Christian was literally the first gluten free guy I reached out to when I began a small group chat on Instagram. I was brand new to Instagram. He probably thought I was a weirdo… I mean who really does this?! Reach out to a random dude because you both eat differently than most people and ask him if he wants to talk…
Well, luckily he accepted! Turns out we are both gluten free for the same reason. We are one of the few men who are gluten free by choice. He chose to be gluten free to support his wife because she doesn’t have a choice, just like Aimee.
Check out his story below and go ahead and connect with him!
1) Your story…tell us a little bit about yourself!
“Growing up I always wanted to be a chef but didn’t necessarily want to make it my career. I started working in a hibachi restaurant around 14 as a sushi/ hibachi chef in the back (didn’t get paid; it was just because I wanted to learn). Skip about 10 years, I am now an attorney and cooking is one of my main hobbies. I started my Instagram account “theguysguidetoglutenfree” because my now wife has celiacs and I knew nothing about it from the start except that most gluten free food (at the time) tasted like cardboard.”
2) Why do you eat gluten free food?
“So I am likely an enigma on this page as I don’t stick to a strict gluten free diet. When my wife and I go out to eat I will still have “gluten filled” food as well as gluten free food; it just depends on how I am feeling. However, when cooking at home or by request at friends’ houses, I will 99.9% of the time cook strictly gluten free food. I never saw the point in making a gluten free pasta dish for my wife and then making myself the same dish with gluten. So that is a long way to say I eat gluten free because of my wife and I enjoy cooking all the creative meals I can for her.”
3) What is your favorite gluten free snack? Where can we find it?
“My favorite gluten free snack is any cookie from Tate’s Bakeshop. I actually grew up going to that bakery before it was sold nationwide. So it is 100% nostalgia for me and every time I eat one of those cookies it brings me right back to my childhood.”
4) What’s your favorite gluten free recipe?
“My favorite recipes in general are the ones my wife used to love eating before being gluten free and now has a hard time finding. I promised I would come up with a recipe for gluten free chicken mini’s (like Chick-Fil-A) when we first started dating; I am still working on that one… But coming up with a good fried chicken recipe, especially in the South, was important to accomplish. So that’s how I ended up with my hot honey chicken recipe.”
5) What’s one thing you wish you knew when first went gluten free?
“So as stated up above, I am not allergic to gluten so I don’t have the fears of cross contamination. But I think the thing I wish I had understood most was how careful one has to be while eating out. So many restaurants label things as gluten free now whether its trendy or to be conscious of the people out there with the allergy. But, even then it’s still impossible to eat out at most places. For example, French fries are naturally gluten free but because my restaurants use the same fryer for everything, a person with an allergy to gluten can’t eat it. I think that was the biggest learning curve for me.”
6) If you could only eat one gluten free meal for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
“So I am big into Asian cuisine, as shown by working for free at a hibachi restaurant. So the gluten free meal I could eat for the rest of my life would be sushi. There is so much variety to the flavors and depth you can get with just fish and rice that it’s pretty unbelievable.”
7) What advice would you give someone who is about to go gluten free?
“So this advice goes out to the people who don’t have the allergy (cause if you do you have to cut gluten out cold turkey and that’s rough). My advice is don’t give up on what you love. If you love mac and cheese, eat it as much as you did before being gluten free but just eat the gluten free kind. I think when so many people go gluten free, whether to be trendy or health reasons, people jump from having a dominoes pizza one night and then only eating salads because they aren’t sure what they can eat. You don’t have to give up the things you love, but do enjoy everything in moderation!”
8) What’s your favorite thing about being gluten free?
“My favorite thing is being able to see my wife’s face when I make a terrific meal; especially one she hasn’t had in a long time. It has pretty much become a competition in my house to always one up the last meal I did. Sometimes my creativity gets the best of me and the meal isn’t always the best… but I like to think I win most of the time. And heck, she gets some good meals out of it!”
9) What is one thing you dislike about being gluten free and what do you do to mitigate it?
“The one thing I dislike about being gluten free is the amount of fast food options available. Now, that is not something I can necessarily mitigate; however, having a few go to good places (i.e. Chick-Fil-A and Five Guys) really helps when you want a quick meal. Also not something I have done to mitigate, but with the creation and expansion of food delivery such as uber eats and bite squad, has really allowed more options getting quick food without leaving the home when you don’t feel like cooking.”
10) How can other people find you?
“My Instagram (@theguysguidetoglutenfree) is the best way to reach me! I like to think I am super friendly and always willing to chat or help out other creators. I will say I have been slack on posting pictures, but I have about 30 saved up so its not from lack of material- just being traveling a lot (just got married so had to take that honeymoon!)”
Thank you!
Christian, thank you for opening yourself up to connect! If you have a significant other who is gluten free and you want to connect with someone for some tips and pointers… Christian is that gluten free guy! I’d bet he’d be willing to give you some of his favorite gluten free recipes so you can impress! You may also want to check out his website, check it out HERE!
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