Here’s information about gluten free living in Alabama, including information about celiac restaurants in the state, a list of chain restaurants that offer gluten free meals in Alabama, stores in the state that sell gluten free foods, as well as contact information for gluten free support groups in the state.  I’m beginning with Alabama because it comes first in alphabetical order and will be writing about one state every Friday. In fifty weeks, it will certainly be time to begin revising the articles.

  Gluten free meals are served at The Sunflower Café in Fair Hope. Gluten free items are clearly indicated on the menu.  The restaurant’s is on the menu, which includes gluten free pizza as well as other items of interest.

  These restaurant chains provide opportunities for gluten free dining in Alabama: Bonefish Grill, Carino’s, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Chic-Fil-A, Chili’s, Chipolte Mexican Grill, Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon, O’Charley’s, Outback Steakhouse, P.F. Changs, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, and Ted’s Montana Grill. Click here to visit the page that enables you to get gluten free information about these and other restaurant chains as well as the exact locations of  individual restaurants.  The Gluten Free Restaurant Awareness Program recognizes the celiac friendly status of 23 Alabama restaurants.

  Whole Foods Market in Birmingham provides a wide variety of gluten free products including frozen bakery products. Gluten free foods are also available at Health Wise Foods in Montgomery,

  If you want to make contacts with local celiacs,  get local contact information from one or more  of our national support groups: The Celiac Sprue Association, The Gluten Intolerance Group, or The Celiac Disease Foundation. All three of these awesomely helpful organizations have local branches in Alabama.

 As you may have guessed, I have never visited Alabama. This article is based on information that I gleaned from the internet. That is a good start, but we also need input from celiacs who have first-hand experience living or traveling in Alabama. What else needs to be included in this article?  Please let me know by sending an e-mail (use the button in the middle of the second column) or by leaving a comment at the end of this article.

UPDATE: One of our site’s visitors honored us with a letter describing gluten free living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Here is what she had to say:

"I just read your article  and wanted to offer some additions if you do an update. I live in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (about 60 miles southwest of Birmingham) and it can be difficult to eat out here, but I’ve found a few safe places.

The Ruan House is a Thai restaurant that will make any of their menu items gluten free if requested. The other Thai restaurant in town, Surin, will not, but they have wonderful basil rolls that are gluten-free because they are wrapped in rice paper rather than a flour-based wrapper.

Chipotle – a chain burrito place – is completely gluten free if you don’t get the tortilla. They have a burrito bowl that is a burrito without the tortilla.

We also have a wonderful health food store: Manna Grocery that has a lunch cafe. Currently the cafe has nothing gluten-free on their menu but they are considering it because of my requests. But they have lots of gluten-free grocery items including some pretty good gluten-free frozen pizza.

Thank you for writing and posting these articles. It has been a huge help to me.

Thank you, Michelle. These letters help encourage us all.

Information updated 8/06/08