My non coeliac boyfriend

Does anyone else feel that there diagnosis has affected their relationship? I think it has ours, but in a good way. Which is a relief now I think about it.

Obviously there are downsides for him. The boyfriend now gets less say in where we eat, and the range of places we eat out is narrower. But on the upside we eat healthier food, and we put a lot more thought into what we eat.

Not to mention how thoughtful and considerate boyfriend is about the whole thing. Sometimes, I would get frustrated or annoyed and go crazy with some sweets or crisps that contain gluten if it wasn’t for his calm and consistent support. Also, we are travelling in some countries where there is so little awareness of coeliac disease and gluten intolerance that constantly explaining to people and seeing the ‘this girl is insane’ look gets really exhausting, if not demoralising. Having someone there with me who is on my side makes so much difference! Plus, he doesn’t drink beer either; we stand united!

That being said, and maybe I’m crazy, I do wonder if I get any gluten from him. While we are travelling he mops up all the free bread that comes with meals etc. and he loves oats for breakfast. I am considering if he himself could be a source of contamination when we kiss.

Either way, travelling with me, this disease affects him too, and he’s great about it. So thank you to him. AND to all the supportive boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, families and friends that keep us happy and help us feel normal!

Is anyone else worried that gluten might spread from their lips to yours?

My gluten free struggle

As much as I try to eat healthy, satisfying and safe food there are times when I have to confess that the world doesn’t seem set up for coeliacs yet. One of those times has been the last few days.

In Bolivia, a series of stomach upsets (gluten caused or not, who knows?) meant that I retreated to the safest foods. By which I mean something in a packet with an allergen statement that did not  mention gluten. (Normally I would consider fresh homecooked food safest, but with no kitchen and no way of cleaning fresh fruit, this is second best). This also meant junk food.

As ashamed as I am to admit it, I existed for nearly three days on skittles, milky ways and nestle trencito (chocolate). I wasn’t happy about it, but I felt safe and it got me past the worst of my tummy troubles. It helps that I had little appetite anyway.

Of course there have been consequences. Cravings, majorly pissed off skin and guilt that I deprived my body of nutrients mainly.

This for me is the worst of travelling. I can’t whip up my own bone broth when I think I’ve been glutened, I don’t always know what will make me worse, and I don’t have any trusted place to eat out; everywhere is new, and a leap of faith. Sometimes it feels I have to make a choice between junk food and nothing. And, I’m a hungry person, I never choose nothing.

But I don’t want to do this to my body. So for the next month I’m going to be junk food free. I want to stop craving it, and stop using it as a safety net. Which means I’m going to have to find some other solutions, and fast!

If you have any ideas for easy replacement foods (preferably low sugar) please share them with me!

Gluten free tips for organised tours

I am not a really big fan of tours; anything where someone else is controlling my time and experience really gets me grouchy. However, the reality is that all around the world there are incredible sights that cannot be seen without signing up to a tour group. Not the majority, but some. Some could be done in a hire car or your own car, but our experience is that if public transport doesn’t go there, you will need a 4×4, and it’s normally prohibitively expensive on a backpacker budget. For these reasons we have done some tours. Half day tours, full day tours, but nothing overnight; that seems to be my limit.

Aside from the awfulness of being shunted around in a minibus (I know, sorry, some people like tours), for us, there is a food aspect to consider as well. So here are my tips:

1) Check what will be provided

Clarify with the company exactly what they provide, and what they expect you to bring. Sounds obvious, as many things do, but when it is the fifth company that you’ve spoken to (comparing prices, important!), your spanish is stretched to it’s limit and all you want to do is shower after a long journey, it is very easy to just pay and run away, only wondering later if you need food.

2) Request special food

Don’t be afraid of making a fuss, or having people stare at you like you grew a second head. If they are providing food, you have a right to be able to eat it. Not a legal right, but a moral one. (NB this rarely works-it’s a tour, it’s preset and they deviate for no man, woman or coeliac).

3) Pack enough to keep you going

My favourite personal rule- take more, not less. You can always bring leftovers back and it is awful being forced to watch others eat when you can’t. Even if you don’t want the food, you know you have an option.

