Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Allergy Watch - The Eden Project

My boyfriend and I joined my family for a holiday down in our 'usual spot' on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall earlier this month. The Eden Project seemed like a natural place to break the depressing journey back home, with the added benefit that we escaped the awful traffic building up on the A30 towards Bodmin. 

Having previously visited the Eden Project, I was confident that they would still be providing their range of gluten-free foods. On our last visit, my mum and I had found gluten-free soup and bread, and even a gluten-free sandwich in their cafe inbetween the biomes. We weren't even put off when their little info leaflet, picked up earlier in the week, mentioned that they had opened a bakery. We thought it would perhaps be a little shop where you could see bread being made and possibly buy some. 

Upon getting to the Eden Project, however, we found that the bakery had completely replaced the cafe inbetween the biomes, and was enormous. There was nothing on offer apart from bread. To make things worse, there were tomatoes everywhere, and this set off my allergy to the extent where I could barely breathe. A lot of the bread was made with nuts, which made the environment unsafe for my mum also. 

I was really disappointed and asked a staff member if there was anything we could eat. We were told that we had to go to 'Jo's Cafe' in a completely different building to see if there was anything gluten-free. Jo's Cafe was this tiny place and seemed to specialise mostly in pasta, ironically. There was one gluten-free cake, and two gluten-free dishes, one of which I couldn't have because it had tomato in it. But if they rotate their menu every day, what happens if you arrive on the day when it's just pasta and sandwiches? Do you end up with a banana and an overpriced elderflower cordial? 

When we entered the meditteranean biome, we also found that there was a small cafe there, which seemed to be serving regionally-themed bean type dishes. To be honest I couldn't get close enough to see because again it set off my tomato alarm. However, there was no way of knowing if these huge vats of stuff were gluten-free. My mum and I were slightly miffed that the Eden Project, which had previously been so good about gluten allergies, had taken a huge step backwards. No doubt they feel that there's more profit in the bakery angle, but don't they realise that gluten allergy is really common and that a significant minority of their guests will end up feeling excluded and going home hungry? Surely a place who's mantra is about diversity shouldn't go down the 'you can have any food as long as it's bread' road? 

We saw that some visitors had bought their own food and had hidden themselves in the garden bit. Perhaps that's what I'll have to do next time. It's a shame because it's put me off going back, and my boyfriend and I were planning on taking a trip there when he passes his driving test and gets his first car soon, as your ticket entitles you to free entry for a year. I've been of two minds wether to write a letter to them about the issue, but perhaps I should and see what they say, so at least other people are informed about it before they decide to go there.