Thorn Tree travel forum

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Gluten free food in Mexico

Eating gluten free in Mexico is fairly easy, diet is basically corn based (more so in the central-south than in the north). Corn tortillas are the norm in the central-south and in the north you will usually have an option to both, though "burritos" will always be in flour tortillas

"Safe" food in restaurants
All salsas, including guacamole will be made from scratch (so far never encountered one that made me sick, be it on the street stalls or in the restaurants)
All tacos (except fish or seafood) will be made from plain meat on the grill (usually steak)
Machaca (north)
Cochinita Pibil (Yucatan)
Veracruz style fish fillet (Veracruz!)
Any filling used in quesadillas (the ones from Mexico City which are hand made on the spot) (chicken tinga, mushrooms, pumpkin flower, cheese, chicarron, tinga de res, etc)
Soups (except fideo, which is pasta and sometimes vegetable soup or Juliana soup which is a vegetable soup but with noodles in it) safer bets are sopa de tortilla, consome de pollo (this one has rice in it), caldo talpegno and Pozole (main dish)
Any type of "barbacoa" will be a safe bet, the style ranges from state to state, but it is usually lamb meat with spices
Pipian (peanut based sauce, can be done with either pumpkin seeds or peanuts)
Steak is readily available in all restaurants, the easiest dish is a "Tampiquegna" which is a steak with guacamole and a small enchilada (make sure it is not a mole enchilada, it is usually either green sauce or red sauce both of which are fine) and beans as well
Pescado empapelado (fish steamed inside paper)
Chicken fillets are available in most places, just make sure it is not breaded (i.e. "enpanizado")
All mains in a sauce should be safe, sauces in Mexico tend to be watery clear, not milky thick (except mole and nogada, though nogada is safe) so do not fear to try puntas de filete en chile pasilla or pechuga de pollo en salsa de mango or anything in some "salsa", stay clear of anything that is not local, like "bechamel" sauce, this one will probably not be gluten free or tartar sauce either.
Shrimp tend to be not battered, safe bets are "al mojo de ajo" and "a la diabla" (hot)

Foods to avoid
Mole (sorry!)
Chiles rellenos (battered)
Fish and seafood tacos (battered)
Milanezas (breaded steak or chicken fillet that is later fried)
Quesadillas from a "restaurant" that is NOT a taqueria where they are being made from corn flour (quesadillas in the north are just flour tortillas with cheese, while in Mexico City they are oval shaped corn tortillas that are filled with an assortment of dishes) (see above)
If you are in Baja, stay clear of the "Agua de Cebada" (Barley water) this is usually sold at the fish taco stands and is similar to Horchata, but while Horchata is rice based, barley-water is... you guessed it! Barley based (looks browner than Horchata)

On a shoestring
any market will have fresh food and vegetables
Rotisserie chicken is readily available and they usually supply the corn tortillas and the salsa as well
Tamales (most are available at 6am or so) along with a calorie packed atole
Fruit stands (if your intestinal flora can cope with it) they also have some chopped veggies here like beetroot, carrots and jicama
Street tacos
Eat at fondas, the ladies there prepare the food daily on the spot and will know exactly what went into it, most fonda menus include a "pasta" soup at the start, just avoid that course and the rest will most likely be ok

Snacks and trekking munchies
Chocolate covered raisins and almonds from Ricolino are available in practially any little shop in Mexico (look for an acrylic boxy display case on top of the counter)
Snickers and Milky Way are available as well
Assorted chocolates
Dried fruit and seeds are a bit too dry for my taste and not very cheap either, can be bought at some markets and at the supermarkets
Alegrias, plain or chocolate covered are a fabulous treat, not readily available in the North unless you go to a health food store and even then they will not be as nice as the "fresh" ones.
Health food stores have sesame seed bars and some have pecan and almond bars stuck with sugar

