Asia: Japan And Thailand

[jas322]

I just got back from a trip to Asia and had wonderful travel experiences. Eating in Tokyo a challenge since the language and cultural barriers make it hard to know exactly what you're eating. As a whole I didn't feel that they really believed me and felt like they dismiss the "allergy". Soy sauce is everywhere so definitely learn to say "no soy sauce please" before you go. All their noodle dishes seem to have some wheat contamination. Even the buckwheat soba noodles are cooked with the wheat noodles or contain wheat flour also. I ate mostly sushi which I love, but after a week of sushi and raw eggs three meals a day, it gets boring. It was definitely a challenge eating there, but overall I was very cautious and felt fine. I also brought a suitcase full of gluten-free food with me for snacks and for occasional dinner when I didn't trust the restaurants.

I flew over on Continental and traveled within Asia on Singapore Airlines and Thai Airlines. All had excellent gluten-free meals ready!

Thailand was a different story alltogether. I was able to spend quite a bit of time touring the country. It was very easy to eat in Thailand as they don't often use soy sauce and when thet do, it does not contain wheat (poorer quality by Japanese soy sauce standards but great for us!). Furthermore they usually cook with fish or oyster sauce which I had no problem with (I am usually very, very sensitive and even take immunosuppressive medication for my celiac).

Their food was very tasty, albeit spicy, and I felt like I could order with very little modifications. They don't eat bread and wheat plays little role in their cuisine. Their noodles are rice based! The restaurants were very receptive of food sensitivities, but I was very direct with them and obviously used lots of common sense in choosing a restaurant and in ordering (no fried or heavily sauced foods just in case).

The only thing I was worried about is I met a fellow traveler who was allergic to peanuts. They put nuts on everything and when he asked for no nuts, they simply scraped the top layer of nuts off the dish. Be careful as always! It's probably harder to travel in Thailand with a nut allergy than with celiac. Overall this was a great experience and only got sick once- but I think it was from eating fish out of a bamboo shack in a tiny remote island village with no electricity, so hardly gluten realted.

The Thai people are wonderful and very helpful. Many speak English. Stay away from Bangkok if possible as its really dirty, overly commercialized, and just gross. Instead take advantage of the beautiful countryside and islands in the south without worry of being glutened. Happy travels!

[gdobson]

That sounds like a very cool trip! I've been to Japan a couple times. But it looks like Thailand should be next on my "places I want to go" list.

Thanks

Gina

[Nancym]

Your story is wonderful! I'd love to go to Thailand. I have Thai cookbooks and love the food. The people seem so friendly too.

My sister is going to China. I wish I could go there but I don't think it would be a good spot for a celiac.

Now, I just need to get over to Thailand!