4) Take a lot of water

Not much to do with being gluten free, but a valid point none the less.

5) Don’t pick around the gluten

Own up, come on. Who’s guilty of this. Wanting to join in, not wanting to cause offence, you casually nudge the bread rolls to the side to eat a bit of the salad they have contaminated. I know you’re hungry, I know it looks tasty, but if it’s not kept seperate from gluten it is poison. Walk away. Those crisps that they are serving as snacks whike you watch sunset with a pisco sour (real life example), do they have the packet? No? Then don’t touch them. Or go ahead, as I did, and feel awful later.

6) Try to get a discount

Why not? Nine times out of ten that food is included in a tour you will not be catered for and they will not offer any replacement. Haggling is the norm in many places anyway, so use this in your favour. At least you won’t end up out of pocket.

So these are my tips. Do you have any of your own? Let me know!

Being glutened; Five South American mishaps

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while, but having not left South America it felt premature. Having spent the best part of today feeling truly pants due to a very stealthy glutening (and without Internet- the horror) I realise that that was flawed logic. I should share my disasters as I go, maybe I can help someone else avoid the same fate!

So far these have been my big fat gluten mistakes:

Breakfast

I’m not completely daft; I’m aware that a bread heavy traditional South american feaUst won’t do me any favours. I come armed with rice crackers. It took me longer to start scrutinising the condiments as well. I thought that an untouched looking communal pot of jam was safe. It wasn’t until I worked in a hostel and saw the mother pot, in all its crumb filled glory that the penny dropped. No sharing with the gluten people! Unless you know that jam is from a fresh pot, steer clear.

Chocolate and sweets

I have a sweet tooth. I’m not ashamed of it. You’re probably already aware of it as, reading this, you are statistically my boyfriend or my mum. I am a bit ashamed that the last products I started examining the labels of closely were these delicious junk foods. Something in my subconscious couldn’t see a risk until it was explicitly pointed out. And, especially in South America I think, there are very few uncontaminated brands. I’d been digesting (or not) sneaky gluten in this manner for about two months of my travels, and gluten free life.

Local foods that you KNOW are safe

I didn’t actually make this mistake (yay) but it’s well worth mentioning. There is so much joy when you discover a naturally gluten free food. You see it, ask what it is and what’s in it, Google it to be sure, and then gobble it down whenever possible. This at least is my path, and there is no better example than the delicious milcaos from the island of Chiloe (you can see how much I loved them in a great blog post by my boyfriend here: http://www.englishmuffinandegg.wordpress.com). Milcaos are gluten free. Everyone knows this. Every recipe I’ve seen knows this. They’re just potato. Except when they’re not. Before I had a chance to find a recipe, but had already tried one trustingly at a friend’s, we found some on a stall. Not having verified by collective Internet wisdom their safety I quizzed the seller and found they did contain flour! This nearly put me off altogether but I persisted and that is the only flour containing milcao I’ve ever heard of. The lesson however is to always ask. Because if she had been the second, or fifth, or hundredth seller, I wouldn’t have asked and would have had a nasty shock. Now I ask each new stall, restaurant and cafe, because people do like to experiment and I want no surprises. At least not of that kind.

Thinking ‘just chicken’, means just chicken

It never does. Unless you specify, and then deal with the incredulous looks, the chicken will either come breaded or battered. The same is true of fried fish (always in batter ). Al horno is roasted, which is fine and obvious rotisserie place will also be ok.

Assuming a product will stay gf across borders

I didn’t even look at the wrappers of products I knew to be safe when I travelled on to new countries. It was only when bored on a bus and playing with a packet that I saw it had gluten in! Completely safe in ones country, poison in the next. Different factories I assume. Same rule as always, check first and e at later.

WWOOF and Workaway – volunteer abroad gluten free

We have been very fortunate to do a lot of work exchanges whilst we’ve been travelling, by which I mean we do a few hours work in exchange for accommodation and food. Although it is so much more than that. For us it has been a way of travelling slower, meeting more local people, improving our Spanish and learning new skills, as well as the obvious goal of helping people out. And we have had a huge amount of fun, as you can see here.

The snag is the food that is on offer, and I could understand people being dubious about being understood and catered for accordingly. The good news it is no barrier to having a great experience, there are only a few little tips that should make it easier and less stressful.

