Let's Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten And Allergy Free [Paperback]

Kim Koeller (Author), Robert La France (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2005 | Series: Let's Eat Out!

The award-winning Let's Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten and Allergy Free provides delicious menu items to order in 7 popular cuisines (American Steak and Seafood, Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Mexican and Thai) with questions to ask to safely order your meal.

The information presented in the first edition Let's Eat Out! is based upon 3+ years of research, personal experience in managing dozens of food allergies and celiac / coeliac disease, 2+ million miles of travel and quality assurance reviews from culinary professionals and individuals following special diets worldwide.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Editorial Review for Let’s Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten and Allergy Free (ISBN 0-9764845-0-1) Books like these are the best option for empowering readers to dine safely -- Gluten Intolerance Group Newsletter

Defensive guide identifying hundreds of often unexpected sources of food allergens in restaurant meals -- The Nutrition Reporter

Let's Eat Out! offers readers an exclusive perspective on innovative strategies for pursuit of an allergen-free healthy, yet satisfactory diet -- Midwest Book Review

Built on a framework of empowerment, Let s Eat Out! dedicates itself to the world s most cherished cuisines while managing 10 food bugaboos: corn, dairy, eggs, fish, gluten, peanuts, shellfish, soy, tree nuts, and wheat. The authors provide readers an overview of more than 175 menu items to order when having American, Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Mexican, and Thai fare. Let’s Eat Out is a thorough reference assistant to employ at home and when traveling. For those of us who counsel individuals of this nature infrequently, Let’s Eat Out is a useful guide to help teach folks to dine out safely while maintaining dietary compliance. Packaged into a superbly professional, high-quality text, Let s Eat Out is useful for both patients and practitioners -- Today's Dietitian Magazine

Food allergies shouldn't stop anyone from traveling and dining--and a new guide Let's Eat Out! can help --The Oakland Press

I've always found it stressful eating out with celiac disease. Until now, here are nearly 500 pages of useful information for people with celiac disease, and/or any of the major food allergies, who want to be able to eat out safely. And the most reassuring part of all is that it is written by someone who knows how important it is to get the information right. Kim Koeller has celiac disease, and over a dozen food-related allergies and sensitivities. Her life has revolved around travel so she has eaten out extensively. And she has a passion for research, demonstrated by the extraordinary amount of detail included in this book. Robert La France s background is in the restaurant industry, so he brings a wealth of information about what happens behind the scenes in restaurants, common ingredients in a huge range of cuisines, and what restaurant staff need to know to enable them to keep their guests safe -- Coeliac New Zealand Magazine

Provides prodigious quantities of information, dozens of easy reference tables… and essential phrases in the main European Languages -- Foods Matter Newsletter

Laymen’s terms make the reading easy and there is excellent indexing for the entire book -- Clinton Daily News

Let’s Eat Out! is a visa, giving diners a full range of information about major cuisines, ingredients and preparations -- Restaurants & Institutions Magazine

With this wonderful new guide, food allergies shouldn’t stop anyone from enjoying life while eating out and traveling -- GetBookReviews.com

Comprehensive “encyclopedia” about gluten, dairy, soy, nuts and other foods that, undetected, could send allergic people to emergency room -- Luxury Las Vegas Magazine

From the Publisher

Let's Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten and Allergy Free book series is the winner of the Best Language Guide Award and finalist for Best Health & Diet Book, Best Health & Wellness Book, Best Travel Guide and Best First Book Non-Fiction Award, as recent as 2008. It has also received 5 out of 5 stars from Midwest Book Review and Foreword Magazine Clarion Review as well as 4 out of 4 stars from BookReview.com

To bring you this pioneering series, authors Kim Koeller and Robert La France collaborated with over 75 global experts and individuals impacted by special diets. Based on over 3 years of extensive research, Let's Eat Out! is focus-group driven, quality assurance tested and endorsed by hundreds of experts worldwide.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: R & R Publishing, LLC; 1st Edition edition (September 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976484501
• ISBN-13: 978-0976484509
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #370,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Resource For Dining Out Gluten Free, January 25, 2007

By 

Sandra MacLean (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Let's Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten And Allergy Free (Paperback)

Eating when you're away from your own home is always a challenge when you are on a special diet.

