Page 2 | Vegan is everywhere which is great but what about gluten free?

idontlikealdi · 29/01/2021 10:19

There's load of GF products available now.

A vegan accidentally eating cheese or something is unlikely to end up with a violent flare up of a horrible illness.

SushiSoozie · 29/01/2021 10:23

I’ve seen greggs do vegan, even Krispy Kreme a now do vegan doughnuts.. it frustrates me that these companies don’t care about gluten free. The excuse was always because of contamination but surely making it dairy and egg free is the same?

No, its not the same at all. It's much harder to do, and theres a much smaller market for it. Why would companies spend huge amounts of money to make inferior versions of their products that very few people would want to buy?

nevertrustaherdofcows · 29/01/2021 10:25

Hugely frustrating. The adults in my extended family used to treat themselves to a 'do' at the Ritz every Christmas - a themed dinner with canapes and fizz beforehand. Cost hundreds. The first few years, the Ritz accommodated me with delicious g/free adaptations of the published menu: eg, scallops without the sauce. The final time, I got no canapes, and was given the vegan option. So instead of scallops in a cream sauce, I was given a selection of beans in vinagrette. Where before they had given me a delicious choc mousse and banana creation for pud, I got a fruit salad, etc etc.

It felt like daylight robbery to me. I'll never darken their doors again.

ThatIsNotMyUsername · 29/01/2021 17:06

Veggie food used to be better too... it was woeful in the 80s and got quite good busy the 2000s, then they got all veganized (some is very nice but it’s lazy catering to throw on one option to ‘cover’ vegan, veggie and halal!). Where you would find 2 edible options, it’s often ‘take it or leave it’ now.

NoIDontLikeTrains · 29/01/2021 17:13

Annoys me that the only reason McDonald's fries aren't GF is that they cook the breaded veggie burgers in the fry vats, presumably to avoid the catastrophe of a chicken nugget breadcrumb ending up in a veggie's meal.

alienspiderbee · 29/01/2021 17:36

@NoIDontLikeTrains McDonald's fries are gluten free, the veggie dippers which they use in the burgers are also gluten free so it doesn't matter that they're cooked in the same fryer. The coating isn't breadcrumbs

NoIDontLikeTrains · 29/01/2021 17:39

The allergen info sheet I looked at in McDonald's listed wheat in the ingredients of the burger that the employee told me was cooked in the fry vats. Perhaps they've had a new menu since then, but when I checked last year they weren't safe.

megletthesecond · 29/01/2021 17:44

I know.
I did find that the marks and Spencers "chicken" nuggets are vegan and gluten free. I was so excited, I'd never even had meat chicken nuggets. And moving mountains do a vegan gf hotdog. It was bliss.

yuyubooboo · 29/01/2021 17:47

Agreed OP. I'm coeliac and it can be very frustrating!

alienspiderbee · 29/01/2021 18:08

The allergen sheet for the veggie deluxe burger includes the bun, hence the wheat. The dippers themselves have no gluten containing ingredients

Vegan is everywhere which is great but what about gluten free?

NoIDontLikeTrains · 29/01/2021 18:15

Cool, thank you — I'll look into it again. I always play safe because… well, you know why

WaltzingBetty · 29/01/2021 19:28

[quote alienspiderbee]@NoIDontLikeTrains McDonald's fries are gluten free, the veggie dippers which they use in the burgers are also gluten free so it doesn't matter that they're cooked in the same fryer. The coating isn't breadcrumbs[/quote]
@alienspiderbee you clearly don't understand cross contamination. Which is worrying if you work in the industry? To a coeliac it matters very much that they're fried in the same vats as this contaminated them with gluten. It's the same for chips that are fried with battered fish

They basically take a GF product and contaminate it

alienspiderbee · 29/01/2021 19:36

@WaltzingBetty - did you read what I wrote? The veggie dippers contain no gluten, therefore it doesn't matter whether they are cooked in the same vats as the fries, there is no cross contamination there.

Wider cross contamination in McDonalds is of course something that different coeliacs have a different risk appetite for, but it's not an issue that something that contains no gluten is cooked in the same frier!

And i don't work in the industry (not sure why you would assume that I did based on a screenshot of an allergen list on McDonalds website).

Covidcorvid · 29/01/2021 19:40

Try being coeliac, lactose intolerant and diagnosed meat allergy. 🤷‍♀️😩😩😩

Covidcorvid · 29/01/2021 19:43

@alienspiderbee is perfectly correct. The fries are only cooked in the same fryer as the gf veggie dippers so no cross contamination. Dd is extremely sensitive to cross contamination and never had an issue in McDonald’s.

