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Safe Journeys
By Jax Peters Lowell |
Armed with a suitcase full of rice cakes and enough French to buy the fabulous pair of riding boots I still prize today, I prepared for my first April in Paris as a gluten-free celiac by penning the forerunner of the French language card that appears in my book Against The Grain. Written in ridiculous schoolgirl French, it said, basically, "If I have any farine, I'll have a disease in my chair."
One look at my pathetic little carte and even the snootiest maitre d' melted. Upon reading it, the manager of one Left Bank bistro gave me a wonderful bottle of Brouilly and refused to roll the pastry cart to our table, raising a warning eyebrow at my husband. Only a beast would ogle a tart in front of his grain challenged wife. In a sidewalk cafe in the shadow of Ste. Sulpice, a party broke out because of my petite carte. When the owner showed it to a table full of regulars, they peered at the card, pointed at us and laughed, as intent on my husband as they were on the woman who could ne mange pas farine. Finally one of them approached our table, a jovial Brit who explained that my husband, a jovial Brit himself, looked exactly like Capitaine Haddock, a blustery English naval officer in the popular French cartoon strip, "Tintin." He said I reminded them of the hapless princess locked in the tower or, in this case, a pastry shop. Tables were joined, introductions made, glasses of wine all around. An unforgettable evening in Paris, all because of my special diet.
The point is, laughter doesn't always mean someone is making fun of you. Strict adherence to a special diet, no matter what time zone you're traveling in, can and should rely, as Tennessee Williams' Blanche DuBois knew very well, "on the kindness of strangers. "After all, isn't a stranger only a friend you haven't met yet?"
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This is an excerpt of an article featured in a past issue.
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