Top 3 cities for a gluten-free getaway
Eating out when you’re a gluten-free traveller isn’t as simple as just pitching up at a restaurant. There are a lot of spots around the world where the waiters and waitresses don’t know what gluten is. I’ve confused chefs from South Africa to Turkey and even the occasional waiter in London.
These are my top three spots for eating gluten free, including awareness, options and general deliciousness.
Scotland’s Edinburgh will always have a hold on my heart – partly because this is where I first discovered Pizza Express (I’m a late bloomer, I know!). The second reason I love the hilly city is because it has a castle. You can’t beat a castle!
As well as Pizza Express’s gluten-free and vegan options, there are a tonne of cafes that specialise in gluten-free. My good friend Rikki, who is also gluten-free, recently made the trek up to Edinburgh herself. She was also crazy excited about how great the food options were. One cafe she told me about that I can’t wait to go back and visit myself is Pumpkin Brown in Grassmarket.
Stay tuned for my full guide to gluten-free in Edinburgh. I’ll be making my way back there soon – for research, of course…
Earlier this year I journeyed to Amsterdam for a conference with work. Heading to a conference anywhere in the world can be manic, especially when you’re on the PR side of things. When I first jumped on a plane for an international conference, the destination was Las Vegas. We went from an 11-hour flight to a new time zone and a new climate. On top of jumping straight into the work – which meant meetings with journalists, supporting clients and standing up a lot – we were constantly offered decadent food, very little of which was gluten-free. Being so busy, I didn’t have much time to investigate healthy options outside of the venue. I ended up eating some really weird, American style food – think banana chips covered in salt and sweet potato fries covered in brown sugar.
So when I jumped on a plane for Amsterdam, I was equipped with a bunch of snacks and very little hope for a healthy getaway. When we arrived though, I was taken away with just how amazing the options were.
Our first stop – pancakes! Jumping in an uber from our accommodation at the Ramada Apollo Amsterdam Centre towards the Anne Frank museum, we quickly got distracted by Pancakes.Amsterdam. I assumed I would just accompany my colleague for a coffee while he grabbed some pancakes, but I was greeted with an extensive list of Dutch pancakes which could be made gluten free.
Another one of my new found Dutch specialities is chips and mayonnaise. Chip shops can be spotted all around the city with ease. Sold under the pseudonym of patat, frites and fries.
Amsterdam was even equipped with gluten-free McDonald’s. That’s right, I dragged my colleague in while I was completely sober, and sounded like I’d just come out of the Bulldog Cafe as I kept the dialogue going between bites of my quarter pounder with “wow, this is amazing. I can’t believe this is real. Do you see this too? Pickles, omg. The taste of pickles. How I’d missed you.”
When I first travelled to Rome, I was 20 years old and had no idea I was intolerant to gluten or how severe my condition was. My six-week backpacking trip through Europe actually helped me to see something wasn’t right with my body.
I was walking a lot, cycling a lot, and generally being really active. I could see my body was toning up and my legs were getting a bit smaller compared to my usual lifestyle back home. There was one problem though — my stomach was getting bigger! We even had a group joke we’re we’d rub my food baby like an expectant mother’s and call it ‘little gloopy’. I assumed I was eating much more food than normal, and sure, I was definitely drinking more than normal, but the big problem with the slices of pizza and plates of pasta wasn’t exercising the energy off, it was the wheat!
Needless to say, when I went back to Rome as a non-wheat eater, I wasn’t going there for the food. How wrong I was!
The moment we stepped into our accommodation at Dreaming Rome Hostel, the manager was gluten aware and even cooked me up a special gluten-free penne so I could eat with everyone else and join in the fun.
Pizza and pasta restaurants selling gluten-free dishes are scattered around the city, and a lot of them advertise this at the front of their store – so you never have to look far!
The most important reason Rome is now one of my top destinations is – of course – GELATO. Gluten-free travellers and fellow lactards rejoice! We can join in the sugar high too. While most gelato shops can tell you which flavours you can eat, two of my favourites were Gelateria Artigianale La Strega Nocciola and La Gelateria Della Palma.
Gelateria Artigianale La Strega Nocciola is located close to the bottom of the Spanish steps. They don’t specialise in gluten-free lactose-free, so make sure you check which is suitable to eat.
La Gelateria Della Palma offers 150 gelato flavours. They have an entire section devoted to lactose-free ice cream, most of which is gluten-free too. The address is via della Maddalena, 19-23, 00186 Roma, Italy.
