G-f Shopping In Australia

[cariburoo]

Hi All,

I'm totally new to this board; posting for the very first time. I actually live in Canada, but will be coming home for a month-long visit in August, visiting Canberra, driving up to Rockhampton and back, and also visiting Melbourne.

My youngest DS is Celiac. I plan to bring a bag of food with me for the first few days of visiting. After that, though, I'll need to do some shopping. I have no idea where to start. Maybe someone here can give me an indea as to where I can go to buy gluten-free products - cereals, breads, food bars etc. I don't know any Aussie brands, but am familiar with some of the North American stuff.

Any help at all will be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Karen

[amber]

Hi All,

I'm totally new to this board; posting for the very first time. I actually live in Canada, but will be coming home for a month-long visit in August, visiting Canberra, driving up to Rockhampton and back, and also visiting Melbourne.

My youngest DS is Celiac. I plan to bring a bag of food with me for the first few days of visiting. After that, though, I'll need to do some shopping. I have no idea where to start. Maybe someone here can give me an indea as to where I can go to buy gluten-free products - cereals, breads, food bars etc. I don't know any Aussie brands, but am familiar with some of the North American stuff.

Any help at all will be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Karen

Hi Karen,

I think you should find it easy to find gluten free products here - certainly easier than the U.S. How long has it been since you have been in Australia?

If you go to any Coles or Safeway supermarket to the aisle which has health food you will find various gluten free products such as crackers, cereals, pasta, biscuits, muffin mixes, cake mixes, etc. etc. Also some smaller supermarkets such as IGA or foodworks sometimes have a better range than the big supermarkets. Any health food store will have gluten free products. There is a large health food stores called Macro that has quite a big range. Check out their website for locations.

Some of the common brands for gluten free foods in Australia are Orgran, Basco, Eksal, Woolworth brand (Freefrom) and you will find all these at the supermarket plus many more brands.

Bread can be found at the supermarket. The two main brands you will see are Country Life and Moore's. They are about $5.00 a loaf which is quite expensive I know.

There are gluten free ice cream cones at Coles (Eksal brand).

There are frozen pies, sausage rolls, lamingtons, pizza rolls in the freezer section of Coles. They are 'Patties' brand.

Here is the link to the dining guide for the Victorian Coeliac Society:

Open Original Shared Link

I can recommend in Melbourne that you visit a couple of places that your son might like. These are:

Pizza Piazza

Open Original Shared Link

They have an extensive pizza and pasta menu which is all gluten free. They also do non gluten free food but they know what they are doing as the owner is a coeliac.

Another good one to try in Melbourne is:

Pizza Farro in Thornbury which is open evenings only. They have about 25 different gluten-free pizzas to choose from.

Open Original Shared Link It says on the website that they do spelt bases (which are not gluten free) but they also do gluten free pizzas and advertise in the coeliac society magazine.

In the city if you go to Lord of the Fries on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders Street you can get delicious gluten-free fries and gluten free hamburgers. They also have an outlet at Flinders Street station but don't sell the burgers yet there but might do by August. Good for a quick snack in you are in the city.

www.lordofthefries.com.au

Other places to go are Nandos which have a menu which states what is gluten free. They are located all over the place in Australia. The chicken is gluten free but the fries are not unless you state 'no chicken salt'.

www.nandos.com.au

Awareness in Australia is generally very good. Where are you travelling to whilst you are here as I may be able to help. For example, when we were staying in Noosa (Queensland) we went to a small town (Village really) called Montville. Even though it is only a very small place it has many gluten free options and a gorgeous restaurant overlooking the valley that had lots of yummy gluten-free foods.

Go to the individual state coeliac societies for restaurant guides for each state.

You will also find gluten free foods in the supermarket that are not in the health food section. For example, there are lots of rice cracker varieties that say gluten free. The best thing about buying food here in Australia is our very strict labelling laws. All labels must state if there is an allergy causing ingredient. So if you see thickners with nothing in brackets it means that is fine to have. If it states (wheat) in brackets than it is not okay. If there is wheat in any product it must be stated on the label. The same goes for other allergy causing ingredients.

There are 3 exceptions to the rule:

Glucose Syrup (wheat)

Dextrose (wheat)

Caramel (wheat) ARE ALL GLUTEN FREE

This is because they have been processed to the extent that there is no detectable gluten. So if the label has any of those three ingredients with wheat in brackets you can still eat them as there is no gluten in them.

[MDRB]

Hi,

I live in Melbourne, here are a couple of my favorites:

- Pizza Piazza on Chapel st

- Silly Yaks in Northcote

- Crown Pizza and Rib in Reservoir

- Lord of the Fries on the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth St in the City

- Vegie Bar on Brunswick St

All of these places offer gluten free options that are pretty good. My favorite is Silly Yaks because EVERYTHING in the cafe is gluten free so I can order anything

Visiting the celiac society web site is a really good idea as they have a lot of good information for anywhere in Australia.

Personally I don't buy anything processed unless is states 'gluten free' on the packet.

I know that the previous poster mentioned a couple of things (dextrose form wheat etc) that are ok to eat here but I would be careful because some people still react to these things if they are sensitive.

Again as the previous poster safeway/woolworths and coles offer a pretty good range of gluten free products which are mostly found in the health food section. The best idea is probably to make sure that wherever you are staying has a kitchen and you can cook for yourself, otherwise check out some of the restaurants mentioned on the celiac society web site.

