Going home for the holidays in the past meant indulging in all of my favorite local restaurants that I’ve missed while being away from Happy Valley. This year was my first visit back as a gluten-free eater. Alas, no more blueberry muffins, sliced and grilled from my former favorite breakfast place.

Knowing Thai food is generally a safe go to, I looked up my favorite Thai restaurant online and after digging through some Google reviews I found a few confirming their gluten-free options were available. My family usually gravitates towards a more American, meat and potato diet, but thankfully everyone was willing to try it! I called and made a reservation, explaining one person in the party was gluten-free and they reassured me that was no issue. Overall, my family had a fabulous time!

When we arrived, our waitress handed out menus, collected drink orders and was extremely helpful when I clarified I was gluten-free. I asked which menu items were gluten-free or able to be made gluten-free and she said she would be right back. A few minutes later she appeared with a blank receipt she had written on the back of, apologizing for her handwriting, she said these were all of the gluten-free dishes.

I was thankful for so many delicious options and her willingness to go out of her way to help me, but I was also perplexed. Why would a restaurant with so many gluten-free options not have them indicated on the menu? Or at the very least, a reusable list?

That got me thinking, what do other gluten-free eaters prefer when going out to a restaurant? Do they, like myself, prefer a separate menu for gluten-free options or do they want indications on the “regular” menu because they don’t want to feel special?

I did what any curious person does and asked the internet - specifically I went to the gluten-free Raleigh Facebook group and added a poll asking for their opinion. In less than a day, over 200 gluten-eaters responded.

57% replied that they just want options indicated on the regular menu. Someone commented, elaborating with this note

“It feels so bad when they go....ohhhh, let me go get the special menu.”

I suspect that this breakdown of preference is likely based on how long someone has been living a gluten-free life.

Someone who has been eating gluten-free for a year or more are likely comfortable with what they can and cannot eat, have less anxiety about speaking with the restaurant staff about being gluten-free, and they feel “normal” again so they wanted to be treated “normal”.

On the other hand, someone who is newly adopting the gluten-free diet may be emotionally triggered by the options they once loved and can no longer have. This may sound minimal but until someone is used to this major life change, using combined menus can feel like a world of “no!” if you have limited GF options. Very quickly a menu that looks like the first image starts to read more like the latter.

So what should a restaurant offer gluten-free guests, a labeled “normal” menu or a gluten-free digital menu?

Why not both? Simply adding a gluten-free icon to dishes that are gluten-free or can be made gluten-free go a long way, instead of a guessing game with the staff or them wasting their precious time writing out safe options.

Re-printing isn’t always an affordable option, especially with the price of paper goods these days. In the meantime, eateries, utilize your website for listing a separate gluten-free menu. This helps encourage those gluten-free eaters, that only go to restaurants they have done prior research on, to try your establishment. It’s a much better customer experience finding an official and accurate menu rather than relying on outdated blurry pictures of your menu on Google.

The world is too short staffed to waste time re-inventing the gf menu, let me take that off of their plate.

Do gluten-free eaters prefer a specific gluten-free menu?

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