One of the things that I was vaguely nervous about when we moved out to the middle of nowhere was never being able to eat out ever again.

Gluten intolerance is an absolute bastard to manage when you're out, I seem to have to spend half my life madly searching a menu for something / anything I can eat (there's no such thing as what you'd like to try anymore - it's all about what you're likely to be able to get away with).

It is, I'm pleased to say, getting slightly easier. We've been to a few places recently that mark their menus to show you which are the gluten-free options - stops you having to undertake a long and tedious quizzing process of the waiting staff who are often very nice about it, but it's still a pain in the neck as they wander backwards and forwards between you and chef - and invariably end up coming back with a very small subset of options. Choice - forget it.

I mean really - there's only so much risotto I want to eat, and if I always wanted to order a salad I'd stay home and pick it out of the garden - cheaper, fresher and organic into the bargain.

So things are getting better - now I can often pick the tiny subset of options on menus that I can then select from. Recently we even found a place in Ballarat that had a small gluten-free section on their menu.

But you're still dealing with that shrunken list of options. Which is stupid, and short-sighted and daft.

There's not a lot we miss out on eating at home - we have pasta, pizza, pies, cakes, bread, pita, naans, bread rolls, beer, porridges, cereals, just about anything and everything I could ever want.

But go out - and even with the better menu labeling, you're often stuck with tedious limitations - risotto, maybe a salad, steak, the occasional curry and sometimes, in a mad rush of excitement - grilled fish and chips! Forget a desire to be a vegetarian - mostly your only options are meat-based whether you like it or not.

And that's about it. The lack of choices is just depressing and shows how blinkered thinking can be.

Gluten free isn't complicated, it should be a breeze - it can sometimes just mean good, simple, natural food - without coatings and trimmings and sauces and fillers and thickeners and all the other carry-on.

Whilst we've had some good experiences and we're still hunting, it would be so nice to have some real choices again. You'd be surprised how much cash we'd part with in order to just go out for lunch on a regular basis.

On the plus side:

There are cafes and lunch places in Bendigo that have options - I must start making a note of them when we're over there and talk about them.

Abunda in Ballarat is a dream, and they have an online supermarket / do deliveries. Well worth a look: http://www.abundaglutenfree.com.au

Another joy: http://www.321learmonth.com.au/ Gluten free pizzas as matter of factly as a non-gluten free pizza!