Oh and try some of the health food stores around as they often sell gluten-free products.

gluten-free brands: I like 'Orgran' for pastas, 'Yakendandah' for stir fry sauces etc, 'Basco' for cereals, 'La Zuppa' for soups. None of the gluten-free breads are particularly good but you should be able to find corn tortillas in Coles.

I hope you have a great trip

[cariburoo]

There are gluten free ice cream cones at Coles (Eksal brand).

There are frozen pies, sausage rolls, lamingtons, pizza rolls in the freezer section of Coles. They are 'Patties' brand.

In the city if you go to Lord of the Fries on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders Street you can get delicious gluten-free fries and gluten free hamburgers. They also have an outlet at Flinders Street station but don't sell the burgers yet there but might do by August. Good for a quick snack in you are in the city.

www.lordofthefries.com.au

Hi Amber,

Thank you SO much for your reply. I've had to copy your post to a document so I can print and read, there is so much information. I'm particularly excited about the info I've pulled from your reply (if I've done it right - first time here, don't know what I'm doing). I'm really looking forward my DS trying a bunch of stuff he's never tried before. Even though he was diagnosed 3 years ago with Celiac (he was 3 at the time) I haven't done much baking - breads have never been very successful; some muffins have been good and we've got great cake mixes. I was lucky enough to be living in the area of an exclusively gluten-free producing facility in Alberta, but since moving to BC it's been really difficult to find a good variety of products. We pay $6.99 (+ 13% GST) for a loaf of bread; $4.99-$8.99 (+tax) for cereal (275g - 750g). It's a very expensive diet. We have a small selection of breads (I use one brand for sandwiches, another for toast), bagels, crackers, biscuits (cookies), bread sticks and just recently found some nice crackers. I am really looking forward to seeing what's available back home - sounds like a lot of great stuff.

As for how long I've been away - it's been 13 years! I'm very excited to be bringing my boys home for a visit. A month will not be long enough. And as for travel, we fly into Sydney. From there we may head down to Canberra for a couple of days to get over the possible jet-lag. We

[cariburoo]

My favorite is Silly Yaks because EVERYTHING in the cafe is gluten free so I can order anything

Visiting the celiac society web site is a really good idea as they have a lot of good information for anywhere in Australia.

gluten-free brands: I like 'Orgran' for pastas, 'Yakendandah' for stir fry sauces etc, 'Basco' for cereals, 'La Zuppa' for soups. None of the gluten-free breads are particularly good but you should be able to find corn tortillas in Coles.

Hi Michelle,

I want to thank you for recommending all those restaurants in Melbourne. Hopefully we'll be able to eat at a few of them in the couple of days we'll be in town. DS is not going to believe that there is actually restaurants that he can eat in, without having to bring his own food. His first reaction will be disbelief, and then I know he will be very excited.

I'm looking forward to trying some of the products you mention. Hopefully I can ship back some stuff, and stash a bunch more in our luggage when we come back to Canada.

Thanks again for your help. I am SO excited about what we will find for DS when we get home.

Thanks again!

Karen

[amber]

Hi Karen,

When you have worked out your itinerary let us know and we may be able to help. We have travelled to Sunshine Coast (Noosa), Gold Coast and Sydney recently so may be able give you some suggestions. I think kids enjoy Australia Zoo but big pineapple is a bit dodgy from what I recall.

If you are on the sunshine coast make sure you go to Eumundi market which is a small town 20 minutes from Noosa or other parts of the sunshine coast. It is on every Saturday morning and Wednesday mornings. If you like orignial craft, art etc. you will enjoy it. Also there is a place right in the middle of the market which does gluten free. I also remember a guy that cooks an enormous gluten free paella at the market too.

When we were in Sydney we went to Bondi for the day and found out about a place called Wilsons Place in Bondi which does yummy gluten free pizza. It is not on the street behind the beach though but about halfway towards Bondi Junction. It is only a tiny take away place with a couple of tables but if you are visiting Bondi and have a car it is worth going there.

Also in Melbourne there is a pizza chain called Crust Pizza.

Open Original Shared Link

which also does gluten free pizza. Check out their website for more information.

I think your son would enjoy Pizza Piazza in Chapel Street. If you are in the city you can hop on a tram, train or cab to get there. Check their opening hours though. My daugther always has the cheese and garlic bread, followed by the creamy pesto gnocci and then the warm chocolate cake with ice cream. They have lots of choice there.

As I mentioned before check the N.S.W. Qld and Victorian Coeliac society websites for restaurant lists.

It seems like gluten free food is as expensive in Canada as it is here. Our bread in the supermarket is about $5.00 per loaf for the Country Life and Moores variety. There are other better brands but they cost about $7.00. Cereals range from about $3.50 per box (Lowans Cocoa bombs which kids like) to $7.00. We have a Canadian brand here too which is about $6.99 a box (Gorilla munch??). It is hard to find bread rolls in the supermarket. Those type of things are more at speciality health stores. Pizza bases can also be bought at health food stores too. Some supermarkets have a better range than others so you might have to go to a few. The bigger stores usually have a better range. Also look in other sections too for things like gluten free rice crackers, savoury crackers - not just the health food section of the supermarket.

If you go to Noosa make sure you visit Massimo's ice-cream in Hastings Street as most of their ice cream is gluten free - just ask them and it is divine! Genuine Italian style gelati.

I work for the coeliac society here so I am happy to help out with any advice you need.