The kebab shop after school: three questions, ten seconds (Zoe, Episode 2)

Eating out with friends is not a restaurant booking. It is four o'clock, everyone is starving, and the nearest counter decides. Zoe is sixteen and has coeliac disease, and she has learned that the trick is not a speech. It is three short questions, asked like you are asking for ketchup. Episode 2 happens at the kebab shop after school.

Kebab. Now.

School is out, it is drizzling, and Yara has declared an emergency. "Kebab. Now. I haven't eaten since maths." She steers Zoe towards the steamy window by the hoodie sleeve, still talking, still holding the drink she bought at break. Tim is already inside at the counter. Nobody saw him go in. That is normal for Tim.

Already ordered

Zoe steps up to the counter with her three questions ready. Tim gets there first. "Already ordered," he says. "Chicken skewer, salad, in a box. No bread. Nothing from the fryer. I asked what's in the marinade. Yoghurt, garlic, spices." Zoe looks at him. Behind the counter her skewer is still on the grill and the box is still empty. The last time the three of them came here, she asked her questions and Tim stood next to her, apparently not listening.

Three questions, ten seconds

It is a good order, and nothing is made yet, so this is the moment. She asks anyway, because the order is what she eats and the questions are how it gets made. "Do the chips go in the same oil as the nuggets?" Same oil, says the man behind the counter, which is why Tim left the chips off. "Is the bread warmed where my chicken goes?" Bread on the hot plate, skewers on the grill. "Clean board and knife?" He takes a fresh board and a clean knife from the rack, slides her skewer off the grill onto the board, cuts it there and tips it into the box with the salad. Ten seconds of questions, before anything was made. She asked the way you ask for extra garlic sauce.

Not a speech

Yara, who loves Zoe fiercely and at full volume, turns to the queue. "She has coeliac disease, it's autoimmune, it's not a diet, so if anyone here has ever said…" Zoe puts a hand on her arm. "Yara. Done. It's done." The man behind the counter hands over the box with a nod. Yara looks a little cheated. She had a whole second paragraph ready.

How did you know?

They eat on the low wall under the awning while the drizzle gives up. Yara has her wrap, Tim has the chips he left off Zoe's order, and Zoe has a box of chicken and salad that is exactly what she would have ordered. "How did you know?" she asks. Tim shrugs. "You ask the same three things every time. I can count to three." Yara reaches behind Zoe and steals one of his chips, which is also a tradition.

Three questions, any counter

The three questions change with the counter. At a kebab shop they are the fryer, the bread and the board. At the pizza place they will be different, and there will still only be three. Our free pocket card has the three that work anywhere, and it fits in the same bag pocket as Zoe's. Next Thursday: Yara buys a new lip gloss.

For you, straight

The kebab-shop three. Do the chips share oil with anything breaded? Is the bread warmed where my food goes? Can you use a clean board and knife? That is the whole conversation. Ask it the way you ask for extra sauce, then eat.

Why those three. Chips are potatoes, but fried in the same oil as breaded nuggets or battered food they pick up gluten. Coeliac UK’s own kitchen advice is clean oil or a separate fryer for gluten-free food. Bread and wraps leave crumbs wherever they are warmed and cut, which is why Coeliac UK suggests separate bread boards, and a separate toaster or toaster bags, at home. A kebab counter is the same kitchen, just faster.

One more, about the meat. Ask what goes into the meat and the marinade. Coeliac UK lists seasonings and processed meat such as sausages among the places gluten turns up, so the person behind the counter is the only one who can tell you. Our kebab page explains why a plain skewer is the simpler order than meat from the big spit.

When a friend orders for you. Let them. That is not a rescue, it is a friend who was listening. You still ask your three, because the order is what you eat and the questions are how it gets made. If the answers are a shrug, that is an answer too: get a drink, sit on the wall with everyone, and eat when you get home. Sitting with your friends was the point anyway.

Sources: Coeliac UK, “Simple steps when you’re cooking at home”, read 3 October 2026. We inform, we don’t diagnose: for medical questions your doctor or dietitian has the last word.

Read on

• The three questions, the free pocket card to print
• Is kebab gluten-free? Shish can be, doner and wraps usually aren't
• Asking for gluten-free in a restaurant: the right questions
• Zoe, Episode 1: Zoe's first class trip
• All Little GF Adventures episodes