Traveling as a whole, poses dietary problems: eating out often, eating when food is available due to travel limitations and not knowing when your next resources will be be available, eating odd things (gotta try the local cuisine), eating because you are starving, or tired of walking. You name it, all natural food rhythms and habits are thrown off whack – not even considering time changes, body rhythm changes, irregular bowel movements, too much sitting, a lot of walking... Traveling asks a lot of you and your natural rhythm. But that is part of the excitement of travel; it expands you, changes your perspective, offers an alternative to what you know, and asks a lot of you in different ways that your day to day life doesn't. I think that is why we all endure the heinousness of travel, small airplane seats, crappy airplane/airport food, airports as a whole, mass-transit – because travel makes us better, more empathic and understanding, people.
Traveling anywhere, but specifically to a foreign country, I upped the ante of my traveling arsenal. I normally pack snacks, supplements and fiber galore when I travel anywhere, this time we packed more. Snacks included: raw almonds, hard boiled eggs, dried fruits, carrots, raw goji chunks, almond butter sandwiches on gf bread, fresh fruit. Supplements included: probiotics, ground flaxseed, flaxseed oil, liquid minerals, chia seeds, phsyllium husk, Vitamin D, C, B, activated charcoal in case of upset stomach, necessities we knew we would not easily find while traveling. I always take more supplements than I would at home when I travel just because I know I am not eating as balanced of a diet and also some lose their potency, i.e. probiotics, due to the lack of regular refrigeration. So up the volume to ensure you get the true benefits of your supplements.
I also did my research before we left. I looked into popular Spanish foods and their typical preparation. Part of my saving grace eating out at home is I love food and I have tried to cook many different types of foods. I often know how a dish is traditionally prepared. With an English menu I can normally breakdown the preparation, a Spanish menu is a whole 'nother story! I know very little Spanish, and even then it is Southern Californian Mexican-Spanish. As I learned Spanish-Spanish and Mexican-Spanish are not the same. I could deduce some words with my many years of French, but still, not really. I figured knowing popular Spanish dishes would be helpful: case in point, gazpacho in Spain is made with bread in it - who knew? Whenever I have had gazpacho or the many instances I make it with the glut of the tomato season, I never put bread in it. Glad I learned that the easy way! Research is always a good thing. I bought The Gluten-Free Guide to Spain by Maria Ann Roglieri, PhD, as a safety precaution, but only read it before I traveled. I never opened it there, nor referenced it. And what info it provided I found with an hour or so of Google searching and familiarizing myself with the Spanish cuisine. Save the luggage space.
The two crucial things I learned were: "Yo soy celiaco" and "Sin gluten". While I have never been tested for celiac disease I am fairly certain I am, just by my incredible sensitivity now. I can't even open a bag of regular flour without sneezing and getting an itchy throat and eyes. I figured "yo soy celiaco" (I am celiac) wound indicate the severity of my allergy without any room for error. I also brought a food allergy card, which many websites recommend as back up, but I never felt the need to use it. Knowing how to say I have celiac disease in the language lead me in the safest direction each time.We found most people understood and were extremely accommodating when we said "yo soy celiaco." Sometimes they would ask does that mean "sin gluten?" Waitstaff were accommodating, between their rough English and our very rough Spanish they helped us navigate menus and even ordered off the menu for us. We had some incredible meals with tons of vegetables and plenty of garlic and olive oil (they are not shy with either, which we loved – like home cooking). Gluten seemed to be confused with dairy, corn and oddly potatoes. But all in all, we had no adverse reactions while traveling in Spain. Phew!
The other of way of controlling your limited diet while traveling is to not eat out for every meal, but to find a nearby grocery store or market and stock up on foods you know you can eat with no problem. Albeit you might get bored of the same things after a week or more, at least you know what you are eating. Spain had beautiful outdoor markets – mercados – filled with fresh fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, seafood, you name it. They were amazing! We never ate breakfast out. We would stock up on plain greek yogurt, incredibly delicious fresh fruit (the fruit in Spain is amazing) and raw nuts. We would get items to tie us over in case we didn't want to venture out after a long day of exploring, exhausted, struggling to navigate a menu in a foreign language. We would get veggies galore: tomatoes, carrots, peppers, onions; fruit: grapes, bananas, apples (for my gf traveling companion, I can't eat apples or any stone fruit), citrus. We got many different kinds of nuts and dried fruit; some goat cheeses, which I have minimal reactions to. Luckily we found a Mediterranean packaged brand of Spanish vegetarian foods with a very clean ingredient list. They were marked with the European gluten free symbol. We started with trepidation, eating only small amounts waiting for reactions, but when they didn't come we enjoyed spinach with chickpeas and roasted peppers and artichokes in oil with abandon. These were a nice find that made our grocery store meals feel more complete.
I have to say traveling with a gluten free, vegetarian and health-conscious-minded friend made all the difference in the world. We understood each other's limitations. We could navigate menus together, putting our butchered Spanish together to make sense of items. Being with someone who placed importance on having provisions to tide us over was so nice. There was never a struggle of hunger and exhaustion, while trying to navigate a foreign menu, with very limited options for a gf, lf, vegetarian diner – forcing a meal out, which inevitably leads to poor choices and possible allergic reactions.Eating vegetarian was also easier than I expected. I had read before we left that Spanish think a dish is vegetarian even if it includes pork "for flavoring". We were able to eat little to no meat while we were there, mostly fish and at towards the end of the trip we purchased a small roasted chicken (I think we were looking for something comforting and substantial). We never experienced a lacking of fresh vegetables and vegetarian options. We consciously chose simple vegetable dishes to avoid hidden unknowns. I tried some of the cured meats, risky I know, but Spain is known for their Iberica jamon and cured meats, I felt I had to at least try a little. I was able to find some "sin gluten," which was reassuring. And yum!
All in all, traveling internationally was less daunting that expected being a special-needs-diner. Doing research prior to traveling on traditional cuisine in the area and relying on grocery store and market finds, as go-to provisions, allowed us the flexibility to explore and enjoy without the concern of not being able to eat a clean meal. Preparedness and a willingness to eat simply allows for enjoyable traveling experiences. And as much as I love food and I can't indulge in all the delicacies of a foreign country's cuisine like I used to, I was still able to navigate and eat smart, yet still get a sense of the delicious cuisine of the country.
