Er, Gluten-free France

[gfprof]

I'm a new celiac off to France for 2 weeks, Rennes and Paris. Can anyone recommend restaurants where they've had good gluten-free experiences? (cooperative servers, etc.) I'm especially concerned about Rennes...

[slmprofesseur]

I was curious as to how to say gluten free or celiac after I read your post. I lived in France pre-gluten awareness. I went to Voila.fr to do some searching. It was interesting. Celiac is called maladie celiac.

Can you imagine explaining to the waiter:"J'ai maladie celiac." Do you speak fluent French? That will help considerably. I was scared going to France with a shellfish allergy (lucky enough I got out fruits de mer...) and they got me an epi-pen! I guess la salade would be the way to go. They don't do any dressing besides vinaigre and oil. Cheese is also a good choice and le vin... Ahh....

I did find the French Assoc. of Gluten Intolerants...www.afdiag.org They have a list of products allowed/not allowed. I didn't see a list of restaurants. One site called celiac the "orphan disease!" There's also a forum to join and ask...From the website Routard...I gather that it's difficult.

One restaurant I did frequent was called Hippopotamus.fr It's the French version of the burger chains (i.e. Ruby Tuesday). Their menu is online. As for breakfast, there's the fruit stands. I also checked Casino.fr (grocery store chain.) All their items are labeled clearly for allergens. So that might be a though. Monoprix is another one. I was a student so none of these places are expensive. You can type in the arrondissement or code postal and it will list nearby stores.

Hope this helps!

[jnclelland]

I was in Strasbourg last year, and I didn't think I'd have much luck explaining gluten. On the other hand, I was hopeful that rye and barley wouldn't be much of an issue, so I went with, "Je ne peut pas manger du ble (wheat, pronounced "blay"), farine (flour), pain (bread)," and that seemed to suffice. At least, I didn't get sick, so I assume it sufficed.

Have a great trip!

Jeanne

[gfprof]

Thank you both! I'm not fluent in French, but I can conjure a few simple sentences (especially now that I know how to pronounce 'ble' -- thanks, Jeanne!) -- I can also read it well. I'm printing the celiac cards too Cheese, fruit, and wine is not a bad diet for a week or two. I'll try the Hippopotamus.fr too.

Orphan disease??? aie.