I tried to eat at my local McDonald's as someone with celiac disease. It did not go well.

• I recently tried to eat at McDonald's as a person with celiac disease.
• McDonald's doesn't claim any of its food as gluten-free so I was very limited in what I could order.

I tried to do what 85% of Americans do at least once a year: eat at a McDonald's restaurant.

That in itself isn't hard. McDonald's is one of the largest chain restaurants in the US, with over 13,000 locations across the country.

The problem is: I have celiac disease.

The disease has no cure and I have to eat a fully gluten-free diet — no cross-contamination, not even a crumb of bread — which means that ever since I was diagnosed over 10 years ago, I've been that annoying customer pestering the waiting staff to know whether the fries are cooked in a shared fryer or not.

Eating out with celiac is not easy, but restaurant chains often provide a safe haven, given their strict food preparation protocols and allergen lists stamped everywhere. In Italy, for example, McDonald's sells an uninspiring but safe gluten-free burger that is cooked wrapped in plastic to avoid cross-contamination.

I went to my local McDonald's in Brooklyn to find out what gluten-free options the chain offers in the US.

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McDonald's US menu does not have any items that are certified gluten-free, and the company warns customers about cross-contamination risks on its website, so I'm doing this at my own risk.

McDonald's

The restaurant chain has been rolling out self-service kiosks since 2015. As someone with celiac disease, I have mixed feelings about ordering at kiosks.

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While they often offer detailed information about allergens that cashiers might not know, it's hard to stress through a machine how important it is for me to avoid any cross-contamination with gluten.

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The kiosk menu gives customers the option to check out the nutritional value and ingredients of what they want to order.

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But the list of ingredients does not include any information about allergens. It says a Big Mac has a bun, but it doesn't give any warning about it containing gluten or wheat.

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The cashier, on the other hand, might know which McDonald's dishes have gluten in them — spoiler alert, most of them — or have an allergen list for me to check.

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A colorful collage of warnings next to the cashier's station alerts customers about the risks of added sugar, salt, and various allergens.

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The cashier doesn't have an allergen list handy, but they suggest I check on McDonald's website before I order anything.

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The menu on McDonald's website has detailed allergen information. While the kiosk only told me a Big Mac comes with a bun, lettuce, sauce, and so on, the website lists many ingredients and warns that the bun contains wheat and sesame. Gluten is in all types of wheat.

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Since the Big Mac has gluten all over the place, I check the other items on the menu to see if there's something I can eat.

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I was surprised to learn that even the fries have gluten. While in places like the UK, McDonald's fries are considered gluten-free and cooked in a dedicated fryer, US fries have natural beef flavoring, which has wheat in it.

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On a more positive note, the vanilla soft-serve ice cream does not have any gluten in it.

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But it's not available. I wonder if the ice cream machine is down.

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After carefully studying the menu on the website, I figure out I can have all the drinks, some of the sauces, and apple slices.

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So I order a small coke, apple slices, and ketchup.

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According to McDonald's US website, I could also have the fruit and maple oatmeal from the breakfast menu, but it's not available at my location, probably because McDonald's stops serving breakfast in the morning.

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My order, packed in a brown paper bag, looks pretty weird. I ordered the Coke to represent the drinks category, and ketchup for sauces.

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Other gluten-free sauces I could have ordered include spicy buffalo, creamy ranch, and mustard, but no barbecue or sweet and sour.

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Sauces and drinks aside, the only food I can actually eat is the apple slices, which come wrapped in plastic, so they're probably not at risk of cross-contamination.

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Overall, McDonald's in the US is not a place for people with celiac disease, which is unfortunate given how accessible the restaurants are. McDonald's did not respond to a request for comment on if it has any plans to make the restaurants more friendly to those who cannot eat gluten.

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