Many people eat out a lot on vacation and during the Holidays and my family is no exception.
Getting a decent restaurant meal that won’t give you a headache or make you feel sluggish the next day is challenging enough, but for those who are gluten-free, it can be nearly impossible.
While I personally do not eat gluten-free all the time, I make an effort to avoid conventionally prepared wheat in restaurants. Â I have observed over the years that while the organic wheat I grind fresh and carefully prepare traditionally at home by either sprouting, soaking or sour leavening causes me no trouble, restaurant pasta, bread, croutons, and other processed wheat items make me feel extremely tired and sometimes achy for a day or two.
So, when I discovered that a family gathering was scheduled to go to dinner at The Olive Garden a few weeks ago, you can imagine that I was not all that excited at the prospect.
The Olive Garden could aptly be called the “Pasta Capital of America”. Â The dishes are embarrassingly huge with pasta and bread flowing nonstop from the moment you sit down until you roll out the door a couple of hours later. Even if you order a nonpasta dish, you get an obligatory side of spaghetti that could feed two people by itself.
While the food at The Olive Garden tastes ok, how it makes you feel is quite another matter. My husband and I like to joke that those who eat at The Olive Garden likely collapse on the couch in front of the TV for 3 hours straight after getting home. Either that or an emergency stop at the 7-Eleven for a Big Gulp coffee would be necessary to stay awake!
I ended up arriving at the Olive Garden before the rest of my family, so I had the opportunity to chat with the hostess for a few minutes before getting seated. I was surprised to discover during our conversation that The Olive Garden has a gluten-free menu, complete with Penne Rigate and salad without croutons. Non-pasta dishes were served with gluten-free penne pasta.
After looking at the menu for a few minutes, I asked about the ingredients of the gluten-free pasta. Â I was thinking it was probably rice or quinoa pasta, which would have been fine with me.
I use arsenic-free rice or quinoa pasta (brand) myself at home occasionally, and a pasta meal once in a while is not going to be problematic within the context of a nutrient dense diet the majority of the time.
I really wanted to order pasta as ordering steak or fish at a pasta restaurant is not usually a good idea. Ordering the restaurant specialty is the way to go if you want to get a decent tasting meal.
Unfortunately, the news from the waitress was disappointing, to say the least. She told me the gluten-free pasta was made primarily from corn and not organic corn either.
While I don’t have an issue with corn, I definitely have an issue with genetically modified (GMO) corn which has been linked with all manner of serious health problems and was found to induce huge tumors in rats (this study was quietly retracted during Thanksgiving due to the messy public relations it was causing the biotech industry, not because of bad science).
Since basically all nonorganic corn nowadays is GMO, ordering a gluten-free dish at the Olive Garden was definitely a no go. However, the most disturbing thing about the GMO gluten-free menu was the children’s Penne Rigate with Marinara.
GMOs served to vulnerable, allergic children? Â Unconscionable.
I ended up ordering the parmesan encrusted tilapia that was absolutely terrible (it tasted like microwaved dish soap, no kidding). Â At least the asparagus on the side was good.
Eating Gluten-Free? Â Watch out for the GMOs!
My experience at The Olive Garden got me to thinking about the silent and very serious GMO problem that exists with supposedly healthier gluten free products.
Examination of typical foods stocking the gluten-free aisle at the supermarket and at the health food store in the days after my Olive Garden experience confirmed my suspicion that those who choose to eat gluten-free processed foods have unknowingly exchanged gluten for another ingredient that is much, much worse: GMOs.
Glutino, one of the biggest gluten-free brands, is prominent in both supermarket and health food stores. I checked the ingredients of 10 of their products and every single one contained GMO corn, GMO soy, GMO sugar and/or GMO canola.
I realize that Glutino has gone on record supporting the Non-GMO Verified Project Seal, but as of this writing, many of their products are still loaded wtih GMOs and dangerous to consume.
It is possible to make gluten-free items also free of GMOs?
Absolutely. Here are a few brands I checked that offer both gluten free and nonGMO options: Andean Dream, Enjoylife, and Pamela’s Simplebites.
If you have issues with gluten and have decided to go gluten-free even going so far as to make gluten-free flour at home, make sure you continue to read labels and ask about ingredients at restaurants! Â Even if a product proclaims itself “gluten-free”, it is not necessarily any better and might be far worse for your health.
I’m allergic to both wheat and corn plus some other things. My husband LOVES Olive Garden and choses it for his birthday dinner and Father’s Day. I have tried everything on their gluten-free menu and none of it is worth eating! On the plus side, if you talk to the manager they will try to accommodate you, but unfortunately a pasta place doesn’t really have good ingredients outside of their specialty.
Yes, well…like rice noodles are much more nutritionally dense? In America there are lots of choices…it’s a rare meal out and they are trying to accommodate, not serve super foods.
I rarely eat at the Olive Garden, but when I do I order their Minestrone Soup…it’s actually very good and has a nice balance of spices, beans and vegetables. Maybe not super healthy, but better than a plate full of pasta!
I have banned myself from the Olive Garden. I get “glutened” every time I eat it; despite my best efforts.
We usually only eat out on our way to the airport coming home so if we do get contaminated, our symptoms won’t show until we’re home.
Good article. I’m curious as to which 10 Glutino products you checked? I’m all for GMO labeling requirements on packages so I’d like to see photos of the Glutino products you checked for GMO ingredients.
Sharing photos of the ingredients list would be very helpful to discern GMO ingredients especially since GMO Labeling is a hot topic right now.
Olive garden is also loaded with dairy for those that are allergic or sensitive which many are. It is also loaded with soy. They do not use olive oil it is soy oil. We asked. We cannot eat there at all. At a chain restaurant you might as well assume that it is heavily processed. Just because they have a gf menu or allergy chart doesn’t mean there is anything allergen free to actually eat.
I guess I’m in lala land, but I have to say…..Once my son was diagnosed as being gluten intolerant, I have been sooo grateful for the increasingly greater number of palatable gluten-free products so that my son can eat with everyone else when he is out and about. No longer does he have to bring all of his own food everywhere.
Genetically modified corn is ubiquitous- and it seems to me that’s the real issue here, not gluten free.
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I don’t see how eating gluten-free is any more fraught with “dirty little secrets” than any other food, thus I resent what I find to be a rather hysterical approach of this article. A cheap journalistic trick, preying on the necessity of some to diligently be gluten-free, to get people to read the article.
I can appreciate your first comment. I am gluten intolerant, and sometimes it’s just enough to be able to go out to lunch with my coworkers, so I too am grateful for GF menus. Since it’s almost impossible to avoid GMO’s entirely, I can live with it at the occasional meal, and Olive Garden is about the last place I’d go looking for organic ingredients, so I’d also have to say that’s no “dirty little secret.” It’s certainly good to be aware of what is in your food, but for social reasons, I am so happy anytime I can find a GF menu.
That is weird… Now it shows up and says waiting for moderation.. OK.