Sweets
Try the artisanal type, those will all be GF
Mazapan (sold in any shop) is powdered peanut with sugar and a hint of cinammon, commercially made and readily available (I have tried La Rosa and El Cerezo brands and both have proven safe)
Dulce de coco or cocada, coconut candy one has milk the other one does not
Cajeta! Something similar to a runny toffee, it is usually served over bread but in the area of Celaya (Guanajuato and other abundant dairy producing areas) it is abundantly produced and sold in tiny wood tubs for personal consumption with a spoon
Ate de Membrillo or Ate de Guayaba, also more available in the orchard-rich areas of Michoacan and Guanajuato, it is fruit boiled down to a sort of jam but it solidifies, usually served with a slice of cheese if available at a restaurant
Alegrias (made from amaranth, very nutritious) (see trekking munchies)
Palanquetas or pipitorias or pepitorias, the Mexican equivalent of peanut brittle
Tamarind candy (pits included) all come sweetened with sugar and some will have chilli as well, you can get them with lemon juice at the markets at times
Popsicles (from la Michoacana, there is one in every street corner) sorbets will also be safe, ice cream is getting way too processed now so I would stay clear of it unless it states it is made from 100% cream (Santa Clara will be a safe bet)
Raspados (shaved ice with fruit syrups) (available anywhere is Summer)
Candied/crystallized fruits, available less and less now but you can get them at the markets and at some traditional candy stores in the small towns, usually sold by street vendors with baskets (lemons stuffed with coconut, figs, candied pumpkin, crystallized oranges, etc.)

Hope if you are a celiac and wanted to visit Mexico, the wide array of available food has tempted you more!
BTW, tequila is GF ;-)

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GF food in UK
available anywhere, this is celiac heaven for me!
Tesco and Sainsbury's are particularly good at having their own GF label for cookies and bread. they have cereal and Eat Natural bars, all their packaging is labelled for allergens and gluten is clearly stated in all foods from their own brand.
Most medium sized to large cities will have a health food/organic store that caters for celiacs as well, if you visit York you should try El Piano, it is vegetarian restaurant and caters for vegans, dairy-intolerants and celiacs, the menu is colored coded and eating out has never been easier for me!
If you are in the Cumbria area, head for the Village Bakery.
Restaurants are very aware of what gluten is, though they might not all state it in their menues, waiters will happily go find out for you the "safe" foods. If you are staying at the same hotel for a while and dine there often, they will even go out of their way to get you gluten free bread for you to have available for your dinner and/or breakfast.
If you are going to a B&B there are even gluten free ones available in the countryside, just type that into the internet, you would be surprised how many there are.
Some fish and chips shops will actually have a day of the week (or month) in which they will have a GF fish day (York's on Fulford Road, near the Pavillion one has it on Wednesday's).
Plenty of options for us celiacs in this side of the world.
Cheers,
Abi

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Hi there,

Im an IBS sufferer from the UK (which for me includes wheat and dairy among others) so i know how great it is being in England unfortunately i havent been home for about 4 years so i miss that easy access!!

GF in Japan

not as easy as you think since the western world has taken it over with Mr Doughnuts and bakeries everywhere but some tips are

1. soba noodles check the packet says 100% buckwheat as cheaper products can use up to 20% wheat flour

2. Desserts - pretty easy here as they love icecreams and rice based stuff i really liked there 'mochi' which are sweetened rice balls filled with red bean jelly or fruit jams

3. beware the soy sauce as most have wheat flour as a thickener although it can be found without (expensive of course!) im afraid you'll have to eat your sushi with just wasabi.

GF in China

very easy to eat in China if the only thing you cant eat is wheat as most dishes are accompanied with rice and they rarely use it for a thickener.
but be careful of any crisps or snack bars as most will contain wheat. However have found a great crispy rice puff bar with honey and barley called 'Little Poppop' available in most supermarkets.
Wheat in Chinese is called 'Mian fen'

Sorry my advice is not as clear as yours but i can get away with eating a little wheat here and there so im being extra careful to make sure the stuff i say is definitely wheat free.