1) Explain. In detail. In advance

This is so obvious I am embarrassed to write it, but at the beginning it sort of slipped my mind in the excitement of searching through the incredible opportunities that were on offer. We arrived at one couple’s house geared up to teach them English, but had completely neglected to tell them I had any dietary requirements. Luckily, they were the nicest people in the world, and pretty aware of what being a coeliac meant, so we had a lovely week eating safe, delicious meals and I made them a lot of gluten free desserts to say thank you! Generally you have to give people a window to say if they can’t accommodate you (for example in a hotel, if you will be eating the same as the guests, it may be to hard for them to change everything for you). And also, if you discuss what you can and can’t eat in advance, you will feel a lot more comfortable rocking up at their home or business for a while.

2) Don’t assume the food you’re given is gluten free

Sadly, whilst explaining is a good start, people forget, or get confused, or just plain don’t think. It doesn’t make them evil, just human. So yes, I have been served breaded chicken (covered in sauce-sneaky), beef bourginon, bechamel sauce and so much bread. I like to get involved with the cooking (because I enjoy it anyway thankfully) so then there’s more control.

3) Don’t be afraid to say you can’t eat something

Following on from point 2, if you do get something questionable, don’t panic and eat it anyway or just starve; explain why you can’t have it. You may be worried about an awkward moment, but usually people are very understanding and if anything just feel sorry to have given you food you can’t eat.

4) Learn how to explain your diet in the native language of the country you are in

You don’t need to be fluent, but this is so useful. Even very good speakers of English might be confused when you start explaining in detail about your diet. They may never have spoken or thought much about it in their own language, so in English it is even less likely. If you don’t feel confident with this, then there are great coeliac language cards available on the internet that you can print and carry with you, such as these.

5) Be prepared to feel a bit sad

Lots of the places we stayed at my boyfriend could eat great food made with produce from the farm we were on, or exciting local dishes, or delicious home baked treats. The number of times I could do the same has been considerably lower. Sometimes it is hard when you are used to cooking quite well for yourself to have quite plain food, especially when everyone else I’d tucking in to something much better. But I just remind myself that it’s only food; I’m healthy, in good company and in an amazing place. It is worth the sacrifice.

6) Bring snacks!

This follows on from above again really; this seems to be considered an additional food and as such people don’t tend to provide a gluten free replacement. We stayed at one farm with a really nice couple running it, and every ten minutes they would bring around cookies for the workers and despite them catering for me really well at all other times, I never had anything. And I wanted a snack too! So I take my own. Sometimes this is more important than others. At a remote farm that was struggling to make ends meet, most people were filling up on bread and there was no money for an alternative for me. Having my own nibbles meant I wasn’t hungry and no one felt bad.

7) Opt for a host that doesn’t provide food

Plenty of hosts, on both Workaway and WWOOF lists, will take people to work less hours and only receive accommodation. Or you can contact people and ask if this would be possible. Great experience, compete security!

What I’m basically saying is go for it! You will have an amazing experience and, in all likelihood, no food based problems.

Here are the websites for the organisations I have talked about:

http://www.workaway.info

http://www.wwoofchile.cl

http://www.wwoofargentina.com

Ideas for gluten free bus snacks- Argentina

Now a subject on which I can speak with complete authority- what to take on a long bus ride that will keep you full and happy. Having recently done three epic journeys. (38, 28 and 20 hours, as you asked) I know how daunting it can be. From a health and sanity point of view I would rather avoid such journeys all together, but Argentina is just so large that unless your budget will stretch to flights here, there and everywhere you have to learn to live with it.

For those yet to encounter the buses in Argentina, most companies will provide food if you are travelling across a meal time, including overnight, but curiously not all three meals (lunch is often ignored). Exactly what to expect will depend on the company and the type of seat you buy (the more expensive, the more food generally) so you need to ask at the time of ordering. If you are buying your ticket more than a few hours in advance you can request a coeliac meal. They will generally be OK with this at the bus office and write something convincing on your ticket. I have not, however, met anyone who actually received a special meal, including vegetarians and vegans, so don’t count on it. The food they do provide I can almost guarantee will be nearly exclusively wheat based, so I now have my standard bus snacks.

