Gluten Free eating in Spain

Since my diagnosis I've been very anxious about going abroad and having to face the same issues of trying to explain what I can and cannot eat somewhere where I have only a very basic grasp of the language. I was overwhelmingly surprised by how easy it was for me to follow a gluten free diet in Spain, the main response being that of course they had heard about a gluten free diet and were able to cater for my needs, and a slight look of confusion in response to how worried I looked about this issue. I didn't come across anywhere I wasn't able to eat, so if you're planning a trip to Spain- don't worry, you'll get along just fine!

What you need to say:

Sin gluten= without gluten, both gluten and sin are pronounced exactly as they are in English. It really is that simple!

Useful resources:

List of gluten containing ingredients- I found this page from a Spain gluten free blog really useful because of the list of foods which contain gluten, which I printed and took around supermarkets when looking at ingredients lists. However, many products in Spain are labelled 'sin gluten' to make life even easier!

Directory of gluten free restaurants- This website was amazing, to begin with it looks like it lists only chains like McDonalds, but on closer inspection it has several independent restaurants on it too.

Gluten Free Passport- I didn't actually take this along with me this time, I made my own. When someone is not aware of the diet I find it is helpful also to have a list of foods you can eat, milk, eggs, corn, potatoes etc. because sometimes people assume you can't eat anything that people are sometimes allergic to, leading to a very bland meal! Having said this, I never actually found occasion to have to use the gluten free restaurant card that I had made myself, because everyone was so well informed. 

Food Highlights:

       Clockwise from top left- bread at Rhonda parador, amuse-bouche at Rhonda parador
              (gluten containing version on left, gluten free version on right), message on menu, part of bread
at Malaga parador

Parador, a well known chain of hotels has an agreement with the coeliac society of Spain to provide gluten free food, including bread. We visited two paradores on our trip, one in Rhonda and one in Malaga. It was comforting knowing that this was an option to fall back on when you had run out of time to wonder around looking for somewhere to eat. The food was decent and the portion sizes were huge! in the malaga parador I got two huge gluten free baguettes that had been warmed in the oven, and my starter was scrambled egg and asparagus which must have been made with at least 4 eggs! I made myself a sandwich for the plane which was very handy.

Top panel clockwise from top left: fried fish at Restaurant Marymar- Marbella, mini burgers at La Trilla, Marbella (LTM), bread rolls at LTM. Bottom panel clockwise from left,: assorted croquette at LTM, Beiker Pan Tostado from supermarket, Kid chops at La Bodeguita de enmedio, Casares

My two favourite restaurants were Marymar, and La Trilla both in Marbella. Marymar was owned by a chef with a coeliac daughter, and specialised in fried fish, I had mixed marinated fish which was fried in a gluten free batter. It was very good, unfortunately the restaurant seems to have closed since I went.

La Trilla was an amazing tapas restaurant, almost their entire menu was gluten free. We visited at lunch and were the only table in there, but it didn't matter. I had gluten free bread rolls which were really tasty, buttery, fluffy and shaped in lovely little swirls, with hidden treats in the middle like a hazelnut or an olive. The mini burgers were delicious, the one I had was tuna and sea lettuce and tasted really good. The mixed croquettes were a little disappointing, the ham one didn't taste of much and the cheese one was very strong blue cheese. However, there was one which was 'chicken soup' flavoured and this was magnificent, really gooey and tasted like chicken soup which I've always been a big fan of! I've included a picture of Pan Tostado, which is basically little squares of toasted bread, I've not come across these in the UK, but I haven't looked very hard. They were really nice along side a salad and stay fresh better than a loaf of bread.

The most anxious experience I had was at La Bodeguita de enmedio, Casares, because the waiter didn't speak any English at all, at this lovely little restaurant in the square in Casares. It was fine though because he understood what I was talking about, and I was able to eat kid (goat) chops followed by a flan caramel. 

Our nearest supermarket was Mercadona, and we also tried Lidl, both of which had plenty of products that were gluten free.
If you do a little research before you travel and know what to say you will get on fine and be able to eat some amazing gluten free food in Spain.

Surviving abroad on a gluten free diet (part 2 of 2)

This post concludes my experiences on my holiday in France and Spain in June this year. If you haven’t read the first part, you should read that first- entitled ‘surviving abroad without being glutened (part 1)’

On the sixth day of our holiday we visited Banyuls, a nearby seaside town. I had a bit of a craving for tuna steak, so we headed to ‘restaurant de la plage’ which was one of many restaurants on the sea front. The thon (tuna) steak we had was very tasty and mine came with green beans instead of rice and salad, which was a bit random. The beans were excellent though- drowning in garlicky olive oil. The tuna was plain but excellently cooked and slightly rare. In the evening we ate in and had a salad.

