Your ultimate travel guide for trips with celiac!
Ever since I was about 12, my dad and I would do a challenge every time we went to the airport. Find the best food that will carry you over until you get to your destination. The trick? Find a little bit of everything. So long as they had it, my go to was always this: chips (normally lays), a naked smoothie (mango and strawberry banana are the best ones), a kind bar, and a snickers bar. Carbs, a drink, protein, and sugar. Earlier this summer, my flight home from DC was delayed for 4 hours, and I found myself stuck in the airport at 7pm on a Sunday, starving and ready to go home. Generally, airport restaurant food isn’t always the safest for Celiac, so I channeled my inner Dad, went to the nearest Hudson News, and bought a bag of Cape Cod chips, a mango Naked smoothie, a Kind Bar, and some M&Ms. Carbs, a drink, protein, and sugar. I have been traveling since the ripe age of 6 months, so I’ve had my fair share of travel experiences. Here are my general conclusions:
- Western Europe does gluten free really well
- Gluten free Italian food and French pastries are amazing!
- The cheese in the Netherlands is wonderful (specifically the goat cheese)
- In Mexico there tends to be more gluten in foods (they use wheat instead of corn)
- McDonalds in many other countries are gluten free
- When traveling abroad if you tell the airline you’re celiac ahead of time they will prepare a celiac safe meal for you
- In the United States, chain restaurants are definitely a safer bet, however sometimes the small restaurants can be the best ones!
- Find me gluten free is your best friend.
- Know these phrases: Sono celiaca, soy celiaca, je suis coeliaque, senza glutine, sans gluten, sin gluten → as long as you get the idea of it, you should be good to go 🙂
That was a lot all at once, so now I’ll elaborate. In Western Europe specifically, there are TONS of people who are celiac (especially in Italy and Ireland) so they have gotten really good at making completely celiac safe and tasty food. Italy especially is very familiar with celiac, I was there for two weeks this summer, ate out practically the entire time, and didn’t get sick once. They have gluten free options at every hotel, along with most restaurants as long as you tell them that you’re celiac. Make sure to say celiac though instead of gluten free, it makes a difference!! Another travel tip, if you ever go to the Netherlands, try the cheese! It is all fresh and totally gluten free, and it tastes amazing. In Mexico, they end up putting wheat and barley into a lot of their foods – for example mexican cheetos, potato chips, and even some yogurts all contain wheat (trigo), so if you are ever there, make sure that the foods you are eating are either exported from the US, or clearly state that they are gluten free. The US is one of the only countries in which McDonalds is not gluten free. In the majority of other countries (most of Europe, Canada, and some of Asia), McDonald’s does in fact have celiac safe options. In general, Find Me Gluten Free is your ultimate travel buddy, I’ve been able to find so many different amazing restaurants from it and I haven’t gotten sick once! Find me gluten free also allows you to hear about other people’s experiences at these restaurants, and you’d be shocked at how many celiac-safe places there are around you! Find Me GF also shows what the specific features are of that restaurant (ex. It has a dedicated fryer, it has a GF menu, it’s a dedicated GF restaurant), which is super helpful, especially when traveling! Another really important tip is to learn how to say “I am celiac” in the native language of the place you are traveling to. This helps a lot when you’re out, and you’ll be using this phrase a lot more than you expected!
