Your Celiac Guide to Travel
Join me on Tuesday, March 25th at 6pm at Vassar Brother’s Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. I will be discussing tips about traveling the world while living with Celiac Disease, gluten-free travel tips, and how to research before you leave for your vacation.
Visit the CDF Hudson Valley NY Facebook page for more information.
Gluten-Free Globetrotter
CDF Hudson Valley NY meeting
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
6-7:30pm
Vassar Brothers Hospital
Conference Room B
45 Reade Place
Poughkeepsie, NY
In January, I connected with Amaya of celiaquitos.com after she found and used my Gluten-Free NYC map during a recent trip. I was so pleased she found it helpful and shared this map with her readers. Amaya and I continued to email the past few months so I asked her to contribute her top five gluten-free friendly restaurants in Madrid, Spain. Here is her guest post.
Los 5 Mejores Restaurantes de Madrid para Celiacos
(The Top 5 Restaurants in Madrid for Celiacs)
Hi my name is Amaya, I am a celiac person living in Madrid, Spain.
I am lucky of living in a city with a lot of options for eating gluten free food, so it has been very difficult to decide the best five gluten free restaurants in Madrid.
These are the places that I prefer:
1. Danicola http://www.danicola.es
The best restaurant for gluten free people in Madrid in fact, they have a special gluten free menu with a wide variety of pasta done by themselves, specially a spectacular lasagna. They have meats, fishes, rices, gluten free beer and special desserts. Their gluten free bread baked in the moment with spiced oil is the best!
They have two restaurants, one very near the city center (Plaza de los Mostenses 11), near Gran Vía, and the other is near Santiago Bernabeu Stadium (Calle Orense), this place is an obligatory visit if you like Real Madrid football team.
2. Celicioso http:// www celicioso.es
Gluten free Bakery. The owner is celiac, so all is gluten free, it is a paradise for us. American bakery, with delicious cupcakes, cakes, cookies, alfajores, sandwiches, lasagnas, bread, etc… I like so much the carrot cake there. It is placed very near Gran Vía (calle hortaleza 3).
3. El Arrozal http:// www elarrozal.com
It is placed in the old city centre (Madrid de los Austrias). Here you can enjoy the typical Spanish gluten free paella. The owners have a celiac child, so they know perfectly the celiac disease. All the rices are prepared gluten free, spectacular croquettes. It is very near Palacio Real, Almudena Cathedral or Plaza Mayor.
4. Taberna la Concha http://www.laconchataberna.com
Something very typical in Spain is going out with friends and have dinner sharing plates or eating “tostas” (bread with something onside). Here you can enjoy a gluten free beer, or a wine in a very good environment (“La Latina”), one of the most fun areas in Madrid at night.
5. Bar el Taller http://www.bareltaller.es/
It is the furthest place from the center, but it is near of Bull ring “Las Ventas”. It is the typical Spanish bar with a good terrace to enjoy in summer time. They have a great variety of gluten free food. Home-made food, paella and cocido madrileño, all gluten free. Other option is sharing plates, the croquettes are very nice, or you can eat “tostas” or sandwiches with a home-made bread. They have gluten free beer.
We have more gluten free restaurants that you can search in www.celiaquitos.com. I have recommend the places that I prefer and where it is easy to eat with less risk. I hope that you decide to come to Spain and enjoy our gluten free cuisine
Blog: http://celiaquitos.blogspot.com.es/
Restaurant guide: http://www.celiaquitos.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/celiaquitos.puntocom
Twitter @celiaquitos
Instagram: http://instagram.com/celiaquitoscom
A couple of months ago I was very intrigued when I discovered the Gluten-Free Beirut (Sans gluten à Beyrouth) page on Facebook. The Middle East is such a mysterious and alluring place to me. I’ve never been to any parts of the Middle East, but I am intrigued. I know very little about Lebanese cuisine, so I was eager to connect with the author of Gluten-Free Beirut. Here is her guest post about living gluten-free in Beirut, Lebanon.
Gluten Free in Beirut
Being gluten free in Beirut is both easy and complicated.
Complicated when your kid is invited to a birthday party and EVERYTHING has gluten in it! Frustrating when you walk down the street and all around snacks and patisseries and you know that you can not taste anything from these shops…
On the other hand, many traditional home cooked lebanese meals do not contain gluten: stuffed zuchinis, kafta, vegetable stews…!
Eating out in a lebanese cuisine restaurant is not complicated. For starters, you can order grilled halloumi cheese…
You can bring along your gluten free arabic pita bread (there are a few gf bakeries you can order from in Beirut, as Pate Boulanger) and enjoy chich taouk (marinated chicken), grilled meat, along with hommos, fries and salad.
Tip: ask specifically your waiter not to put bread on top nor below your meat!
When eating in a fish restaurant, check that your fish will not be dipped in flour. Or you can order grilled fish. Same tip: “No fried bread near my fish please!!!”
As for other restaurants, quinoa salad is now a common dish! You can even start to see the mention “gluten free” on some menus! Last year we had gluten free pasta in the italian restaurant Tavolina in Mar Mikhael.
As for desserts, some Lebanese puddings are gluten free, like muhallabieh (corn flour, milk and sugar), riz bi halib (with rice, milk and sugar) and moghli (rice flour, sugar, cinamon and spices). Just check that they are prepared according to the original recipe and not from a mix.
At Flor Ice Cream (located in Hamra) you can enjoy Italian gluten free ice cream with gluten free cornet (Ed. note: This is a cone). Don’t forget to mention that you have celiac, so that the employee takes his precautions by changing his gloves.
Also two lovely ladies offer gluten free catering:
– Ani at Gluten Free Treasures
– Alice at Gluten Free Lebanon
We started our gluten free journey nearly 3 years ago. Since then, we have witnessed a noticeable increase in the offer of gluten free products in the supermarkets (Bou Khalil, Spinneys and Monoprix among others) and organic shops such as New Earth and Olive Tree.
We have hope for future, it can only get better!
You can learn more about Gluten-Free Beirut here:
Website: http://sansglutenabeyrouth.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Sans-gluten-%C3%A0-Beyrouth/331032116913123
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sansglutenabey
Instagram: http://instagram.com/sansglutenabey
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/sansglutenabey/
In the past few weeks, there have been a few interesting items in the news regarding gluten-free travel. I thought I would start sharing these news stories with my Gluten-Free Globetrotter readers on a semi-regular basis.
February and early March 2014 Gluten-Free Travel News
Be Free Village, Boise Valley Startup, Now Offering Gluten-Free Products at the Boise Airport
Eat Healthy, Eat Locally in Cabo: Cabo Gluten-Free Bakery
United Airlines Elevates Inflight Dining with the Addition of Gluten-Free Choices
Why going gluten free doesn’t have to ruin travel
Gluten-Free in NYC Map on City Maps
Gluten Free for All in New York City
Have a gluten-free travel news story I missed? Email me at gfglobetrotter@gmail.com!