Short journeys (no border crossing)

Make a large meal the day before and take leftovers for the bus. Some Tupperware and cutlery is required for this obviously, but I don’t see how you can manage without. Some favourites for us are rice mixed with veggies or tuna, lentil stew or salad, and Mexican boxes- rice, beans, spicey stir fried veg etc.

Short journeys (with border crossing)

If you are going into Chile, they are very strict on bringing in food. The above should be OK, but better to eat before the border. Salad is a no no, only cooked food is OK. Brazil is a lot less fussy so don’t worry too much.

Long journeys

The challenge here is to get hold of food that will not go bad out of the fridge or require cooking. The bus will stop so people can buy food, but it is unlikely you will be able to eat any of it. Generally, we try to take a proper meal (as above) for the first meal, and then more of a constant snacking process for the rest of the time. I buy some rice cakes and then toppings depending on what is available; pâté (the tinned kind), jam, preserved meat (like salami) and banana are recurring features in my bus diet. Dried fruit and nuts make great snacks as do any gf nibbles you can find (chewy bars etc.) and celery sticks. If you have a taste for junk food go ahead, chocolate won’t melt, the air con is too high for that. Only watch out for the “traces of gluten” on the ingredients list before you indulge.

I have also on occasion made some baked goods in advance so I could take a sandwich, this works too, but is quite time consuming. You could buy bread if you find it, but every time I do it’s so bad I don’t finish it. I still get excited to see it and buy it anyway so I expect you will too!

If you have any other ideas please let me know, I have lots more journeys ahead of me!

Gluten free Argentina

Having passed near on 4 months in Argentina now, I can say for sure that you’ll be better looked after there as a coeliac than in Chile, and possibly anywhere in South America.

That is, there is “special” gluten free food available in every supermarket, mandated by law, and therefore something will be there for you. The flip side is that this is necessary, as otherwise all food is bread, pizza and pasta; blame the Italian ancestry, I suppose. So whilst you can’t eat what 99% of the country are eating, you are catered for; you see how this works? In other countries you may be able to just eat normally but not get any of those delicious(!) GF goodies.

Supermarkets

Carrefour is your best friend here. Only the larger towns have them, and in general they are more expensive, but by far the biggest and best gf range.

That being said, a lot of the stuff is not worth your money. Santa Maria is a brand that has the best premix flour; if you need it, buy theirs. But do not bother with their biscuits and especially not their cakes, just terrible. The NoGlut range of products pop up quite frequently, but they are eye wateringly expensive and no good.

Even one-off, small supermarkets will be able to supply you with rice crackers or polenta for a good price. A word here for polenta (obviously just corn flour, but sometimes not labeled as such, cheaper if it is though), it is eaten much more in Argentina than in the UK, and you can do so much with it- hostel kitchen ideas to follow).

Dieteticas

A dietetica is a health food shop in Argentina. They are very common, even very small towns will have at least one. In a squeeze one of these can supply you with something to nibble on, but be warned, they are pricey.

Restaurants

Safe dishes are similar to Chile I’m afraid in terms of dining out. Even if the dish reads as safe on the menu, tell the waiting staff that you cannot eat gluten and give examples. This should prevent the unmentioned croutons appearing on your salad or soup, or the wafer ruining your ice cream. Almost always you will be treated  sympathetically.

In El Bolson, the Cerveceria is also a pizzeria, and both the beer and pizza are also available gf. I personally didn’t like the pizza (the fattest base ever and far too much bad cheese), and they were out of the beer, but it’s an option.

National dishes

I don’t like to be cruel, but no one comes to Argentina for the food. Yes, the beef is good, but after so much, enough is enough. There isn’t much variety, no spice and as mentioned earlier, it really revolves around bread. It’s a bit blah. Locro is a creamy corn stew with meat in, which is naturally gf but a little bit sweet. Asado, the ubiquitous BBQed meat will also not gluten you, as long as you avoid the bread.

