Do you ever eat something to be polite? Or to avoid waste?
I had an interesting conversation recently when Sainsbury’s sent us a box of their new Christmas range to try out and report on (thank you, Sainsbury’s!).
The box was wrapped in festive paper—the other children had assumed it was a present and discreetly ignored it—and coeliac daughter was thrilled to open it and see what Sainsbury’s are offering this year. She fell on the pack of 5 mini chocolate logs with delight: “oh, I like these!”: we had bought a pack a week or so ago, as soon as we spotted them on the shelves.
I asked her to articulate what she liked. I asked her again the next day after the second one, and again after the third mini-log…
Clearly struggling with trying to describe them, eventually she said:
“they make me want to eat more”
When I pushed her a bit, she explained that most of her packets of biscuits, cakes etc were an effort for her to finish, and that she often felt that she had to finish the packet before they went off – even if she wasn’t that keen on them.
“It’s hard, sometimes, being the only one”… (there are five of us, and only one coeliac identified – so far).
We have agreed in the past that if people make the effort to find her something gluten free to eat—maybe biscuits—she will be polite, accept one, and do her best to eat it. After all, they’ve made extra effort to be hospitable and to cater for her.
And we do dislike waste.
But maybe I haven’t made it clear that she doesn’t have to eat everything!
It is a lot easier to find good gluten free products now, and it is much less common that people offer her one of the old-style gluten-free-cardboard biscuits, so it’s less of an issue. But still, it is rare to find something that she actively wants to eat again… and Sainsbury’s have clearly nailed it with these gluten free mini chocolate logs this year.
But what do you think? Would you eat something to be polite? Do you feel you have to finish the pack of something you don’t actually want to eat, to avoid wasting it? Or have you found gluten free products that you actively look forward to eating?
(I’ll tell you more about the Sainsbury’s Christmas range another day…and I’ve already bought more of the mini chocolate logs)
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HI – I really identify with this. I was diagnosed at the age of twelve in the 1980s, and my loving parents went to extraordinary efforts to make gluten free food at home. White sauces, bread, pastry, stuffing, pizza etc. Some of which went according to plan, and some of which that didn’t. Finding a new gluten free item in the shops was a subject of huge excitement.
Now, with a massive free from aisle in our local supermarket, my dad will often pick up a packet of biscuits, cakes or jam tarts, as a ‘treat’. Only this happens at least once a week. My in-laws will do the same. The result is that I have a stack of sugary treats which I feel duty bound to slog my way through, having been bought a) with the best intentions; and b) at relative expense. And my wife refuses to help, as they are my ‘special’ items! I am loathe to throw it away, so end up stuffing it in. I’d much rather they bought me some nice fruit instead!
I used to dream of the day that gluten free goods would be stocked in my local supermarket. Now it’s here, I’m very grateful. But I would love to see more savoury things (i’ve never had a samosa, for instance, and would love a good GF quiche), not just endless permutations of cakes, biscuits and chocolate.
Hi Nick – I know things have changed a lot since the mid-90s, when we started dealing with this, so I’m sure things were even more difficult in the 1980s… and I expect this is what your father is remembering!
As for samosas, have you come across afia’s or The Indian Coeliac yet? Worth a try, I’d have thought.