I met Anya, author of Another Gluten-Free Blog, about a year ago through the NYC Celiac Disease Meetup group. Gluten-free since September 2010, Anya travels a lot for work so I thought her road-tripping tips would be a perfect guest blog post this month. Anya is also a co-owner of Mile End Bakery, specializing in both regular and gluten-free cookies!
Gluten-Free on the (Rural) Road
by Anya, Another Gluten-Free Blog
I am fortunate to live in New York City where there are plenty of gluten free options. However, I have to travel to rural Pennsylvania a fair amount for my job. At first I was nervous about finding gluten free options in very rural areas. Determined not to starve, and equally determined to find good gluten free food in rural PA, I started doing my research.
Using the Gluten Free Travel Site (glutenfreetravelsite.com) and regular Google searches, I was able to compile a list of over 30 restaurants with gluten free menus in the many areas of Pennsylvania I travel. Having all these restaurants to eat at not only makes me feel better about being gluten free on the road, but it also makes the trips more fun. Being on the road for many days at a time with only one meeting a day, I find myself able to try many of these restaurants and booking hotels based solely on their proximity to restaurants I want to try. I’ve had a lot of great meals in Pennsylvania over the last year!
However, I have also found myself in areas without any gluten free options. For these times, I highly recommend you have snacks with you. Sometimes snacks don’t cut it, though, and you need a real meal. For this reason, I recommend you not only research gluten free restaurants, but restaurants in general. Too many times have I found myself on stretches of highways with only fast food options available. I’m sure there were restaurants a few miles off the highway that could have made me a safe salad, or plain proteins and veggies, but if you don’t know where they are, they can’t help you.
When you are really in a fix, many gas stations these days offer surprisingly healthy and naturally gluten free options: yogurt, packaged veggies and dip, fruit cups, cheese, etc. If worst comes to worst, create a meal out of these options.
I haven’t let Celiac Disease keep me confined home and I hope you don’t either. To read more about my gluten free adventures please visit my blog at anothergfblog.blogspot.com
Thanks for the gluten-free travel advice! I also have good food options at home, but will be doing a lot of travel this summer, so your post came at a great time for me!