Family, Friends & Dates

So someone you love can't eat gluten, and you've offered to cook. Brave. Thank you. Here's everything you need to know, in the order you'll need it.

1. The obvious suspects

Wheat, barley and rye. Also their less famous cousins: spelt, durum, semolina, couscous, bulgur, farro and kamut. Spelt is not a loophole, no matter what the bakery says.

Shopping in Switzerland? On labels, look for:

• Weizen (wheat)
• Dinkel (spelt)
• Gerste (barley)
• Roggen (rye)
• Malz (malt)

2. The sneaky ones

Gluten loves hiding in places you'd never think to look:

• Soy sauce (use tamari labelled gluten-free)
• Stock cubes, gravy and anything thickened with flour
• Maggi seasoning. Yes, really.
• Beer, malt and malt vinegar
• Sausages, burgers and anything breaded
• Salad dressings, marinades and spice mixes
• Oats, unless they're labelled gluten-free. Even then, ask first: some coeliacs can't eat any oats.
• Lentils and other dried pulses. They're gluten-free, but often packed in the same factories as wheat and barley, so stray grains sneak in. Always pick through them and rinse.

3. Crumbs are the enemy

Even small amounts of gluten matter for someone with coeliac disease. Picking the croutons off the salad doesn't work, however carefully you do it.

In the kitchen:

• Use a clean toaster, or toaster bags
• Give us our own butter, jam and spreads, or use a clean knife every time
• Don't reuse pasta water, frying oil or the colander
• Skip wooden spoons and boards, because crumbs love to hide in them
• Wipe surfaces, and wash your hands after touching bread
• Cook the gluten-free food first, and keep it covered and away from the bread basket
• Give it its own serving spoon

4. Read the label (all of it, every time)

Congratulations: you're about to become a very fast reader of very small print. Bring your glasses to the supermarket. Ingredient lists are printed in a font size clearly designed by someone who has never had to read one.

Gluten turns up in places you would never guess:

• Yoghurts, especially the ones with crunchy bits, cereal or "fibre"
• Chocolate, anything with wafer, biscuit, crispy bits or malt
• Cold cuts and sausages: ham, salami and pâté can contain wheat as a filler
• Crisps: the flavourings, not the potato
• Ice cream with cookie pieces, and the cone, obviously
• Liquorice, which is mostly wheat flour
• Cornflakes, which usually contain barley malt
• Ovomaltine. Sorry, Switzerland.
• Ready meals, soups and veggie burgers

Two golden rules:

• Same brand, different flavour, different ingredients. The plain one being safe doesn't make the strawberry one safe.
• Recipes change. The yoghurt that was fine last month might not be today. Read it every time.

Allergens are in bold in the ingredients list. If you see wheat, barley, rye or oats, or "may contain gluten", put it back. The crossed-grain symbol is your new best friend.

5. A word about beer

Beer gets its own section. Obviously.

Regular beer is made from barley, so it's out. "Gluten-free" beer comes in two very different types:

Naturally gluten-free. Brewed from grains that never had gluten in the first place: rice, sorghum, millet, buckwheat or corn.

Gluten-removed. Brewed from barley or wheat, then treated so the gluten drops below the legal limit. In Europe these can be labelled "gluten-free", but the ingredients still say barley malt or wheat, in bold. Some coeliacs drink them without problems. Others react to them, and some avoid them on principle.

How to tell them apart: ignore the front of the bottle and read the ingredients on the back. If it says barley or wheat, it's the gluten-removed kind.

When in doubt, buy the naturally gluten-free one, or ask which one we drink. We'll happily tell you. At length.

6. Dates

Pick a spot from one of our guides, and you've already won points. Remember that regular beer is made from barley, and not every "gluten-free" beer is the same (see above). And if you've just finished a croissant, maybe have a glass of water before the goodnight kiss. We're just saying.

7. When in doubt, ask

We'd much rather answer ten questions than spend the night feeling ill. Asking isn't annoying. It's the nicest thing you can do.