GF in Oz

I really recommend Australia (and New Zealand) as the home of Orgran a wonderful company that makes rice, millet and corn pasta as well as other numerous GF free food products. If you can get to Byron bay in OZ the cafes there offer GF free bread sandwiches and toasties and there are small shops with baked goods counters which have GF free and dairy free muffins, cakes etc... which are all great and for other dairy intolerant people this is the only place ive been to that had an icecream shop which offered a soya option whose flavor was rotated every week!!!
They are really understanding about this condition in Byron bay, my brother was in hospital there for about 6 weeks and he to has IBS and cant eat wheat and the nurses would go out and buy GF cookies for him to have with his cups of tea and they always made sure there was a meal he could eat - even if it wasnt great tasting!!

Hope some of this is helpful but its great to see this idea started as i have just put a similar post about this kind of thing in Mongolia which is my next stop. not expecting much help before i go but will come back and fill you in on what i find!
best of luck with this
Roz

smile - it confuses people!!

4

Hi, I recently came back from a month in India. Below is a post I put up on another forum on Indian food from a coeliac's perspective. I have edited it a little, as it was written in Singapore airport at 4:30 in the morning after being awake for 36 hours so was not as coherant as I would have liked!

In a nutshell, most Indian 'curries' are gluten-free and some breads are as well. The posting below concentrates on North Indian food as I didn't get to visit the south.
...............................

Well, my month in India is over and apart from one BIG mistake with my diet early on I was fine. I thought I'd put down my notes while they're fresh in case any other coeliac is preparing a trip.

The main problems I had were:
1. food labelling laws are nowhere near as good as at home so be very careful if you buy snacks i.e. chips. I think you just have to assume that any heavily-flavoured food with food additives has gluten. A pain but without a detailed additive list you can't be sure.
2. without wanting to ignite the 'oats' debate, if you're a coeliac that eats oats don't think you can eat the porridge. They mix other grains in with them and you can find yourself eating a big bowl of wheat
3. if you're a coeliac that suffers from secondary lactose maldigestion you may find this becomes a problem over time as Indians drink a lot of milk and use it also in cooking. I was able to drink quite a lot of masala chai without getting ill but did eventually get a bout of lactose maldigestion and had to lay off milk products for a couple of days.

Firstly, I was in Rajasthan and north indian food is very different from south indian food. In fact, south indian food seems to have a higher emphasis on rice so I may have found travelling there easier (especially for breakfast with idli and uttapam, even masala dosa etc). In the North I was able to get by on omelettes (for breakfast, I mean) and despite an annoying lack of variety (after an entire month) they didn't make me sick so that's the most important thing.

I should point out that I travelled with Intrepid most of the time and having a local guide was unbelievably helpful for me. It didn't so much help me to avoid gluten (as just about all Indian 'curries' are gluten-free) but it meant I was able to eat a far wider range of food then I normally would as my guide was able to ask difficult questions such as 'do you use gluten in the stock for that soup?'. If I'd been travelling by myself I would have been a lot more cautious and avoided a lot of things I could have eaten. Malai kofta is a good example, as this potato dumpling dish is often made with some sort of flour. Having someone to ask meant I found out it was actually gram flour and I could eat it. And Malai Kofta is delicious.

There is a far greater emphasis on bread in the north and most people in Rajasthan eat their food with their bread. I was able to order rice everywhere, although trying to explain that I didn't eat bread in some cases was akin to trying to explain that the sun wasn't going to rise tomorrow - they were willing to say they believed me but generally thought I was insane.

Millet is grown in the north and you can often order millet-based bread products such as chappati, as long as you have a Hindi speaker with you or find someone with excellent English. Being able to eat a Rajasthani Thali with millet chappati was a culinary highlight of my trip. I also had corn chappati, which was nice but you can't exactly use it to pick up your food, Indian style.

Papads (in Australia we call them pappadoms for some reason) are made of gram flour (chickpeas) so they're fine.

Nearly all Indian sweets are milk-based or again made with gram flour. Avoid the store-bought gram flour sweets as they add wheat to the packaged product to bulk it up. As long as the restaurant has made them themselves you'll be fine.

In terms of alcohol, our tour stayed at far nicer places and ate out at far nicer restaurants than I was expecting so unless the place was completely alcohol-free there was non-beer alcohol available. There's also 'Beer Wine Spirits' places that sell liquor. Spirits are expensive though so I didn't drink that much anyway.

