Cinco de Mayo (May 5) celebrates the victory of the Mexican Army against a much larger French invasion force. It is not Mexican Independence Day (that occurs on September 16) but it is certainly celebrates courage, freedom, and victory over amazing odds. It is — at the very least — a great time for a Mexican themed party.

There are no specific foods associated with Cinco de Mayo. Mexican-style recipes are generally gluten free. The most significant exception is that some will require flour (which invariably means wheat flour) tortillas and other recipes will make your life easier by specifying corn tortillas. Fortunately, since the tortillas are usually cooked separately from the other ingredients, there is little risk of cross-contamination. If you are preparing a recipe that calls for wheat flour tortillas, you have three options:

• Serve only corn tortillas; few people will notice the difference.
• make two versions of the dish, being careful to label each one properly.
• order gluten free flour tortillas from the Gluten Free Mall.

  To begin your preparations, watch this video demonstration of a gluten free “taco night”. This recipe is so simple and inexpensive that the hostess on this video makes tacos available to all her friends who drop in every Monday night.

   Here’s a link to Celiac.com’s collection of celiac friendly Mexican food recipes. You will certainly need a guacamole recipe and at least one Margarita recipe. Try this recipe for gluten free quesadillas.

Published 04/09/08