The next day we went into the Pyrenees and stopped in Ceret for lunch at hotel Pablo Picasso. This is the bridge in Ceret:

I had a cheese salad, which involved lettuce and chunks of four different cheeses. When I showed people my ‘gluten free passport’ I’d printed off some people tended to over react and exclude other things I could have eaten. They usually excluded the dressing from salads which made them fairly bland and disappointing. In the evening we ate at La Dorade in Cerbere, we chose the 32 euro menu because it contained the most stuff we wanted to eat, only to come to realise that the most expensive menu also had the largest portion sizes. The starter was seabass with an avocado and potato stack, which consisted of a two sizable fillets of seabass, and a large stack of avocado and potato with a buttery sauce. The starter was really delicious but hugely filling, it was at least the size you would expect a normal main course to be. The main course was scallops which were huge and there were eight of them, by this point I was getting pretty full so my Dad ate most of my main course, and most of my Mums too! For dessert there was not a lot I could eat, I’d been keen to try the crème catalane, but she said this contained a small amount of flour. In the end I got a bowl of strawberries with cream, which was very nice and not too filling.

            Before I get on to the tedious return journey and it’s meals (or lack of them), allow me to take an important digression to… ice cream. Ice cream is an important part of any summer holiday and I was not prepared to for go its pleasure on account of my gluten avoidance. At first I was weary of two things- cones and wafers. At most ice cream shops in the UK they stick a wafer into your ice cream before giving this to you and I had always assumed this was based on tradition from Italy/ France/ Spain. However, I found this not to be the case and didn’t see any ice cream shops in France or Spain with wafers. Cones are obviously to be avoided, and usually I would watch the process of scooping out the ice cream to check that there were no crumbs dropping into the tubs before committing to getting any. I basically adopted a policy of just eating it and not asking, a policy I have also adopted with hot chocolate and milkshakes and has not caused me any obvious problems so far. I would choose flavours that don’t obviously have gluten in, avoiding ones like cookie and cream flavours. I would ask for a tub and go for a scoop of chocolate and pistachio as they are my favourites. Another option is to choose the ice cream flavours furthest from the server, which will have had cones above it less often and be less likely to be contaminated. Obviously not all people avoiding gluten would want to take this risk, and would either try to ask or avoid this pleasure. Personally I think as most ice cream is gluten free and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be, the risk is worth it.

We were supposed to be leaving France on 11^th June from carcassone but that was the day the French air traffic control decided to strike. Our original flight was cancelled and we managed to book a second flight for the same day from Girona so set off in our hire car to Girona. On the way we stopped in the beautiful town of Narbonne, here is a picture of the square in the cathedral:

We had lunch at a restaurant called L’Estagnol which had been recommended in our guide book. The waiter understood my needs and I ordered a steak tartare, which is like a raw beef burger. It was really tasty and I’d been hoping to get a chance to have one before leaving France. We also stopped in the seaside town of Roses, in Spain here is the beach there:

We went to a slightly tacky and very cigar smoky tapas restaurant for dinner, the options were very limited as many things were deep fried and battered. I was only really able to eat bits of fish- sardines and anchovies, and salads. I wasn’t allowed the chips and was told I could have the chicken wings but when it came out it looked like it was battered so I didn’t trust it. The food I was actually allowed to eat was alright, but didn’t fill me up at all.

            We headed to the airport to find out second flight was cancelled. It was quite a late flight so we had to book on a flight for the next morning, from Barcelona airport. As the next flight was supposed to be early we didn’t eat breakfast in the hotel. The airport was very sparse in terms of shops and there was only one café, I had a salad with candied fruit and chicken for my breakfast, which was alright but a bit odd. The café actually sold a gluten free chocolate donut type thing which I ate later on, but it really was disgusting and I couldn’t eat it! It was very dry and hard with this slightly chocolaty, sticky, sickly filling. The flight was delayed by 3 hours but I only found the rest of the airport half an hour before we had to board! There were more restaurants including a steak restaurant, which I really wanted to go to, but there was no time left. I got a plate of meats and cheeses and had it with some left over gluten free bread that I still had. It was ok but it was quite stale and it still didn’t fill me up, I was still hungry. Once we were on the plane we were told it would be another three hours before we took off, very frustrating! 

Overall, I managed my diet fairly well abroad despite very limited knowledge of the language. In future I would have a bit more 'contingency food' around in the car just in case I get caught out and hungry. It would have been particularly useful for the journey back.

Surviving abroad without being glutened (part 1)

Travelling abroad gluten free

This June I was faced with the daunting task of sticking to my gluten free diet on holiday where I don’t speak the local language. We were heading to Cerbere, a small village on the border of France and Spain, for a week. Before setting off I printed off the gluten free passport gluten free dining cards for Spanish and French, along with a detailed list of green, amber and red French foods. This was downloaded from the French Coeliac society website, called AFDIAG, and I found it by searching ‘Interdit’ (forbidden) in their search bar. I also packed the Spanish and French phrase books.

