Eating Out Dairy Free
February 2, 2012 by cassie
I was pleasantly surprised last weekend when my husband and I were away. I was a little concerned about eating out as this was the first time I was doing so since going dairy free. I figured it would be fairly easy to do but wondered how limited I would be on what I could eat on the menu.
I found that this was not hard to do at all. The first thing I realized is that simply informing our server that I was dairy intolerant and then to ask specific questions about the menu items. Our server was great, he was very friendly and easy to ask questions of. If he did not know the answer he would go and check. I was able to order pretty much what I wanted with a few substitutions.
The Dining Room Manager that night also came over to speak with me about my menu choices and what they substitutions they could make. It was great, I felt very taken care of, and that they took my dietary needs seriously.
As a result, we had a lovely dining experience and I will definitely go back there again.
I think more and more eating establishments are coming to realize the changes that people are making in their diets and adding things to their menus accordingly. For instance, at the Keg, they had a number of items on the menu with goat cheese, which for myself and other dairy intolerants, this is ok. I have also noticed some pizza places now offering gluten free pizza with goat cheese. I think they realize that in order to remain competitive and maintain customers they have to make these changes, otherwise they would eventually go out of business. This is great for those of us who are making these changes as we are still able to go out and enjoy a dinner out.
I do find though this is not the case with sugar and sadly I think that this will be the last thing to be removed. We are very addicted to sugar and though there are lots of yummy, natural alternatives out there, there are not enough people who are making this change to have the dining industry follow suit. I imagine it will come eventually but may be a slow process.
Regardless it was a pleasure to dine out knowing that I was being taken care of, had a variety of choices and knowing that I was not going to feel sick, bloated or have to run to the bathroom after dining out. Which made for a very pleasant evening after dinner as well!