Finding Friendly Food

December 2023

It’s December 2023 and I’m taking a trip to England to meet my boyfriend’s family. I’m worried about seeming difficult and high maintenance when we first meet. So, I do some research and find the most amazing places for a girl who doesn’t eat wheat or dairy to dine comfortably. Besides being safe for me, it also has to taste delicious to regular eaters or, as you know, they’re likely to not let you help choose the location again. 

I eat really well the entire trip (even when I got Covid for the first time and relied on an endless stream of takeout). Let’s start at the beginning though. Breakfast. 

I’m not a big fan of eating breakfast out as I have a routine that my body seems to thrive from; eggs with sauteed veggies. But, when researching options for a potential brunch with my boyfriend’s sister and brother-in-law, I find a place called Where the Pancakes Are (yes, I went all the way to England for an American specialty), which has specialty pancake meals. They do a version of their batter that’s gluten-free and dairy-free. They also have regular batter too. It does not disappoint. Because my boyfriend is really good about eating the foods I can eat, we decide to share two types of pancakes; one savory and one sweet. For the savory we choose English breakfast: pancakes, bacon, gf sausage, roasted tomatoes, baked beans, and a fried egg. For the sweet we choose Banana marshmallow: pancakes, banana, marshmallow cream, honeycomb and caramel or chocolate sauce (I don’t think these were dairy-free so we go with maple syrup). It’s like getting to have the most delicious dessert for breakfast!

Instead of brunch with the family, we decided to do lunch, and I find a place called Niche. It’s the first 100% gluten-free restaurant in London. Their tagline is: Gluten-free but you wouldn’t know it! And I’m here to tell you, that the three other people with me wouldn’t have known they were eating gluten-free if I hadn’t told them. We start with an assortment of gluten-free breads (when’s the last time you got to eat a basket of bread at a restaurant?) and then we each move on to mains. All are served with Yorkshire pudding. Since I’ve never had a “real” one, I don’t know how to compare it. The others say it’s really good, but slightly different than what they are used to. Everyone loves their meals and I walk away feeling great about my first meeting of my boyfriend’s family. I can’t wait to go back to Niche on my next visit to London. 

As you may have read already, while I can’t eat dairy from a cow, I can tolerate goat and sheep milk, which leads to my next discovery. Halloumi cheese. I rarely see it on menus in the US, but it seems fairly common in the UK. We only have the opportunity to try it at a few places and one of our favorites is at a little coffee shop near to where we are staying in White Chapel called Grounded London. All of their food looks good and we are big fans of both their coffee and their halloumi.

Since we are in London in December we have to try a couple of holiday outings. One that I am super excited about is Christmas at Kew Gardens; an amazing light and music tour. While the lights are meant to be the highlight, they do have food and beverage areas throughout. I’m not too hopeful to find good eats, but I am wrong. We find halloumi at one stand and at another, they are serving a curry on noodles but offer to put them on gluten-free fries for me. Yum. Also, if marshmallows are your thing (we love them) they have a stand where you can buy giant marshmallows on a stick and roast them on an open fire. This is a seasonal event that sells out. We’re lucky to get tickets. Be sure to book early.

This is just a quick starting off point for this UK trip and our next stop is very exciting for me as I’ve dreamt of going to Cornwall for 25 years. It’s even more special, as it will be to celebrate my birthday. Sadly, I start to feel unwell the night before we depart.