            We set off from Liverpool to Carcassonne early in the morning. At Liverpool Airport we went to Frankie and Bennys for breakfast. I ordered bacon and eggs on toast, without the toast. When it arrived it came on toast! There was no time to get a new one made before the flight so I set off hungry, and ate my emergency peanut butter sandwich on the flight.

            On our first day we saw the sights of Carcassonne and ate lunch in a restaurant in the main square of the medieval city. This is Carcassonne:

I had a duck only cassoulet- a traditional dish of white beans, sausage and duck. I chose the duck only version because I thought the sausage would not be suitable. When ordering we asked if the waiter spoke English and he sent over one who did. I told him I couldn’t eat gluten and presented my piece of paper. The girl next to us in the restaurant was English and spoke French; she offered to translate things for us. The waiter seemed to understand and took the list off to show the chef. He returned and confirmed he thought it was ok. The cassoulet was delicious and I suffered no symptoms from eating it.

            Next we went to a French supermarket, Giante Casino to buy supplies. In the Bio section, which means organic there was a small gluten free section. I got some gluten free pasta, which was very good, just the same as that from the UK. I also got some gluten free bread- Schaer Rustico, which is from Germany. It was a long-life rustic fibre loaf, which tasted very good.

 We ate in for dinner- a salad with some Parma ham and cheese.

            For breakfast my favourite is avocado on toast, which went very well with the Rustico bread. On the second day we went down the Spanish coast stopping off at some of the seaside towns. We went for lunch at a tapas restaurant called El Racó de Port in the town of Llança.

This is the restaurant: 

The waiter seemed to understand the Spanish version of the gluten free passport. Everything was suitable except for the things that were deep fried, and the Spanish omelette. The meal was very nice; we had sardines, manchego, Spanish ham, patas bravas and more. In the evening we ate in and had pasta.

            On the third day we went into the Pyrenees and visited the Abbaye de St Martin:

We ate lunch in a small village called Cateil/ Castel at a restaurant called Relais St Martin. I had the plat de assaitte de jour (dish of the day). This consisted of a melon and ham salad with roast vegetables, ham, cheese, fries and aioli (garlic mayo) it really was delicious. The women was very impressed with the gluten free passport I showed her and understood it well. In the evening we ate at a restaurant called Amphitryon on the seafront of Collioure. The restaurant was very busy, I showed the waitress the piece of paper and ordered Paella, which she said was ‘just rice’ so would be ok. The paella was a bit tasteless and disappointing. I tried to order dessert but it was all too much for the waitress. Her section was full of customers annoyed by her slow service and forgetfulness. She had obviously just left the restaurant to cry (rubbing eyes, makeup smudged) and I asked if the crème catalane (similar to a crème brulee) was gluten free. She said it wasn’t, I asked her what was and she suggested the profiteroles or apple tart. I knew neither of theses would be so I decided not to have anything. This made me worry my main course hadn’t been gluten free either but I had no obvious side effects from it.

            The next day we explored the neighbouring towns and stopped for lunch in Port Vendres at a place called La Fringale. This is the view from the restaurant:

I had the salad Estivale, which was melon and ham again- very nice. Much to my excitement we found a place in Collioure called Framboise Chocolat that had a sign outside saying ‘biscuits sans gluten’. The first time we tried to go in it was closed but in the end I managed to get some biscuits. I bought some pistachio and some chocolate biscuits. The were very good, particularly the pistachio ones as the chocolate ones were a little burnt. They were hard biscuits, similar to biscotti, which is traditional for the region. We ate in for dinner, creating our own cassoulet, which was very good.

            The next day it was raining so we decided to explore the city of Perpignan. This is Perpignan in the rain:

We had lunch in a restaurant in the central square. Again I ordered a salad, presenting my piece of paper. The salad was supposed to be Roquefort and walnut but the walnuts were removed leaving only lettuce and Roquefort. This was a disappointment and very boring. Perpignan had a very nice market going on the day we visited- Saturday. One of the bread stalls had gluten free bread, made primarily of quinoa. The loaf was quite dense and tough, but tasted nice. In the evening we went to Les Clos de Paulilles restaurant and vineyard between Port Vendres and Banyuls sur Mer. We arrived at 6.40 but they weren’t serving dinner until 7.30 so we had to spend the time trying and buying vast quantities of wine. The menu was set, with a choice of two or three things for each course. Although they didn’t speak much English the staff were very thorough in their discussion. To start we had a tapas plate, most of which I could eat with the exception of a few things on bread. Then I had sea bass with pak choi, which was delicious. For dessert I had cherry soup, which was very nice. Overall, the meal was very good.

            That concludes the first of my two gluten free holiday blog posts. You may be wondering why I’d finish after 5 days when I was only going for a week, you must be forgetting the French air traffic control strike!