McDonald’s understand cross contamination well.

MoreRainbowsPlease · 29/01/2021 19:47

I get annoyed over this. Every January my local supermarket reduces it's already small gluten free section to put out the vegan stuff for a couple of months.

Lidl and Aldi both used to do a small free from section which was great because whilst it was small I just needed to be able to get g/f bread and pasta and maybe some biscuits along with the rest of my shopping. My local ones no longer have a designated section, they have kept a couple of the products and put them in with the normal versions, but they no longer do bread which means I have to go to Sainsbury's or Tesco in a different town. Yet they currently have a massive vegan range.

WoodpileHouse · 29/01/2021 19:48

They are completely unconnected.
It's all supply and demand.
Supermarkets are there to make money.
More people want vegan - the supermarkets cater for them in order to make money.
Gluten free is popular but not as popular as vegan so supermarkets don't make as much GF as vegan.

My son has Coeliac disease and I am gluten intolerant. I see a lot of Coeliacs complaining about vegans being catered for better than Coeliacs but I don't understand why. It's two separate issues.
One is not connected to the other, supermarkets don't care about their customers- they are purely there to make money. It's just supply and demand.

Also i am all in favour of vegans - we are in a climate emergency.

WoodpileHouse · 29/01/2021 19:49

Tesco's are fab for GF.

thereinmadnesslies · 29/01/2021 19:53

Dominos pizza is really annoying. They took all the GF pizza off the menu when they reduced the menu for covid in March 2020. Since then they have launched vegan pizza, but they claim that social distancing doesn’t permit them to offer GF.

ThatIsNotMyUsername · 29/01/2021 20:00

Vegan is the new... ummmm... whatever (trendy thing).

How is GF not social distanced?

DoTheNextRightThing · 29/01/2021 20:10

@thereinmadnesslies

Dominos pizza is really annoying. They took all the GF pizza off the menu when they reduced the menu for covid in March 2020. Since then they have launched vegan pizza, but they claim that social distancing doesn’t permit them to offer GF.

Dominos GF pizza made me more sick than gluten ever did. I don’t trust them. Last time I had one I was at a friend's house and my friends had to practically carry me to the car because I was doubled over in pain. They can keep their alleged GF pizza.

I just wish Pizza Hut delivered

WaltzingBetty · 29/01/2021 20:47

[quote alienspiderbee]@WaltzingBetty - did you read what I wrote? The veggie dippers contain no gluten, therefore it doesn't matter whether they are cooked in the same vats as the fries, there is no cross contamination there.

Wider cross contamination in McDonalds is of course something that different coeliacs have a different risk appetite for, but it's not an issue that something that contains no gluten is cooked in the same frier!

And i don't work in the industry (not sure why you would assume that I did based on a screenshot of an allergen list on McDonalds website).[/quote]
Because your message was immediately after the poster raising cross contamination as they use the same fryers as the breaded veggie burgers and you said the fryer didn't matter. It does

And you seem very confident in their processes and ingredients.

I have no idea which fryers they use for the dippers

NoIDontLikeTrains · 29/01/2021 20:50

My apologies — I was told by the staff member that it was a breaded burger, and when I looked on the allergen handout it listed wheat. Sorry to have introduced confusion.

Covidcorvid · 29/01/2021 20:56

She was saying it didn’t matter that the fries were cooked in the same fryer as the gf dippers.

I agree it’s annoying about Dominoes removing their gf pizza due to covid and social distancing. I assume they’re busy and maybe have less staff in the cramped kitchen so don’t want someone “wasting their time” cleaning the surface down for one pizza. 🤷‍♀️

Wagamama also took their allergy menu off when they reopened for take away after the first lock down. Said they couldn’t offer any gf, etc due to social distancing!

alienspiderbee · 29/01/2021 21:03

Because your message was immediately after the poster raising cross contamination as they use the same fryers as the breaded veggie burgers and you said the fryer didn't matter. It does

The veggie burgers are made by putting the veggie dippers/goujons inside a bread bun, these are coated in some sort of rice based coating i believe. McDonalds serve no breaded veggie burgers to go in the fryers to cross contaminate, that's why it doesn't matter.

My apologies — I was told by the staff member that it was a breaded burger, and when I looked on the allergen handout it listed wheat. Sorry to have introduced confusion.

Yes, i can see that an unknowledgeable staff member could look at the veggie dippers which look like they're coated in breadcrumbs, check the allergen list which says the veggie burger contains gluten and come to the wrong conclusion.