As many of you can probably relate, once I find a food place that makes me feel really good, I over stay my welcome & go in way too often. One of those places is called Costa Vida. There are Costa Vida’s all over the place & luckily there are many here in Utah where I live.
They are VERY dedicated to us gluten freebee’s out there & if you tell them you can’t have gluten, they change their gloves & wash their hands. Almost every item on their menu is gluten free, except of course their flour tortillas & a few other things. So, make sure you ask.
Going back to how I said I go in way too often, there is a manager named Maui who skips around to different locations. He is always so helpful & doesn’t make me feel like a hassle. It’s easy to feel that way when we have to demand perfection in our food, due to getting violently ill if one thing is wrong.
At Utah Valley University, the college I attend, there is a Costa Vida there in the cafeteria & due to the small space they have, they don’t have corn tortillas because they don’t have the space to cook them. I always give Maui a hard time because that obviously limits my food options when I go, and I try & get extra meat or something for being “jipped.” Of course when I say “hard time” & “jipped,” I mean that in the most innocent & harmless way possible. I just try & have fun with it.
One day before I left for class, I knew I would be wanting my usual Mango Chicken Salad WITH a corn tortilla & since I had just bought corn tortillas from Costco (you know, the pack that comes with 148,394,672 tortillas), I decided that I was going to bring my own. I put it in a ziploc bag, even though it kind of grossed me out haha, and I went on my way to school. When I got to Costa Vida & gave the tortilla to Maui he looked at me & just started laughing.. And then I started laughing & pretty soon everyone was laughing. But I had my salad the exact way I wanted it & it was a happy day!
The Costa Vida team was so amazing to me & took care of my needs & made me feel like an equal, important customer. This illness has taught me that I am the one in charge of what I eat & that many things are possible if we dare to try it.
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