If you are coeliac or gluten intolerant, Ethiopian food can look like a safe choice. The meal is served on injera, a soft flatbread made from teff, and teff is naturally gluten-free. But the honest answer to "is injera gluten-free?" is: it depends on who made it.
Why some injera is not gluten-free
Pure teff flour is expensive, and it can be harder to work with than other flours. To bring costs down, many restaurants and suppliers blend teff with wheat or barley flour. The injera still looks and tastes similar, so most diners never know. For someone with coeliac disease, that blend is enough to make them sick.
Gluten can also turn up in other parts of an Ethiopian meal. In many kitchens, sambusa pastry and bread are made with wheat flour, and shared surfaces and fryers can carry gluten into dishes that are otherwise safe.
Questions worth asking
- Is your injera made from 100% teff, with no wheat or barley?
- Is anything else on the menu made with wheat flour?
- Do gluten-free and gluten-containing foods share a kitchen, fryer or griddle?
- Can you tell me how a dish is made before I order it?
A good restaurant will be glad you asked. If the answers are vague, trust your instincts.
How we do it at Sinq
At Sinq in Ascot Vale, our whole kitchen is gluten-free. Our injera is made in house from nothing but teff flour and water, fermented naturally, and never blended with wheat. No wheat flour or gluten-containing ingredients come into our kitchen, so every dish on the menu is gluten-free, not just a few.
We are working towards formal coeliac certification. Until then, we believe in being completely open about how we cook. If you have a severe allergy, talk to us when you order. We will tell you exactly what goes into your food, and we will look after you.
You can see our full menu on our homepage, or book a table and come and taste it for yourself.