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My Gluten-Free Thanksgiving (and Holiday) Experiences
While this year might be different for a lot of us due to the (still) ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are still gearing up to celebrate the holidays in some way. Whether you’re celebrating with only a small bubble of people, the whole family, or on your own in self-quarantine, food is likely a big part of the festivities. With American Thanksgiving just around the corner, I have been thinking a lot about how the holidays have changed for me since my Celiac Disease diagnosis, and since the onset of all of my food sensitivities.
At first, I used to just cut out any of the foods that I couldn’t have. Year by year, food sensitivity by food sensitivity, I had reduced my holiday food down to a couple of sides (modified slightly) and just some fruit for dessert. I was never a big fan of turkey, so not being able to eat the one we usually got didn’t bug me. What did bug me, however, was the lack of food I was really eating. While I could technically eat those things and be fine, it’s really hard to watch everyone enjoying their food when you’re stuck with some plain, boiled sweet potatoes and a couple of dry green beans.
Of all the holidays, it seems like Thanksgiving is often the most food-centered, particularly in the U.S. When I was in Canada it was on a Monday, so it never really felt like as big of a deal. But once I moved down to Florida and gained even more family members, I learned that my sad version of gluten-free Thanksgiving food wasn’t going to cut it. Not only was Thanksgiving a bigger deal for me than it had ever been, but I was becoming far better at cooking (thanks to Peter).
Now that I’ve been few a few years of holidays and I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I can cook, how I can cook it, and how to handle eating gluten-free Thanksgiving food around regular food, I have a pretty good system down. I should note that there’s always the option of a fully gluten-free Thanksgiving if you’re in a smaller group or there’s more than one Celiac in the bunch, but that’s usually not the case. Gluten-free food can be kind of expensive for a large group and other people might have dishes that they really want that you can’t have. On top of that, sometimes extended family members like to bring something of their own, or each person brings a different side.
A Celiac’s Survival Guide to the Holidays
Prepping the Kitchen… and Your Family
Things really changed for me when Peter and I moved into our current house. Prior to that, we either had my small apartment kitchens with little prep space and almost no cookware, or Peter’s parent’s house where his family was also trying to make food.
While the latter option was better, it did take a lot of planning to make sure that we weren’t either contaminating my gluten-free Thanksgiving food or taking up space. This was especially important because my food was only a small portion of what needed to be made in the kitchen, but it took up lots of surface and oven space to make.
What helped me was making as much food ahead of time as I could. For example, casserole-dish recipes can be made a day or two ahead and heated up on the holiday. If I can, I bring things already heated. If I have to heat up any food around gluten-containing foods, I make sure it’s covered, that I show up early to heat it and keep it somewhere it’ll stay hot, or I heat it up in a convection oven (if that’s an option). Basically, I just see what works for my family so that I can plan ahead.
My Favorite Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Dishes
I’m not going to lie: turkey is not my favorite food in the world. However, realizing that turkey often contains gluten and other allergens made it hard to figure out what I could even eat as my main dish on Thanksgiving. In more recent years, I usually have a protein separate from the family turkey, like a Cornish hen.
Luckily, things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and roasted veggies often work out for me. I just use fix-ins that work for me, like vegan butter or cheeses that I can eat. If there’s bacon involved, then I just make sure it’s gluten-free and allergy-friendly. Sometimes I’ll make a gluten-free and lactose-free mac ‘n’ cheese, although nowadays I get my pasta and cheese fill from Alfredo.
As for desserts, I’m usually happy with some kind of cobbler and/or some ginger-molasses cookies. These are both easy to make, easy to transport, and last well beyond the holiday if you want them to.
What I do About Leftovers
For big holiday meals like Thanksgiving dinner, there’s usually a ton of leftover food. Between all the dishes we each bring, there’s easily enough food to keep us full for a few days (if not longer). A lot of food gets frozen when we get tired of eating it or can’t eat it fast enough.
Of course, this becomes much more complicated when you’re Celiac. Even when I do bring my own gluten-free Thanksgiving food or a family member makes something that I can eat, there’s always the worry of cross-contamination.
There’s a few ways I’ve handled this before. For one, I take my food before anyone else. When it’s a holiday where there are always leftovers, I make sure to take some extra food to set aside in another container. My family all knows about this, so it’s not a big surprise if I take a larger helping of a dish or side than I could possibly eat, just to make sure that there’s no risk of me getting sick.
If I’m bringing something that I know I know might be popular, like our apple cobbler, then I’ll sometimes make two: a mini one (for me) and a larger one that everyone else can serve themselves from. That way, I don’t have to worry so much and neither do my family members.
Final Thoughts
Because I am used to having family gatherings and dealing with being the only Celiac, gluten-free Thanksgiving or holiday food is just a level up. It’s definitely more of a challenge depending on my cook space, my cooking skills, my family members, and whether there are any extra people from out of town who aren’t used to my dietary restrictions.
I think that the biggest thing that’s helped me to enjoy holiday food again is finding dishes that I like to make – that aren’t too difficult or too expensive – and putting in just a little more work in order to make sure that I can be stress-free during and after the meal. Sure, I sometimes have to do more prep and I have to communicate really well with my family members, but it’s definitely worth it when it means that I get to eat a real meal. Even if Thanksgiving 2020 is going to look a little different for many of us, it doesn’t mean that we (Celiacs included) can’t still find ways to enjoy the biggest part of the holiday: eating.