Gluten free options for business lunches

If you need to take clients out to lunch, being gluten free can make things challenging. Whether it's a lifestyle choice or a medical necessity, it helps to plan ahead to make sure you have some menu options open to you.

Here are some ideas that suit businesses lunches of all levels of formality.

Casual catch-up with colleagues

Vietnamese food is heavily rice based and as such is naturally low in gluten. Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup, is a delicious and filling meal and rice noodle based stir fries and curries come in a variety of flavour intensities. Noodle soups tend to be messy and inelegant to eat, so this is a good option for a casual catch-up.

Take care with any soy based sauces or dressings on salads, as soy sauce is often brewed from wheat.

Steakhouse celebration

Catching up for a steak is another great option and suitable for a more formal lunch with clients. Be sure to specify to the waiter that you are gluten free and request any sauces are placed on the side of your dishes so you can remove these if they may have trace amounts of gluten. As the steaks tend to be cooked to order, you don't need to worry about contamination and can control the seasoning of your food. Steakhouse can be a more upmarket option, which is suitable for a celebratory lunch with clients.

Seafood extravaganza

If you need a more extravagant meal, seafood can be a great way of throwing an extravagant lunch. Greek restaurants often have impressive seafood dishes, as well as specialty seafood venues. You can specify that all sauces come on the side and get a combination of grilled and steamed seafood with fresh vegetables. Just make sure none of your lunch guests also have a seafood allergy!

Delicious deserts

Many delicious deserts are thickened with wheat flours or have gluten rich sauces. Gluten free options can include friands, fresh fruits and sorbets -- but be sure to explicitly ask if the items are not labelled as a gluten free option.

As you can see, by choosing the right venue eating gluten free can become a much easier prospect. Luckily as food intolerances have gotten more common, restaurants are getting better at labelling their menu items as gluten free making eating out much easier to manage for celiacs and people with gluten intolerance. For more information, contact a restaurant like Valentino's Woodfire Pizzeria & Restaurant.