Living Overseas

[taffy]

I moved to Spain last year and am delighted to find that eating out here is wonderful. Every restaurant I've visited has an understanding of Coeliac Disease. Not one restaurant I've visited has been less than helpful, some even producing gluten free bread for me. They even understand contamination and dedicated frying ! All I say is " Soy Coeliaca " and I feel totally safe eating at that particular establishment . Nothing is too much trouble either although I'm easily pleased. Just thought it would be nice to have a little positivity here and if anyone is coming to Spain don't worry at all !!!

[YvonneLink]

That's great taffy, one of the things putting me off going too far afield/on holiday has been uncertainty regarding ease of access to gluten free food stuffs, I need complex gf carbs so unfortunately can't rely on fruit, veg or meat alone. I know Spain has many aldis and lidls doted around (both carry a reasonable selection of coeliac friendly foods in the UK ) so assumed it would be a similar story there failing all else? Thanks for the information.

[Marz in reply to YvonneLink]

celiactravel.com/cards/

[taffy in reply to YvonneLink]

Hi Yvonne, there is a huge supermarket chain throughout Spain called Mercadona which has a vast ranges of g/f foods. If you're looking for pasta, it's within the pasta section etc. The CEO of this company has a Coeliac daughter or granddaughter I believe so they carry everything a Coeliac or gluten intolerant person would need. A lovely store as well !

[BronB in reply to YvonneLink]

Eroski and Simple in Spain is brilliant too (they are all over the place even in the North)

[gfmum1]

I agree, Spain seems very clued up about coeliac. I went to Madrid last year, we stayed in a hotel which was next to a completely gluten free bakery/cafe where even my non-GF husband thought the food was great. We still miss the breakfasts! We didn't need to eat there every night though, I found quite a few places we could eat via this website: celiaquitos.com/sinGluten_c...

At one place we ate, the proprietors' son was coeliac so I had gf paella and the most amazing gf bread rolls. I know paella should be gf anyway, but some add flour to thicken it. Another place did gf churros which were delicious although very bad for the waistline!

[Misspiggy66]

This is brilliant news. My plan is to retire to Spain 😊

We holiday in spain most years and although we usually stay in hotels I still find the majority of them very GF savvy and supermarkets well stocked. Which area in Spain do you live?

[taffy in reply to Misspiggy66]

Sorry for late response ! We live down in the south in Andalucia.

[BronB]

I agree! We went to Northern Spain (and in the middle of nowhere too) and still got given plenty of gluten free food. I was so impressed. I got given my own gluten free baguette before a meal (I couldn't eat it all so I saved it for my lunch the next day) and the supermarket was stocked with a whole aisle of delicious things. The gluten free labeling is also very clear too with crossed grain symbol on the packaging so you don't need to try and translate! Italy this year and I'm hoping it will live up to expectations...