So You Accidentally Invited the Buchmans for a Meal

Celiac

Gluten sucks, amiright?

Since celiac comes in a range of sensitives, let’s just get it out up front - Nava is very, very sensitive to it. To the point where we usually prefer to bring our own food. If you’re a beautiful person and are up to cooking gluten-free, that’s awesome. Here are a few things to pay attention to:

• Cross-contamination from gear: This is the real killer. Equipment needs to be very, very clean. If you baked gluten in your oven, please let it cool down and wipe out crumbs before using it. Food processors are basically impossible to de-gluten so just avoid them please. Wooden cutting boards and other wooden equipment basically can’t be used since the are porous and may contain traces.
• Cross-contamination from people: The little things that are so hard to avoid like touching gluten and then touching the food or wiping flour-y hands on towels feels so innocent but can do damage. We recommend cooking in a non-gluten environment to avoid that.
• Flours: Nava can’t eat oat flour or the Blue Melino flour.
• Spices: Yes, even things like spices need to be gluten-free. Maya and Shufersal brand are typically okay but it should say it. Note that if you’ve used the spices and potentially touched it, it’s a big fat no.
• Labels: Lacking gluten in the allergy section usually isn’t enough, unless the product belongs to a few specific companies (see list below). Please look out for the label that says “Gluten Free”. Even things that you can’t imagine would have gluten (things like oils, mustard, whatever) could have. Yes, it’s not logical. And yes, it’s a bummer. Companies that are okay if there isn’t gluten in the allergens:
  • Elit Straus
  • Osem
  • Maya
  • Unilever (Telma, Bagel Bagel, Vered HaGalil, Hellmans)
  • Carmit
  • Shimrit
  • Nestle
  • Tenuva
  • Yotvata
  • Kellogs
  • Dorit
  • Yad Mordechai
  • Sugat
  • Kinder
  • Eitz Zayit
  • Beit Hashita
  • Tivol
  • Bustan
  • Tamai HaGalil

Not sure?: That speaks volumes. We’d always so much rather bring food for Nava than risk exposure. Let me repeat that - we’d always rather you tell us something may have traces of gluten than deal with the consequences.

Allergies

We’re just getting started. Jokes, we’re almost done. When it comes to food:

• Peanuts: Severe. There’s a severe peanut allergy. No food and deserts should have any. That cool?
• Eggplant: Okay to have, please just let us know which dish has it.

Sense of Humor

Eytan makes crappy puns and will look around like a sad puppy until someone pretends to laugh. This will be taken as encouragement and creates a vicious cycle that is hard to stop. Sorry.