Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Au Bon Pain - Potato Cheese Soup, GF?


There is an Au Bon Pain on the first floor of my office building which is very convenient, especially when it's pouring rain and I forget to bring lunch. I don't often eat there now -- but in my pre-GF days I worshipped their scones, cheese danishes, french toast bagels and their oatmeal. yum.

Sorry if mentioning any of those delicious treats makes your mouth salivate remembering the taste of sweet cheese in the form of a danish, but in all honesty, the amount of calories & fat in those aforementioned items is rather disgusting, so it's really for the best.

I do like that they're trying to offer some gluten free items though --- on their website & sometimes in the store they label what is, in theory, gluten free, and I have occasionally had the Black Bean Soup (labeled vegan, low fat and gluten free) - and it's pretty good and never made me sick.

This month there was a new soup in rotation - Potato Cheese. I was psyched. Potato AND cheese? Two of my favorites in one bowl and offered just downstairs? Sweet.

But no.

Two times I got the soup, two times I got that familiar gluten-y sick feeling.

I'm going to write something to Corporate just to let them know -- but I wanted you all to be warned. And I ate it twice because the first time I questioned something else I had that might have made me feel bad, but this time I knew.

Bummer!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this info - I recently had the same problem after trying the potato cheese soup, and it was the only new item I had eaten that day!

Colelatimer said...

They probably use some type of wheat to thicken the soup, as as binder, and for making the cheese melt uniformly. Unless it has every ingredient listed, I'm very wary of it. Do you happen to work in the Holyoke building in Harvard square? because that's where I work, and I just went gluten/dairy free a few weeks ago due to health problems and found your blog fascinating! :)

Allie said...

Hi colelatimer -- i'm in the financial district actually... yeah, it's tough getting started but once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad! there are a lot of great GF places in Cambridge!

also -- heard back from Au Bon, they were going to look into it, but stuck to their claim that there was NO wheat or gluten used in that soup at all... As soon as I get a better answer, I'll post an update - but in the meantime, NOT eating that soup anymore!