India

 

I had no problem at all in India. The food in Goa was excellent and the manager of the cafe in the hotel, the Lemon Tree, where we stayed understood all about allergies. Lemon Tree are a mid-range Indian group, that from the hotel in Goa, seem to be getting nearly everything right.

In Mumbai, we stayed at Taj Mahal Hotel and Tower, which is right by the waterfront and very much a flag ship for the Taj group, who incidentally are part of Tata, who have just bought Jaguar. That was superb too and when we ate on the top floor in their Lebanese restaurant, the chef came out and discussed everything. He even made some soy bread. The meal was the most expensive we had, but it was only about £40 for two. Most of the others in cafes in Goa and Mumbai were of the order of £15 including a bottle of quite passable Indian wine.

One of the managers in the Taj said to me that ALL five star hotels should know about allergies. They did.

The only mistake on the whole trip was that BA gave me a non-gluten free roll with an excellent breakfast. But as it was wrapped, and as it looked the same as my companion’s, I didn’t eat it.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

 

This is a message from an Internet cafe in Panaji, Goa. It's called Cyberjoint.

It's hot (36 degrees or so) and it's coming up to two. I've just had a delicious lunch of two samosas and two fresh lime sodas for the princely sum of 34 Rs or just under fifty pence. This was in a restaurant called the Shanbag Cafe, which was recommended by Lonely Planet.

As has been said before there doesn't seem to be too much of a problem with food. We're actually staying in a place called The Lemon Tree at Candolim, which is very good, except that there's a small leak in the bathroom plumbing. Luckily on the fresh water side.

So if anybody is thinking of coming to Goa, I don't think they'll have too much of a problem. The restaurants seem to use gram flour for everything including batter. And as to the wine! That has improved a lot since I was here last.

It's also been nice and warm since we arrived.

Now this is one real and extensive change in my life since I was diagnosed a few years ago. Then I'd peel like crazy in the smallest amount of sun and generally feel hot, bothered, irritable and unwell. But today, I've been walking round in the sun with no ill-effects at all. I can't even seem to get a tan, other than a very
pale one. But the sun does make me feel well. Perhaps all it's doing is create large amounts of vitamin D.

Are we short of that as well?

I know that if I don't get the sun, it doesn't make me feel well at all.

Holne Chase Hotel

 

I spent a nice two nights at this hotel.

Food was excellent and they understood gluten-free. In one case, where I forgot to say I didn’t want toast with scrambled egg and smoked salmon, they actually cooked me another, despite it being my fault.

Eating Gluten-Free in Minsk

 

I did not want to be adventurous with my eating in Belarus.

As a coeliac, there is nothing worse than having to travel on a plane or drive down the motorway, with your guts telling you in no uncertain way that they are unhappy with the gluten. Your best course of action when this happens, is to sit near a toilet. Or sometimes permanently on it!

I had prepared by bringing a good box of supplies with me.


The box contained Trufree crackers, Fruit Break bars and Oskri Sesame Bars. If the worst had came to the worst then I could have existed on them, plus a few bananas, other fruit and a salad or two.

The Belarus Hotel has a Panorama restaurant on the twenty-second floor with expansive views of the city.


I'm afraid that the picture doesn't do the view justice!

I thought I'd be careful and only have a main course with a glass of wine. At least the menu had an English translation and there seemed to be a lot of choice.

I'd also brought one of CeliacTravel's excellent menu cards in Russian, so I gave it to the waiter and asked if a pork something was OK. He took the card and checked with the kitchen.

I was getting a bit apprehensive, but when the meal arrived, I had no worries. The pork had obviously been cooked without any source and it came with some onions, peppers and tomatoes. They did bring a cup of tomato sauce to go with it, but I decided that as I was ahead I'd stay there.

I had no reaction to the meal at all. The card had done its trick.

The two breakfasts that I ate in the hotel were fine too. But then with a buffet, you can usually be fairly careful about what you eat. I stuck to fruit, cold meats and vegetables.

So would I be more adventurous if I went to Belarus again? Probably, especially if I went with someone, who understood their cooking better than I do!

As a postscript here, much of the cooking in Belarus is based on potatoes. They even make pancakes that way. So if you're careful, it isn't one of the most difficult places to eat gluten-free.

But you'll have to take your own biscuits or bread!

Calais and P&O Ferries

 

I got mixed up in the trouble at the Chunnel on Friday night as I was coming back from France. Actually, very easy getting into the Port at Calais and then due to P&O I had to wait two hours later than I should for the ferry. Partly, this was due to port problems, but it wasn’t too bad as I spent a lot of time educating a medical student about coeliac disease.

