| By :
Mark Etinger
Those with families or who live with roommates know that the kitchen can be a hazardous zone for people with a gluten allergy. Cross contamination can be difficult to avoid if you're not careful. But just like you don't want to walk into a kitchen with nothing but gluten rich foods, your family doesn't necessarily want to be forced into eating nothing but gluten free products. It's all about compromise and learning to work together so that everyone is healthy and happy. While you may first be tempted to only stock the kitchen with gluten free pasta, snacks, and bread, it's really not fair to the others in the household. Not to mention it's unrealistic. If your child is the one with the allergy, he needs to learn that he has to make food choices in life and he's often going to be in situations where there is way more gluten food than not. As long as you keep a good balance of both, you're showing your family there are many tasty options on both sides of the food spectrum. The biggest concern in the kitchen is cross contamination and everyone has to be conscious of it. All it takes is one little mistake and the food is compromised and someone could get sick. If preparing two separate meals, work in two separate areas. If you have to share space, don't share cookware and utensils. Once you use the same spoon in the regular meal as the one that is gluten free, you have just ruined the meal. Now this does not imply that you have to buy two sets of everything -which some people actually do. You and your family just need to be meticulous about cleaning kitchen items. It's rather easy to get gluten off of most items, especially non-stick. One exception is for colanders and pasta servers. Pasta often leaves a residue that is hard to scrub off. Clearly label these items. How you store food is also important. You never know when a crumb from the regular cookies might fall onto the box of gluten free cookies. Just don't risk it and keep food in both the refrigerator and pantry separate. When storing items in containers, ensure they are properly sealed and protected. The kitchen is always the hub of all activity, especially for holidays and dinner parties. Most people like to be helpful with the cooking but this can be a scary offering when one is worried about gluten. Before you tell helpful guests they absolutely cannot help, try teaching them the rules of gluten free food. Spreadable food is the toughest to worry about. If people need a dollop of mayo, tell your guests to shake it off the spoon but don't spread! Use a separate utensil for spreading so crumbs do not enter into the jar. With proper rules and techniques firmly implanted into your family's minds, your kitchen will no longer be a danger zone for your gluten free products and your health.
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