People living gluten free need good memories. Lists are useful, of course, but they are not always available when we are required to make a decision while shopping or reading a restaurant menu. I’ve decided to resort to memory tricks, technically as Mnemonic Devices. I’v forgotten almost everything I learned from my childhood music lessons, but I will never forget "every good boy does fine" which helped me  learn the letter names for the notes on the musical staff. Here is an example from the gluten free world:

I should know the eight terms that describe various types of wheat. It would take me hours to memorize them and I might fail when I was trying to read an ingredients lists. However, I can  memorize the eight-word sentence "Sarah built enough fences to satisfy King Dudley". The first letter of each word in the sentence is the same is as the first letter in the terms I am struggling to memorize. Semolina (=Sarah), Bulgar (=built), enough (=einkorn), fences (=farina), to (= triticale), satisfy (=spelt), King (=kamut), Dudley (=durum).

I’ll leave the rest to you, the members of America’s gluten free community. I hope that one or more of you will send me a sentence to help remember the names of the gluten free grains, a list of foods that often harbor "hidden glutens", and the terms  like "malt" which make a food taboo for those on the gluten free diet. You may prefer to come with your idea for a list.

E-mail me at gfceliac@gmail.com to share your efforts or leave a comment at the end of this or any article.

Published 04/11/09