BootsnAll Travel Community

HI, I have a fairly severe case of Celiac Disease (cant eat any wheat, barley, oats, ect) which makes it hard for me to travel, especially to non-english speaking countries. I need all my food to be cooked seperatly and not come into contact with any gluten. Even a tiny bit makes me very sick.

I want to travel to either Southeast Asia (thailand, vietnam, cambodia) or South America (peru, bolivia, chili) and my decision may come down to whichever one I will be safer eating in.

I can speak very limited spanish, but it would just be easier if I could either cook my own food or travel where not a lot of these grains are used.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

Off the top of my head I would say that SE Asia would have less wheat etc. Main starch in the diet is rice, noodles are generally rice noodles. Wheat, barley etc grow in cooler climates so it's not really a natural part of the cuisine. Bread is definately present- western breakfasts, sandwiches, and muesli covered in oats, italian food but I'm sure you are very adept at avoiding these things.
What about sticky or glutenous rice does that bother you? Or just wheat gluten?

I had a friend that had some diet restictions and she would have a nice bilingual guesthouse owner or student(or someone here in the US) etc write out cards that she could show people or read to restaurant folks explaining the restrictions.

South America might not be so hard either....I've only been to Peru and again it's a lot of rice and potatoes but i don't know how they thicken the sauces and there are alot of creamy soups that might have some flour lurking.

I didn'tt do much of my own cooking in either area but that doesn't mean there aren't opportunities for it.

Hope this helps a bit
Kate

Our Australia blogger has written about what it's like to travel around Oz as a coeliac - you can read her post here.