Fructose Friendly Dining Out

A reader sent the following email to us:

I am a fellow sufferer of fructose malabsorption. I found myself on Friday night in the middle of the city stuck for places to eat.
Finding wheat free is the easy part, but onion free seems to exclude so much (it’s in so many sauces and the basis for most dishes), that we ended up at Melbourne Central food court with tasteless salads feeling rather depressed.
I’ve managed to modify diets at home with ease, as we tend to cook everything from scratch which is actually a blessing in disguise, but eating out continuously proves a problem.
There is increasing awareness about gluten free at restaurants now, but nowhere is fructose friendly, or able to be modified to fructose free because of the onion. I was wondering if you’d come across or knew about any places in and around the city that you could find a quick, relatively cheap eat without having to worry about onion or simply order a bowl of chips (boy am I sick of ordering chips).
I thought maybe it would make a good blog entry.
If not, and in the future I come across some myself I will let you know.

We couldn't agree more. Onion is everywhere and very hard to avoid. We have the same problem and get very disheartened to the point that we would rather not go out at all versus eating something and end up regretting it.

So, we have started a list of the places that we know of. These are places that either adertise themselves as being fructose friendly and/or they are flexible enough with their menu and attitude to enable diners to avoid fructose un-friendly ingredients.

The list isn't large, but with your help, we hope it will become so.

The usual disclaimer applies: Check with the venue first. Talk to the staff and let them know your requirements. We have no connection with these businesses other than as happy customers.

• Silly Yaks Bakery - 105 High St.,Northcote Phone: (03) 9482 3999
  This cafe/bakery will be well known to coeliacs in Melbourne as they sell a large range of GF cakes, bread, pizza bases and even their own range of GF beer. This is a must visit location especially for a great breakfast that goes most of the day.
  www.sillyyak.com.au


• S.Komatsu Restaurant - 62 Wellington Parade,East Melbourne Phone: 03 9415 7266
  We haven't visited here as yet but S.Komatsu advertises itself as gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly. Some friends have dined there and really enjoyed it. This will be a dinner destination for us very soon. UPDATE: Unfortunately, S.Komatsu is currently closed
  www.nexgeneats.com/s.komatsu/index.html


• Crust Pizza - Various Locations
  This is a new gourmet style pizza chain that also is very aware of food allergies. Gluten and Dairy free pizza bases can be requested and you can build your own pizza using the high quality, fresh ingredients that they have. (None of that pink, processed stuff that other pizza joints call ham).
  Crust have been awarded the Heart Foundation Heart Tick for 6 of their pizzas. Reported in "The Age on 12 Feb 2008
  www.crust.com.au


• Sandbelt Club Hotel - 630 South Road Moorabbin, VIC 3189 Phone:(03) 9555 6899
  This hotel was recently renovated and the bistro now offers gluten free options and the staff are very knowledgeable and very willing to please. Dishes such as the roast of the day and fish of the day are my choice as the fish (salmon sometimes) is simply grilled and presented with a good selection of steamed vegetables.
  www.sandbeltclubhotel.com.au

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Please let us know if you try somewhere and would like others to know about it. Email us at: glutenfreevictoria@gmail.com

Related Links:

• "The Age" - Article on Fructose Malabsorption

The Irresistible Gluten Free Wheat Free Food Show - Report

The Show has come and gone and was definately bigger and better than last year.


Like many hundreds, if not thousands, of others, we were at Jeffs Shed well before opening time of 10:00am on Saturday and lined up. The photo shows some of the eager showgoers who were lined up after us. This line, extended OUT the door and on to Clarendon St! (There were many hundreds in front of us.)

Once the doors opened, we were soon inside and the circulating and sampling began.

Some of the samples we tasted included:

• Chocolate Soy Milk
  
• Pizza bases
  
• Beer
  
• Biscuits
  
• Maple syrup. Much like creamed honey
  
• Several Dips
  
• Falafel balls
  
• Spam (Who knew that Spam has been gluten free for a very long time?? The Spicy Spam certainly had a kick to it!! I suspect it upset my stomach though.)
  

It was great to catch up with Rick & Rhonda of Uncle Ricks (Now part of Patties) We asked if there was any chance of some of our old favourite products turning up under the Patties label? Consumers, like us, will have to convince Patties that there is a market for the products so get your emails, letters etc. in to Patties. That is only the first hurdle though. Then the supermarkets have to stock the product. That can be difficult also. The more people that put in their requests, the higher chance that the product will get into production.

