Letter Template | How To Coeliac
top of page

Letter Template explaining dietary requirements

Visiting someone's house for dinner can be an extremely stressful time for people with coeliac disease.

I have drafted a super polite letter/email/text that you could send to the host. Please feel free to copy and paste this and add/delete anything so it suits your relationship with the host better.
 

Dear…

 

I am looking forward to Christmas lunch/dinner with great trepidation. 

 

As you may already be aware, I am unable to eat gluten due to health issues.

Because you have offered to cook for me, I wanted to let you know what things I can and can’t eat as gluten is a cheeky devil and can often appear in things one wouldn’t expect.

Here is a list of ingredients that definitely contain gluten (which is found in Wheat, Barley, and Rye):

 

  • Flour

  • Soy Sauce

  • Oats

  • Breads

  • Breadcrumbs

  • Beer

  • Worcester sauce

  • Gravy

  • Yorkshire puddings

  • Christmas pudding

  • Cakes

  • Biscuits

  • Pastries

  • White Sauce

  • Stuffing

  • Couscous

  • Bulgar wheat

  • Pasta

  • Marmite

  • Vegemite

 

(Please fear not, there are gluten free versions of all of the above items - please let me know if you would like me to get/make any of them for you)

 

Here is another list of ingredients that may contain gluten:

 

Vinegars

  • Crisps

  • Frozen Roast Potatoes/Chips

  • Sauces 

  • Mustard

  • Ice cream

  • Chocolate

  • Ginger beer 

  • Soup mixes

 

But let’s not lose all hope - here are things that are naturally gluten free:

 

  • Vegetables

  • Fruit

  • Plain Meat

  • Lentils

  • Rice

  • Beans (unless jelly beans)

  • Buckwheat (I know!)

  • Chickpeas

  • Milk

  • Nuts

  • Eggs

  • Honey

 

Lastly, and very importantly, I am also unable to eat anything that is cooked with/next to gluten containing ingredients. That includes things prepared in the same dish or oven tray, things cut using a shared chopping board, anything that has shared utensils with gluten ingredients, like spoons, tongs, knives, spatulas, even hand towels etc.

 

I can understand that this may seem overwhelming so I would also like to let you know that I am absolutely happy to bring my own dishes/meats/puddings so to not make Christmas dinner even more stressful for you. If not, I would love to help out in the kitchen on the day and bring my own trays, or tin foil oven dishes for cooking things in! 

 

Kindest regards,

Best,

Yours Faithfully,
Sincerely,
With Love,

 

Your coeliac friend or family member.

bottom of page