Gluten-free catering

Gluten-free dish or celiac-safe meal?

A guest who avoids gluten by choice and a guest with celiac disease need different things. For the first, a dish made without wheat, barley, rye or regular oats is enough. For the second, a few crumbs from a shared cutting board or a spoon moved from the couscous to the rice can cause a reaction.

In Canada, Health Canada's position is that food labelled gluten-free should contain no gluten sources, and that gluten from cross-contamination must stay at or below 20 parts per million, the level considered protective for most people with celiac disease. Packaged food manufacturers test against that line. A catering kitchen cooking bread and pasta the same day has to be honest about what it can control.

So we use two terms. Gluten-free on a buffet card means the recipe contains no gluten ingredients. Celiac meal means the meal was prepared, packed and labelled separately using the steps below. If you have celiac guests, tell us, so we plan their meals as separate celiac meals rather than relying on buffet dishes.

How we prepare a celiac meal in a shared kitchen

• Prepared at the start of the shift, before bread, pastry or flour is used that day, on washed and sanitized surfaces.
• Dedicated boards, pans and utensils that are washed before use, and ingredients checked by label, not memory.
• No shared fryer: anything fried for a celiac meal is cooked in fresh oil, never oil used for breaded items.
• Sealed and labelled with the guest's name as soon as it is plated, and transported in a separate carrier.
• Served by a staff member who knows which meal it is, not placed on the general buffet.

This lowers the risk a great deal, but a shared kitchen cannot promise zero exposure. Guests with severe sensitivity should decide with that information, and we would rather you hear it from us now.

Where gluten hides in catering food

Wheat bread and pasta are obvious. These are the ingredients that catch kitchens out:

• Regular soy sauce (brewed with wheat) in marinades and dressings; we use tamari labelled gluten-free
• Malt vinegar, beer batter and beer-braised meats
• Flour dusted on meat before searing, and roux in sauces, gravies and soups
• Store-bought stock and bouillon, some spice blends and seasoning salts
• Asafoetida (hing), which is often cut with wheat flour and is common in South Asian cooking
• Bulgur in tabbouleh, freekeh, couscous, farro, spelt and barley
• Oats, unless they are specifically sold as gluten-free
• Seitan, the wheat-based protein used in some vegan dishes
• Panko or breadcrumbs used as a binder in meatballs, kofta and crab cakes

Menus that are gluten-free without trying

The easiest gluten-free menu is one where nothing had to be swapped out. Much of the Levantine and South Asian cooking we do is naturally free of gluten: grilled chicken and lamb with garlic sauce, rice pilafs, dal, chana masala, saag, raita, roasted vegetables with tahini, and salads with a lemon and olive oil dressing. On those menus we make one change, such as quinoa instead of bulgur in the tabbouleh, and serve the flatbread on its own board at the end of the line.

For a canapé reception, bases such as cucumber rounds, endive leaves, polenta squares, rice paper and potato rösti replace toast and pastry, so gluten-free guests can eat most of what is passed rather than waiting for one special tray.

Buffets, grazing tables and boxed lunches

Buffets are where most cross-contact happens, usually from guests, not cooks. Croutons get scattered, a spoon moves between dishes, and bread crumbs fall into the salad. On a mixed buffet we place gluten-free dishes before bread and pastry in the line, give every dish its own utensil, and keep bread on a separate board.

On a grazing table, crackers and bread touch almost everything, so celiac guests get their own plated board instead of eating from the shared spread. For boxed lunches, gluten-free boxes are sealed, labelled and packed apart from sandwich boxes.

What to tell us

When you request a quote, give us the number of guests who avoid gluten and, separately, the number with celiac disease or a wheat allergy. Include names if meals should be labelled. If a guest reacts to very small amounts, say so: it changes how we plan their meal and what we recommend for the rest of the menu.