Very similar story over at the Healtheries stand where we asked about their Simple Bread mix that we love as it produces a great tasting loaf of white bread. It has disappeared from the supermarket shelves.
Seems that the supermarkets weren't selling enough and have now dropped the product. Healtheries are looking at maybe selling the mix via their website but that is not a certainty. Again, if you like the product, make sure that you let them know. We will.

There were several producers of pizza bases with their wares for sampling and sale. This was great to see. It has been difficult to find a pizza base that is both gluten and dairy free that has a decent taste and texture. Hopefully that is about to change with all these new offerings. (I still think that Uncle Ricks pizza bases were the best I've ever had. I hope they will bring them back)


This year seemed to be geared more towards manufacturers and suppliers of products, but few (if any) local restaurants and cafes had stalls this year. Which is a shame, as finding somewhere suitable to eat out that is gluten free is both difficult and stressful.

A big Thanks to Sue Shepherd and her team for putting this all together. It must be a hell of a job. We look forward to next years show.

Irresistible Gluten Free Wheat Free Food Show

The Irresistible Gluten Free Wheat Free Food Show is on at Jeffs Shed (aka the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre) this weekend, 20 & 21 October, 2007.

This show is the creation of Sue Shepherd, a Melbourne based dietian specialising in coeliac disease (and fructose malabsorption). (I am sure you will read more about Sue in this blog as she has published some great recipe books and also produces a range of lollies)

Get full details of the show (and Sue Shepherd) at http://www.coeliac.com.au/

2007 will be the second year of the show. 2006 was a one day event in Melbourne and was huge. We attended along with several thousand others all circulating through the displays and sampling many of the products that were on offer. (It was shoulder to shoulder!)

We look forward to seeing all the new products that have just hit the market or will be in the future. (Last year, Freedom Foods were giving out samples of their crumbed chicken and fish products that were not available in stores until well after the event)

If you are a manufacturer/supplier then my tip is to make sure that you have PLENTY of samples available to give away. I believe that many suppliers ran out very early in the day last year.

See you there!!


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Related Links:

• Report on the 2007 Show

Mother Earth Popcorn...Gone

A favorite snack of ours has been Mother Earth Popcorn. Very tasty and with none of the added rubbish that is in many other snack foods.

Lately, though, it has become very hard to find in supermarkets. A visit to their website at www.motherearthfoods.net ominously does not show the popcorn as one of their products!. A quick email was sent and the following reply was received:

"Sadly the Mother Earth popcorn is no longer being manufactured."

Interestingly, Mother Earth is a brand of Cadbury-Schweppes with the products being manufactured in New Zealand. No reason was given for the product withdrawal.

It's a shame that the popcorn is no more. We will miss it.

UPDATE There has been plenty of interest in this blog entry and I am not surprised.
If you would like to enquire/complain yourself, then email:

consumer.services.asia.pacific@ap.csplc.com

The Impact of a Gluten Free & Dairy Free Diet on Autism

I stumbled upon on interesting article in the Brisbane Times newspaper regarding the impact of a gluten free & dairy free diet on children with Autism, ADHD, asthma & allergies.

Brisbane Times: "A Fresh Approach" Anne Susskind 10 May, 2007

Uncle Rick's available now

At last it is good to see a few of the Uncle Rick's/Patties staples starting to appear in my local Coles supermarket.

I bought Partie Pies, Big Meat Pies and some Sticky Date Puddings all of which are dairy free and appearing to be fructose friendly.

We've also noticed a new section on the Patties website specifically for the new gluten free range from Uncle Rick. The site is new and still needs some work as there is no ingredient lists. See www.patties.com.au/glutenfree/

We hope that lots of people will buy these products and spur them on to extend the product range to include pizza bases and pikelets which we are really missing at our house.

Uncle Rick & Patties Update

In an earlier post (Where is Uncle Rick?) we mentioned that Patties (and the old Uncle Ricks) were launching their new gluten free, dairy free range on the 16th of April to be made available via Coles. Well, the 16th came and went and we still hadn't seen anything in store.

However, we have been advised today (30th April) by Coles that the products will start appearing in store from Monday the 7th of May, 2007. (Just one week away)

We'll be on the lookout for them. Let us know if you see them and what you think.