gluten free diet

[angie]

I have recently discovered that i am coeliac which means a have to stick to a gluten and wheat free diet.I am travelling to venice in july,i have been there before but not on this eating plan,would anyone with coeliac have any info about traveling in italy and eating out,as i am abit worried about running into problems many thanks

[lotaresco]

Originally Posted by angie

I have recently discovered that i am coeliac which means a have to stick to a gluten and wheat free diet.I am travelling to venice in july,i have been there before but not on this eating plan,would anyone with coeliac have any info about traveling in italy and eating out,as i am abit worried about running into problems many thanks

Hmm, is Italy really a good place to visit? It's very difficult to avoid pasta. If you are self catering there is Makaira pasta which is a traditional wheat free pasta (very expensive), but avoiding wheat in Italy sounds to me like trying to avoid rain in Manchester.

Sorry, don't mean to sound disparaging, but it's really difficult to avoid pasta.

[Sano]

Hi Angie,

There is an Italian brand of gluten free pasta - The company that makes it is Scotti - I have heard both good and bad things about the pasta but have a colleague here who is also a coeliac (as well as diabetic) and he said it tastes ok. If you are staying at a decent hotel they should be able to accommodate you if you give them advance notice of your dietary requirements. Eating out will pose certain challenges but at most restaurants you should be able to mix and match dishes to ensure you get a spread of coeliac friendly foods. Make no mistake it will be challenging in places but with forethought you can get by most problems.

Good luck and enjoy your holiday!

Oh, try sticking with seafood dishes - they are probably the safest.

[Sebastiano]

We have had several guests with this problem.Fortunately having been preventively warned by them we were able to procure wheat free pasta,biscuits, bread-cracker things and generally make their stay comfortable.These products were however expensive and only easily found in chemists although we've now found a few things available in supermarkets.
Do not expect restaurants to be able to cater for this condition they will outside of fairly fancy places not have what you need so you could take your own pasta with you and they'll cook it for you.There is also italian rice pasta available in shops which you can eat with no problems.

[angie]

many thanks for taking the time to get back to me,i am hoping to take products with me which should help but with traveling for 2 weeks it will be a challenge.I have been to italy several times and it is now what i call my second home and to miss out on all that i love would be alot worse than avoiding pasta,it will be hard but everything else will make up for it(the people,language,scenery)need i go on. tante auguri angie :p

[helens]

Hi Angie,

I have been a coeliac since I was 8yrs old and this year will be our ninth visit to Italy in the last 10yrs and have never had a problem with food. It's quite easy to avoid pasta. There's plenty of restaurants that have lots of meat/fish/vegetables/salad on the menu. I also get gluten free pasta on prescription (which is produced in Italy) and you could take some with you. You can also buy gluten free pasta/herb crackers etc from Sainsbury's/Tesco so it will be easy to get a supply. I usually don't bother taking any with me and just stick to meat, fish and veg. Have a great holiday.

Helen

[rosieglosie]

hi, my son is coeliac and when we visited italy last year we took quite a lot of his stuff with us. GF pasta and biscuits are quite easy to find in
supermarkets, the PAM chain are particularly good. If you go here

http://www.celiachia.it/

you can get good info about the region you are visiting. There are now a number of restaurants which have GF menus, they are given certificates by the GF food companies, and have to know all about cross-contamination, etc. Check local listings magazines too, these restaurants are beginning to advertise the fact that they have menus 'senza glutine'. The celiachia site should also be able to give you a list. We went to a restaurant where my son had a fantastic GF pizza! The manager came and chatted to us and said it's slowly but surely picking up in Italy, so I hope you can find somewhere.

The thing we found hardest to buy was GF bread, luckily we took some of our own. I've also heard rumours about GF bakeries!

One last thing, when we posted to the celiachia site, we asked if they could put us in touch with someone locally for advice, and a local girl did contact us, and came to meet us with loads of GF treats for our son!

Hope this helps, have a fab holiday! Jane x

[Alessia]

I have been in Italy recently and you will enjoy the gluten free foods there. ALthough there are some well known Italian brands you will also find the international ORGRAN brand of pasta and huge selection of gluten free foods.
I foudn this by chance when I was travelling through Rome and realised the head office was located there.

I hope this helps
Cheers
Alessia

[Alessia]

I have been in Italy recently and I personally found to enjoy the gluten free foods there. I agree that some can be expensive but got around this easy.
Although there are some Italian brands you will also find the international ORGRAN brand of pasta and their huge selection of gluten free foods which are the best in terms of quality and price. For traveller it is a brand to be familiar with as it is available in USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and even found some in Bali.
I'm not boasting about this brand but I am grateful for the quality foods they have made available for us coeliacs.

When I was in Italy I found the ORGRAN products by chance while travelling through Rome and realised the head office was located there.
Their email address is info@orgran.it They respond very quickly but it helps if you know some Italian as their English can be a bit difficult to read.

Enjoy
Alessia

[DavidandLinda]

Originally Posted by lotaresco

Hmm, is Italy really a good place to visit? It's very difficult to avoid pasta. If you are self catering there is Makaira pasta which is a traditional wheat free pasta (very expensive), but avoiding wheat in Italy sounds to me like trying to avoid rain in Manchester.

Sorry, don't mean to sound disparaging, but it's really difficult to avoid pasta.

Rubbish, we are actually eating less pasta than when we were living in the UK! Not a problem one can eat what one likes!!