Gluten-Free Nashville: a gluten-free bakery, Italian and Southern kitchens for celiacs

Downtown Nashville is compact: the Ryman, the Johnny Cash Museum, the National Museum of African American Music and the Country Music Hall of Fame are all within about 5 minutes on foot of Lower Broadway, and the State Capitol is about 15. The places on this page are more spread out. Closest to the sights is 1 Kitchen, the restaurant at 1 Hotel Nashville in SoBro, about 5 minutes on foot from the Frist Art Museum and about 10 from Lower Broadway. Luogo, in the Gulch, is about 10 minutes on foot from the Frist. Midtown Cafe is about 20 minutes on foot from the Frist and about 25 from the Parthenon, and Sadie’s, also in Midtown, is a short ride away. Pelato, in Germantown, is about 15 minutes on foot from Bicentennial Capitol Mall, and Ingrassia & Sons Italian Deli, in Wedgewood-Houston, about 30 from the Country Music Hall of Fame. The one entirely gluten-free place, The Gluten-Free Goose Bakery, is about 11 miles south of Lower Broadway in a straight line, and Sunflower Bakehouse (Donelson, about 5 miles east) and Peachtree Neighborhood Grill (Woodbine, about 3 miles south-east) are out of the centre too: plan a car or a rideshare. All walking times and distances here are our estimate from the map.

A day that works, on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday (the bakery opens Wednesday to Saturday, and the Frist is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays): breakfast at The Gluten-Free Goose Bakery, entirely gluten-free in its own words («A 100% Gluten-Free Bakery»), 9am to 3pm on its site. It is south of the city, so take a car or a rideshare, and buy bread to take back to your room. Back downtown, spend the morning at the Country Music Hall of Fame (daily, 9am to 5pm) and the Johnny Cash Museum, about 5 minutes away on foot, then take a daytime tour of the Ryman (daily, 9am to 4pm) or walk out onto the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge. Spend the afternoon at the Frist Art Museum on Broadway. For dinner, walk about 10 minutes to Luogo in the Gulch, a mixed kitchen whose menu says «Pastas can be modified Gluten Free + $2», with two named exceptions: say you have coeliac disease, and ask whether the fryer is shared and whether the pasta is cooked in its own water. Then Lower Broadway for the music.

In the US, “gluten-free” on packaged food is a voluntary claim under the rule of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a product that carries it must contain less than 20 ppm of gluten. The rule covers packaged foods. For restaurant menus the FDA only recommends that a “gluten-free” claim matches its definition, so a GF on a menu is the restaurant’s own word. The Gluten Intolerance Group runs three programs you may come across: GFCO certifies products, which must test below 10 ppm (or below the country’s limit, if that is lower); GFFS validation (Gluten Intolerance Group) reviews a restaurant’s policies and procedures, recipes, ingredients and training; and Chef to Plate is a separate awareness program with a lower bar, which the group itself says is not related to GFFS validation, the program with higher standards and an annual audit. Whatever the menu says, say you have coeliac disease every time: “celiac” is the spelling staff in the US know.

Nashville eats hot chicken, biscuits and barbecue. Hot chicken is dredged in flour, biscuits are wheat, and barbecue rubs and sauces can hide malt or beer; plain smoked meats are often the easy part, so ask about the rub and the sauce. Fries are the classic trap, because many kitchens fry them in the same oil as breaded food: ask about the fryer every time. If you have tickets for a show, eat before it: the Ryman lists outside food and drink among its prohibited items, the Grand Ole Opry allows no outside food or drink, water included, at any time, and neither page names a medical exception. We haven’t checked a Nashville hotel breakfast ourselves: ask about gluten-free breakfast when you book, and pick a room with a fridge, which a stop at The Gluten-Free Goose Bakery can fill for a few days.