many types and even making my own. My kids just wouldn't eat it and I can't blame them!

Gluten free bread and cakes would put me off going to a cafe if that was what was on offer. I don't like the texture, and would rather just go to a different cafe. If anyone doesn't like that, that's not my problem. It's my money and I can spend it how I like

I wouldn't have an issue. I went to a fried chicken and waffle small indie restaurant recently and didn't realise it was entirely gluten free until having a chat with the chef after we finished. The food was delicious and I'd not have guessed it was gf. Wanted to take my coeliac mate but he is veggie so no joy as the menu is small and very meaty.

I’m gluten intolerant but if I wasn’t you bet your bottom dollar I’d go somewhere else! It would be way cheaper for one thing!

I have been diagnosed Coeliac for 46 years now. It has always been a complete and utter mystery to me why so many supermarket ranges, and so many cafes and restaurants, bend over backwards to try and replicate substandard "normal", when there are so many fantastic, delicious foods that are either naturally, or can be easily made, gluten free.

We eat nearly always gf in this household (DH will buy "norm" bread), and we eat wie Gott in Frankreich

Same here. I've gone in and then left numerous cafes, shops, restaurants, etc over the decades for many reasons, i.e. too busy, too noisy, too expensive, choice of snacks/meals available etc. Nothing unreasonable about any place not being in accordance with your own preferences.

Delicious? The best gluten-free food is no better than non-gluten-free food. Lots of gluten-free food is not as nice. Quite a lot of gluten-free food is a bit rubbish or actively awful. Lots of it (whether nice or horrible) has a massive long list of unnatural-sounding ingredients.

Because people miss the food they used to enjoy before they were diagnosed! Not just the taste, but the convenience e.g. of making a simple sandwich or fitting in with the eating habits of family. I hate being gluten free. It's a royal pain in the arse and I miss bread!

I'm the same as your DH except I'm also vegan, might as well be really.

I find many vegan people complaining about their cake being gluten free, and many gluten free people complaining about their cake being vegan.

I am yet to find this abundance of easily available cake, and no one ever seems to remember where they were when they were confronted with such offensive baked goods!

The same thing applies to vegetarian food, I don't want fake meat oozing beetroot juice to make it look as though it has blood in it, when their are an infinite number of excellent vegetarian foods available.

It’s quite likely I would have walked out too last year unless I was just going in for a coffee. Now, sadly, I’d be pleased to find a GF cafe as I’ve beed diagnosed coeliac. It’s rubbish!
I bought a slice of Victoria sponge from a GF coffee shop yesterday. It tasted weird. Last week I bought two hugely expensive GF (and vegan) donuts last week from a trendy stall. They were quite unpleasant.

Right now, I’m just pissed off at how rubbish some GF treats taste, so damn right I’d like to be be able walk out of that cafe!

As someone who had to eat GF for a few years due to a temporary sensitivity linked to an autoimmune disease, I too would have left the cafe DEPENDENDING on what I wanted.

There are lots of lovely gf options but if you're hankering after a lovely, fat, soft roll or sandwich you are not getting one!

As a coeliac I think that number is much higher in UK.

We have a vegan glutenfree bakery next door.
The bread is wonderful but very expensive. Much higher than supermarked glutenfree bread. I think a lot is about cost.

I think you’ve underestimated both the number of people with coeliac plus the number of people who (wrongly) think gluten is bad for you!

I can understand if the cafe owner is annoyed that there's a blanket assumption that GF = crap. Rather than actually looking at the menu.

I know people who've rejected the choice of a chocolate roulade as it's gluten free despite the fact that traditionally there's no flour at all in it. It's just ignorance of how things are made.

In many cases, traditional recipes are gluten free, e.g. macarons, it's only when they're mass producing on the cheap that they stick wheat flour in them.

@DrCoconut - All mine cakes? I'm still mourning the loss of gluten free churros

DD is coeliac and we eat almost completely GF at home. I would love a 100% GF cafe to open up near us and would eat there a lot with DD. But I cant say I would necessarily chose to go there if I wasn't with DD, I prefer my baked good with gluten in given a choice.

I saw that FB post that the OP is referring to as I follow a lot of GF groups etc. She is a bit obsessed with being GF, I guess as its her business, and she seems to have made it a big part of her personality. Most coeliacs dont think that everyone needs to enjoy GF food if they don't want to. In the post the writers mum overheard a private conversation between two people at the next table and got in a huff about it. Which I think is ridiculous.

I also would probably leave a vegan cafe if I wanted a cup of tea or a breakfast because fake milk and fake meat doesn't do it for me. I also wouldn't make a song and a dance about it.

I would try it first and not immediately dismiss it. If I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t return.