Eating out · Mediterranean bowls
Low FODMAP at Cava
Cava is one of the better fast-casual options for low-FODMAP eating because every bowl is built to order from visible components: plain-ish grilled proteins, rice bases, and fresh vegetable toppings. The traps are concentrated in the sauces — nearly every dip and dressing (hummus, tzatziki, harissa, skhug, garlic dressing, Greek vinaigrette) is built on garlic, and onion shows up in three separate toppings plus the falafel. Order a bowl, skip the dips, and keep any dressing on the side.
✅ Safest picks
Grilled Chicken + Saffron Basmati Rice Bowl
Saffron basmati is just long-grain rice with saffron, and grilled chicken carries only a light surface marinade — no wheat, dairy, beans, or onion-heavy sauce.
💬 Order it: Build-your-own: saffron basmati base, grilled chicken, then tomato + cucumber, Persian cucumber, and salt-brined pickles as toppings. Skip all dips; ask for a lemon wedge and olive oil instead of dressing.
Grilled Steak + Brown Rice Bowl
Steak is seasoned with a light lemon-oregano rub (trace garlic on the surface, not a garlic sauce) over a plain brown rice base.
💬 Order it: Half brown rice, half arugula base, grilled steak, kalamata olives and tomato + cucumber on top. No dips, no garlic dressing — a small spoon of fire-roasted corn adds flavor without a sauce.
Greek Salad Bowl (modified)
Romaine, grilled chicken, olives, tomato, and cucumber are all gentle; crumbled feta is a hard brined cheese that is naturally very low in lactose in a normal sprinkle.
💬 Order it: Order without pickled onions and without Greek vinaigrette (it contains garlic) — ask for olive oil and lemon, or a small drizzle of lemon-herb tahini on the side.
Chicken + Rice Bowl (modified)
The base combo of grilled chicken, saffron basmati, and fresh veg is solid — the standard tzatziki and hummus add-ons are the only garlic and lactose sources.
💬 Order it: Say 'no tzatziki, no hummus' and replace them with extra tomato + cucumber and salt-brined pickles; keep feta if you tolerate a small amount.
Roasted Vegetables + Saffron Basmati Rice Bowl
A workable meat-free build since the rice base and most seasonal roasted veg are low-trigger, but the vegetable mix rotates and can include onion or squash-heavy blends.
💬 Order it: Eyeball the roasted veg on the line first — if you see onion in the mix, swap to fiery broccoli and fire-roasted corn as your veg instead, and keep both to one scoop each.
⚠️ Skip these
Good to know
- •Always order a bowl, not a pita: the wheat pita (and pita crisps topping) is the single biggest fructan source on the menu, and everything else fits in a bowl.
- •Treat the entire dip and dressing station as garlic territory — hummus, tzatziki, harissa, skhug, garlic dressing, and Greek vinaigrette all contain it. Ask for olive oil and a lemon wedge, or take one dressing on the side and use a teaspoon.
- •Skip the three onion carriers: pickled onions, tomato + onion, and Crazy Feta. Salt-brined pickles plus Persian cucumber give you the same acidic crunch with none of the onion.
- •Balsamic date vinaigrette sounds mild but runs on dates and balsamic — a fructan and fructose combo. Lemon-herb tahini on the side is the gentler dressing pick in small amounts.
- •Watch portion stacking on 'gray zone' items: black lentils, fire-roasted corn, and avocado are each manageable as a half scoop but add up fast if you take all three.
- •Crumbled feta in a normal sprinkle is one of the lowest-lactose cheeses — it's the whipped and yogurt-based dips that carry the dairy load, not the crumbles.
At a different restaurant? Photograph any menu and get every dish ranked in seconds.
Scan a menu — freeMenus and recipes change; scores reflect typical preparations and published FODMAP research. Informational only — not medical advice. Always confirm ingredients with restaurant staff.