I just took a trip to China a couple months ago,as did my daughter. Both of us who have digestive issues(possibly Celiac) felt great while there and had no diarrhea issues which is common on our American diets. No grilled meats that I was aware of. Lots of rice seafood, vegetables, no bread but did have dumplings. Enjoyed the food very much. However haven't had Chinese food since home the last 2 months...3xday for 3 weeks was enough for awhile I guess! Have a great time.

I'm a celiac, I just got back from living in Beijing for 3 months. I can speak Chinese and I still got glutened many times!


Things that are always safe to eat - tomatoes with eggs. Hot bok choy or broccoli is always safe - you can get it clear steamed or made with garlic and ginger (delicious - called 'suan rong'). Chicken with cashews (gongbao jiding) usually doesn't have soy sauce in it, but you should check. If you go to other kinds of restaurants while you're there, Korean ban fan is good - it's like a whole meal in a bowl. Sushi is fine - sometimes fake crab meat has gluten in it, but I was fine - as long as there's no tempura in it. I had to stay away from anything deep-fried - they fry it in the same oil as things with flour, and it gave me problems.

Almost all the restaurants have picture menus with universally horrible translations. Unlike Chinese restaurants in America, they don't use soy sauce in every single dish, usually just a spicy sauce, so it's better in that respect. Maybe this is obvious, but brown sauces are made with soy sauce, that's why celiacs can't have them, b/c there's usually flour in it.

BTW, I personally never encountered the dishes you mention on your post (could just be a Beijing thing?).

Good luck, I hope this helps, if you have any more questions you can ask me (or someone else, because it's probably different in every region.) Oh yeah, in the North they eat lots of wheat-based products, in the South, they're more into rice. I lived in the North :(

Margie