Buenos Aires

Being a metropolitan capital of a coeliac recognising country ( or CRC as I shall henceforth call them, cause I’m cool) has some good gf options. As well as the two eateries I previously reviewed (Sintaxis and Celigourmet), there is also a new deli/restaurant in Palermo from the owners of Celigourmet. La Pastroneria (www.celigourmet.com.ar/la-pastroneria) serves up food so good I wanted to eat three meals at once. Highly recommended. Some of the other restaurants can provide a coeliac menu if you are very lucky, and other places, such as Tea Connection, have clear gluten labeling on the menus.

Rosario

Only three hours from BA and in many ways Argentina’s second city, Rosario also has a couple of gf goodies up its sleeve. Casa del Chipa is a gluten free bakery selling the simple things like bread and crackers and some fresh pasta. The bread often sells out early and it is not open on Sundays, like the rest of the city. The second treat is called Almacen del Celiaco, a dedicated gf supermarket. They sell everything you can’t normally buy, savoury to sweet, fresh to prepackaged. The best part though is obviously just the fun and novelty of being able to chose anything you want from a decent sized food shop. Wonderful, good empanadas and the lemon cake gets a shout outout.

Celigourmet- Buenos Aires

Now I mentioned Celigourmet in an earlier post, with a promised review to follow. It is the bakery from whence Geranat, the gluten free pizzeria, sprang. But to do my part fully as reviewer I thought I should try as much as possible from there before commenting. So I did, I tried lots.

There are 3 locations in the city and one, in Capital Federal, has a seating area at the back. This was where we meant to taste as much as possible however it is primarily a bakery and therefore really geared towards takeaway. Whilst not unpleasant at all you wouldn’t want to linger there of an afternoon.

So we tried a milanese, crêpes, empanadas, and a selection of cakes and sandwiches. Not all at once I would like to stress.

Milanese is very popular in Argentina, breaded meat, usually beef, with a tomatoes sauce and grated cheese on top. This one was served with roast potatoes which were fine, but irrelevant. The Milanese was not good. The meat was not identifiable by taste or texture and the breadcrumbs were soggy from being refrigerated with the sauce on top. The sauce was OK but too little, the cheese, chewy and too much.

The crêpes divided opinion. They were meant to be similar to spinach and ricotta canneloni, but I couldn’t taste either of these elements. They were in a very watery tomato sauce and the texture of the crepes was off, they were too eggy and soft. I thought the whole thing was a big mush. Egg really enjoyed it though, and now thinks my taste buds are insensitive as I couldn’t not detect the spinach.

The empanadas on the other hand, absolute winner. They are delicious. I chose the beef, although chicken, ham and cheese and all the usual favourites are available. The pastry was crisp and not too thick, but neither was it brittle. Egg couldn’t tell the difference from gluteny empanadas he had tried. I was really pleased with this.

Other than these we tried mini sandwiches, delicious (and the Milanese one is proof that it was not the breadcrumb but the sauce that was a problem with the larger version above) mini bites of gf heaven, and several cakes.

The cakes were a bit disappointing, this was not because of any gluten free issues, but rather the Argentinean taste in desserts. The biscuit base was good, but for us the inch of dulce de leche and two inches of whipped cream and sugar was far too much.

Oh, and with meals you get a little portion of toast. Very similar to normal toast, so a thumbs up there I guess although I don’t see the need to have bread with every meal, everyone else in the country disagrees.

To conclude, it is really the bakery items where Celigourmet excels. Bread cakes etc. are well worth a trip for, but if you go and hope for a full meal, you’re likely to leave disappointed.

 

Celigourmet – http://www.celigourmet.com.ar

Artemisia- Buenos Aires

The vegetarian restaurant Artemisia is a very minimalist, tasteful affair; whitewashed walls and contemporary art. You have to ring to get in, as you do in several shops, restaurants etc. in BA, but we didn’t find that booking was necessary to get a good table.

The menu does not have any gluten free labelling, so I explained to the waitress that I was a coeliac and, firstly, she knew what I meant, which I find reassuring. She was also able to immediately point me towards the dishes that were available to me. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there weren’t many choices, so we skipped a starter and went straight to the main course. Also, she happily came back out of the kitchen a minute later with a selection of bread for us to share. No ill will intended I’m sure, but it was annoying as it looked, and egg assured me it was, delectable. For any non-coeliacs who have wandered here confused, the selection was a slice of rosemary and sea salt foccacia, rye bread and a white nutty loaf.

