Catering for all

I’ve been intolerant to lactose since I was born, extremely so when I was four, resulting in a stint in hospital on drips (as quite brilliantly I also became allergic to sucrose too). My brother too couldn’t ‘do’ dairy so my mother cooked all our food from scratch to ensure that we weren’t eating what disagreed with us.

Now over the years the intolerance has got better but also I suppose you get used to having a certain amount of IBS when you eat something you shouldn’t. I have in recent years started thinking more closely about what I’m putting in my body and have been looking into various diets, allergies and other information to do with food. What

I have found is that the amount of people in the UK alone that have intolerance to certain foods is far higher than we think, most people not even realising that they have a problem and putting their bloated bellies or dicky tummies down to ‘something they’ve eaten’ but not once presuming that they need to avoid that food.

We’re slowly switching on to this fact, the Coeliac Society and other groups bringing attention to it and also some food establishments now catering for various dietary issues. But so many eateries still fail to cater for an ever-expanding group of people that would like to see their diets catered for on the main menus.

Now I’m not suggesting for a moment that you could cater for every dietary issue but I do think that a great deal of eateries could do more. For example including one or more gluten free meals on the menu, perhaps a vegan one? You probably already have a meal choice that fits the bill but don’t tell your customers this. With a small amount of planning it’s not too difficult to produce gluten or dairy free meals and then take it step by step with other options.

Franks Bar is a great example; due to one of the owner’s relatives being diagnosed as a coeliac they have since created a separate gluten free menu as they have realised how difficult it is to find places to eat where this is on offer. I can testify that their gluten free chocolate cake is to die for! Once people with allergies find a place that caters for them they stick with it as they are few and far between. The Cockerel in North Walsham also lists a good range of gluten free items on it’s menu.

It wasn’t so long ago that vegetarian food used to be tricky to find yet now all menus have at least one option on there and on many occasions I have been out with carnivorous friends who have chosen to go veggy just because it sounds delicious.

The commonest offenders are dairy and gluten. It’s actually pretty easy to create dishes that cater for both, in fact you probably already have a handful on your menu that fits the bill or just needs a slight tweak. Add a little symbol on your menu to show that you’re on the ball and I can tell you that those of us with intolerances or allergies will thank you for it.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to issues that people have with their food and we plan to shed a little light on this over the coming months in the hope that more Norfolk eateries become passionate about catering for those with dietary issues.

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Editorial by: Sophie Jewry, EatoutNorfolk.co.uk

Tel: 01362 853424 Email: sophie@eatoutnorfolk.co.uk www. eatoutnorfolk.co.uk