Happy travels
G

The World Is An Amazing Place

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A am developing a section on my website (just started today actually) with a brief food allergy profile for each country. It is a very small section so far, but will be growing as I find out more. Feel free to contribute to it (but don't stop posting here!)

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">Allergy Information

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South India is easer than North India for avoiding wheat. Much more rice-based. Actually, the best South Indian food in the world (for eating out inexpensively) is in Malaysia, but I digress (hint - eating gluten-free in Malaysia is really easy - easier than anywhere else I've ever been, other than Singapore, which is just as easy).

Rice, coconuts, and lentils form the basis for a lot of what you will find there. I am not aware of any sneaky wheat insinuating itself into foods that seem benign. If it looks OK, it probably is.

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">Allergy Information

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Mexico: The Yucatan Peninsula is an exception to abipin's (generally correct) rule of thumb that central- and south-Mexico are fairly good for avoiding gluten. The Yucatan was so isolated from the rest of Mexico through history that they were more influenced by Europe than Mexico (or so I was told) and they have the bread to prove it.

I did not enjoy eating in the Yucatan, and ended up cooking for myself whenever possible. The alternatives were snakes that really are not healthy if consumed in meal-quantities.

There were exceptions, most notably the ultra-traditional food I ate at a jungle camp in Campeche state (see Hotels in Yucatan and Campeche)

I'd disagree with the blanket no mole directive. Some are incredibly simple and definitely could never have wheat in them. The best advice I had was that all moles were safe, but I did see a recipe for mole negro (specific to Oaxaxa) that uses bread. I suspect this is the short-cut way of making this particular mole (which has the reputation for being the most difficult to make. Rumour has it that it takes up to 100 ingredients, but others disagree saying this is an exaggeration, it only takes 47).

More opinions on the mole subject are of course welcomed!

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">Allergy Information

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Mole oaxaquegno and Mole poblane (i.e. from Oaxaca and from Puebla) are the two most popular types of moles in Mexico. They both have gluten in them, either as bread or as "galletas de animalitos" (animal crackers). In Jalisco mole might use guava, avocado and maseca (nixtamalized corn meal) as a thickener, this one would be safe but most moles served in restaurants will be either "mole negro" or mole poblano and will definitely have gluten in it.
In reality the word "mole" just means sauce, so within houses they can serve a "mole" which is neither mole poblano or oaxaquegno, but unless you are eating at a persons house outside of these two states and outside Mexico City, you should stay away from it. What a restaurante serves as "mole" is always mole poblano (made with animal crackers). Mole was my favorite Mexican dish but now I can only eat it if my mom or cousing make it GF for me!
Link Name
Even though Yucatan will have bread as a staple, they do not add flour to their dishes. For example, salbutes and panuchos would be made with "masa" (dough.... from corn).

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Thailand

I've been there twice, but both times were before I was off gluten, so take this with a grain of salt. Interestingly enough, Thailand is where I first suspected I was sensitive to wheat. The first time I was there, I was in a pretty remote area with little access to bread, pasta, etc and I found that many of my health issues went away almost immediately.

That said, Thailand is a great place for the gluten-intolerant. You'll have little trouble with gluten if you stick to real Thai food. And your best bet is to hit the sidewalk/market stands, because you can stand there and watch them cook. The one thing to watch for is MSG - I don't know if the MSG there uses wheat as its base, so that is something you need to be careful about. Nam pla (fish sauce) often contains MSG. So depending on how sensitive you are to gluten, you may want to ask for no fish sauce to be on the safe side ("mai nam pla"). The phrase for "no MSG" is "mai sai phong churo". Nam pla is a central ingredient in Thai cooking, but Thai cooks/chefs are very accommodating.

Of course, there are many, many wheat-based snacks and junk food items in Thailand. The best thing to do with these is just ignore them. Sadly, this goes for banana pancakes as well. Give the traditional breakfast of fish-rice gruel a try - it's better than it sounds.

We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds. -Chekov