I ordered a yamani rice risotto, with black olives, sun dried tomatoes, rocket and cheese. I could never ascertain which cheese, but a very salty one. Whilst the first few mouthfuls were very good, the whole dish was quickly overpowered by the saltiness of the cheese. I managed about half of it, but was left with a stomach ache that I had to walk off on the way home. Definitely disappointing; in this instance even egg couldn’t finish my food. The salad on top of the risotto was nice and fresh, so there’s a positive.

Egg ordered quinoa fritters which came with an avocado salad and green vegetable dressing. I was upset that these were not suitable for coeliacs, but they must use flour to fry them. They went down very well with egg, who raved about them. Until they increase their gluten free selection we will not be in a hurry to return.

This was our first lesson in vegetarian restaurants. We had assumed that because they already catered to a specific diet they would be quite accommodating for other restricted diets. Based on this restaurant, when the focus is already narrowed to one market it is harder to allow for other restrictions. We shall see if this theory holds water as we eat in more restaurants and countries.

In conclusion, the service here was good, the food attractive, but the gluten free offering was just too limited.

http://www.artemisiaresto.com.ar

Sintaxis – Buenos Aires

BA is turning out to be a bit of a treat for finding gluten free dining options and Sintaxis is the latest we have tried. 

It is in Palermo and there is a bakery/shop in the front and a spacious restaurant after this. The decor is cool blue, mint green and white, with bleached wood furniture. It feels crisp but the sofas which are a seating option for couples keep it from being too sterile.

The menu is available online so I won’t go into much detail about it here although both online and in the restaurant it is only in Spanish. We’re getting pretty good with food translation, so this was OK for us, but had it not been, our server was attentive and spoke flawless English. Basically four or five starters options are followed by a handful of meat and pasta plates and salads. There was not a huge selection of vegetarian dishes, in fact nothing except a salad, and egg was having a salad overload so chose fish.

But first, I got to partake in the pure starter bread and mousse course that seems to be a legal requirement in BA. Every meal has been preceded by some form of bread and pate, which egg gallantly gobbles up while I look on glumly. Here I actually got to eat the delicious walnut loaf and vegetable mousse.  And very nice it was too. The mousse was rich and predominantly mushroomy, the bread firm and nutty.

To start we made the mistake (again! see the review of Geranat) of choosing the anti pasti.  Based on the two we have had so far there are different expectations of anti pasti here; slabs of unremarkable cheese and basic ham being the order of the day. In this case very nicely presented, and with some very good olives, as well as some sliced roast beef. It wasn’t bad, but neither was it what we had hoped for (a selection if fresh cheeses, tomatoes and cured meats). More of an expectation gap I feel.

The main courses I’m pleased to say were showstoppers; beautifully presented, flavoursome dishes. I had chosen a pasta dish, a sort of salmon ravioli in a creamy leek sauce and egg, a trout on caramelised vegetables with butternut squash souffle. Neither one had lost anything by excluding gluten!

The pasta was soft and held together well, it wasn’t too thick either. The overall salmon dish was very rich, which I found a bit too much but egg enjoyed; it was very buttery.  The trout was just exquisite- the fish cooked perfectly and the souffle and vegetables complimented it very well. Each mouthful was a treat and I pinched more than one from egg’s plate!

For desert, there is a selection from the kitchen, as well as anything that is on sale in the bakery (the bakery items are also available to takeaway). We opted to share a chocolate brownie, as I have yet to have a gluten free one that matched their glutenous counterpart (except for at pizza express- but I mean home made here).

I was a bit disappointed again, it just wasn’t gooey. And if a brownie isn’t gooey is it really a brownie? It did look good, and it was massive, I was glad we had shared and we didn’t finish it even then. But it was just cake, quite dense, crumbly chocolate cake.

With that rather damning assessment I shall move swiftly on to price. It is a bit more pricey here, with some main courses reaching $120. Our starter was $70 and the desert $25, the deserts from the kitchen are more expensive. I did think the main courses were worth the money and we would go back; we’d probably just side step the anti pasti!

www.sintaxispalermo.com/