Holiday abroad as celiac - help!

budeman

My wife and I are looking to go on holiday at the end of Sep/early Oct with our 2 year old son. As yet we are undecided but it will prob be the med or the canaries. My wife was recently diagnosed as celiac so I have been looking online to see if there are many places listed that cater for gluten free (with not much luck)

Does anyone have any tips/experience of travelling or know of any places that are particularly good/bad for eating out as celiacs?

Many thanks.

Mark.

bcl999

You are probably going to be using that word a lot in future so just want to say I think there is an "o" in it i.e. coeliac.

olias

Sorry to sound simplistic, but can you not just avoid gluten foods? Do you real need somewhere that specialises in gluten free food?

What about things like
Breakfast - Omlette, Yoghurt, fruit etc
Lunch - Salads - grilled meat, seafood etc
Dinner - Standard meat and two veg type meals, steak and chips, chicken, baked potatos etc etc etc.
All of these should be available at most cafes/restaurants/bistros/bars/hotels
If self catering, then as above, but take some packs of gluten free bread and pasta etc with you.

olias

budeman

bcl999 wrote: »

You are probably going to be using that word a lot in future so just want to say I think there is an "o" in it i.e. coeliac.

Sorry – my wife is English but I am originally fromthe UShence the spelling

notanewuser

olias wrote: »

Sorry to sound simplistic, but can you not just avoid gluten foods? Do you real need somewhere that specialises in gluten free food?

What about things like
Breakfast - Omlette, Yoghurt, fruit etc
Lunch - Salads - grilled meat, seafood etc
Dinner - Standard meat and two veg type meals, steak and chips, chicken, baked potatos etc etc etc.
All of these should be available at most cafes/restaurants/bistros/bars/hotels
If self catering, then as above, but take some packs of gluten free bread and pasta etc with you.

olias

You woukdnt believe the things that have wheat flour in them these days.

Chips nowadays often have a wheat based batter on them.

Sauces will often have flour in them.

Chicken/seafood may be breaded/coated with flour before cooking.

Salads may come with croutons.

The main ingredient in Whippy icecream is wheat flour!!!

olias

I'm just going on experience. My ex wife was a coeliac and we often went abroad and never had any problems and never looked for 'gluten free' places.Just had lots of salads, fruits, grilled foods, baked potatoes and omlettes. Very healthy as well.

Olias

soolin

olias wrote: »

I'm just going on experience. My ex wife was a coeliac and we often went abroad and never had any problems and never looked for 'gluten free' places.Just had lots of salads, fruits, grilled foods, baked potatoes and omlettes. Very healthy as well.

Olias

It should be that simple, but it isn't.

I have cards that explain i can't eat gluten (in various langauages) about a third of the places I show the card refuse to serve me at all as they are not sure of the ingredients and wont risk it.

Things like chips are problematic as they can be fried in the same oil as battered or floured items. Kebabs and meat products are often flavoured with products that contain gluten. Salads abroad can be deadly, croutens and all sorts of little extras added in to make it more tasty.

I holiday abroad several times a year, more often than not I either go a bit hungry as I can't get suitable food or I am refused service or I am sick. I tend to stick to things I hope are OK and just risk it now, or if I have already been glutened I will risk showing my warning card and hope they serve me.

A great place to go is Sorrento, there is a huge population of coeliacs there and gluten free pasta is everywhere in restaurants. However, when we went to Amalfi I couldn't get food at all as no restaurant would feed me and I ended up with a single bag of crisps that I could just about translate the ingredients on.

happy35

i always go self catering, and go to a well equipped apartment that I book from Holiday lettings etc so that I can cook my own food.

I take quite a bit of stuff with me as part of my luggage allowance so that I have enough for a good few days until I can find things I can eat.

I still have a good holiday and I also cook for OH and DS, if I eat out I tend to eat green salads, jacket potatoes, or go to places where everything is HM and than have something very plain such as tomato based veggie dish or plain grilled fish and salad

thegirlintheattic

I'd either go self-catering or do a package holiday with a major tour operator - they should sort out suitable food for you.

cte1111

There is a specialised holiday website for coeliacs (spelt the US way):
http://www.celiactravel.com/

pollyanna18

Hi, I recently stayed at the Sandos Papagayo Resort in Lanzarote which had signs at reception stating that they were coeliac friendly. Met a couple there who go to the hotel every year because the wife had coeliacs. Hope this helps.