In "Let's Eat Out!" Koeller and La France have put together an impressive amount of information to make life easier for travelers and people who just want to eat out with family and friends.

I found the book a bit difficult at first because there is just so much content to sort out. It's definitely not a book to digest in one sitting!

I soon realized it really is a combination of broad reference guide and quick reference "cheat sheets." Once that became clear, it was much easier to scan and use the table of contents and index to find specific information. You can choose to just use the quick guides or go to the more detailed explanations.

All in all, the authors cover a very broad topic in an orderly fashion that makes it easy to locate information for a variety of situations. They use 7 common cuisine types, from American Steak and Seafood to Thai, to analyze the issues a diner can expect to face. They offer comments on the ingredients, the way food is prepared and on likely sources of hidden cross contamination.

After you read a couple of these, you begin to see the patterns and it would not be so difficult to apply the same process to another type of food. As they point out, it's all about educating yourself and learning what questions to ask.

Poring through their food/menu analysis, I discovered to my dismay that the item I had been selecting from a fast food restaurant most likely contains hidden gluten that I would not have thought to question. I did wonder why I didn't feel good every time I ate there!

Not only does the book cover information about individual foods, styles of cuisine, and 10 common food allergens, it also provides specific information about travel including contact information for individual airlines and the special diets they provide, contact information for associations and organizations in many parts of the world and even some translation phrases.

I'd recommend "Let's Eat Out!" as a valuable reference book. It's especially useful for those who frequently eat out or travel and even better, those who'd like to eat out more but have hesitated to take the risk. It could open up a whole new world.

The authors deserve the recognition that their book received as a Benjamin Franklin award finalist for 2006 in the Health (Wellness/Nutrition) category.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For gluten intolerance and food sensitivities, January 19, 2007

By 

Alisa Marie Fleming "GoDairyFree.org" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten And Allergy Free (Paperback)

"Let's Eat Out!" covers a very difficult topic, restaurant dining for people with food allergies and intolerances. For adults who should avoid top allergens due to mild to moderate food allergies and intolerances, this can be a very useful book. I have already referenced it a few times for some restaurant inspiration, outside of my usual Asian selections.

The book itself is stylishly laid out with color-coded chapters, strategically placed photographs, useful charts, and sample menus. It addresses ten of the most common food allergens: dairy, eggs, wheat, gluten (an intolerance), soy, peanuts, tree nuts, corn, fish, and shellfish.

It should be noted, that this book was written with celiac disease, multiple food "sensitivities", and gluten intolerance in mind. It may not be very appropriate for those who have life-threatening food allergies or severe intolerances. This is not to blame the authors. The various styles of food preparation combined with a high risk of cross-contamination in food service kitchens, make this a complicated area to address. Though, as one food allergy mom pointed out to me, the "Allergy-Free" title is a bit deceiving in this respect.

Also, for those who do have true food allergies, this book should not be used as a dining bible, but more as a suggestion based resource for further research and diligence. As someone who lives with a milk protein allergy, I unfortunately noted many errors with respect to the foods listed as "not containing the allergen." Guacamole (often made with sour cream), margarine (frequently contains lactose and/or milk protein), and sausages (many brands contain cheese) were just a few that caused me to raise the red flag. Your own questions and food label reading would still be required when utilizing this book.

Luckily, the authors do relay what questions to ask, and in many different languages. Kim Koeller has traveled extensively while living with multiple food allergies. This is well evidenced by the resources provided, including a multi-lingual phrase section and what seems to be a very useful airline guide. For those most interested in travel, the authors of "Let's Eat Out!" have also produced a "Multi-Lingual Phrase Passport" for food allergies that is pocket-sized. I thought this was a very handy little guide!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great gift!, October 25, 2005

By 

Marcus "D" "Marc" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten And Allergy Free (Paperback)

My Aunt bought me this book at an allergy convetion. I've only had it for a week, but as someone who has recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease, I was happy to find it easy to understand and can imagine it'll be very useful. Thank you for writing a book that someone who is not a doctor can understand.