I was getting hungry as although it was only eight in the evening all the snack bars seemed to be closed and you could just about get coffee or a Coke. Incidentally, there was a lot more available at Dover than Calais. So I just waited for the boat.

I did get a good coffee and some crisps on the boat, but the notice in the Food Court summed it all up. “Food Allergy Advice – Whilst every effort is made to maintain the integrity of all food served onboard, we regret that due to the complexity of our operations, we are unable to guarantee that any food will be free of food allergens.”

Is that good enough?

Problems in Northern France

 

Last week I stayed with a friend in Northern France. I won’t say shopping is a nightmare, as we knew exactly what we were doing, but trying to find anything prepared without dextrose was very difficult. If it was declared it was dextrose de blé, which is wheat. I even found prepared salads which declared the allergies not to contain gluten, but had dextrose de blé. Most crisps and ham seemed to contain it as well.

After what has been said on this list whilst I have been away, that is wrong!

At least my friend is a very good cook and we ate in all the time.

Belgian Grand Prix - 1

 

I’m off to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa on Sunday. It would have been our fortieth wedding anniversary, so I felt I should do something completely different. Celia would have hated it. I probably will! Let’s hope little Lewis wins!

But has anybody got any ideas for snacks I can take with me. I shall be taking cold sausages, salad, TruFree crackers, chocolate and nuts, but it’s on trips like this, where I suspect the offerings at the other end are totally useless, that I really feel hungry and trapped. My problem is that I can never pace myself and I’ll probably eat all the food I take as early as I can. At least, I’m travelling on after the Grand Prix to a friend in France, who knows my dietary requirements.

Germany

 

I’ve just had a few days away in western Germany, where I visited Xanten, Altenberg, Wuppertal, Cologne, the Moselle Valley, Trier, Montschau and Aachen. It was great fun despite the rain. The interesting thing though, is that I didn’t really have any problems with gluten. Most places knew exactly what to do and the standard German breakfast of cold meats and cheese is naturally gluten-free.

One of the highlights was the Flying Metro in Wuppertal.

Does Anybody Like Rice Cakes?

 

I recently went to Montreal for a weekend on business. Coming back there was no gluten-free bread or biscuits, but they served rice cakes. They really are truly awful. Does anybody like them?

As an aside Montreal was good, but not if you are an unprepared coeliac. At least the breakfasts in the hotel were fruit and eggs, but otherwise waiters and restaurateurs didn’t have a clue. Strangely though I met two people, who had close friends or relatives who were so it’s not as though the disease is unknown.

I’ve posted my experiences of the city here.

I’ve since done a Google search for gluten-free restaurants and there are a few lists.

Wembley

 

I went to Wembley yesterday for the Blue Square play-off final. Stadium great, public transport much improved, views good, Coke expensive and food absolutely non-existent for a coeliac. So take a packed lunch.

View a full report as a PDF!

Kenya

 

I've had requests to put up the details of my holiday in Kenya, so I've extracted the Kenya part of the book as a separate pdf file.

Travels with My Celia(c) - Kenya

You can also see the video I took on my YouTube site.

I've also put up the videos from the Siruai, which was where I rode in the Masai Mara.

Food on the Go in The Netherlands

 

I just spent a couple of days in The Netherlands to see a couple of friends and didn’t find the food too difficult. One of the problems is that a lot of their meals are bread based, but I did get a couple of good meals in Italian restaurants without trouble, as the owners were real Italians and knew about celiachia. One thing that I did find was that in a chain called Albert Heijn, which always seemed to have a selection of very good salads, that were marked gluten free.

Travels With My Celia(c)

 

I've put up some notes that will form my book called "Travels With My Celia(c)" on the Internet. If anybody wants to have a look, feel free.

View the Book as a PDF File

London - 15th to 17th February, 2008

 

I'm putting a lot of my experiences of travel together in a book called "Travels with my Celia(c)". It's an awful pun I know.

The aim is to write something that is personal, light-hearted and hopefully gives a bit of information to coeliacs who might want to go somewhere different.

View the chapter on London!

Catering at Exhibitions

 

I normally avoid eating at exhibitions and such-like as there is usually never anything remotely gluten-free except Coke and perhaps a few crisps. Today, I went to an exhibition at Earls Court and was intending to turn up, walk round, exit and the take the tube to somewhere more friendly.

But, they had four types of sealed salads which were a pretty good meal for me. I chose a Nicoise and although the plastic knives and forks were their usual useless selves, the salad was quite tasty and much more than OK. It contains lots of tuna, a whole egg, a lot of cucumber and tomato and not too much lettuce. Unfortunately, there were olives. I hate olives. There was also a cheese and egg salad, which looked gluten-free.

But the salad was only £4.50, which I thought was very reasonable for an event, considering that a 33cl. bottle of Coke was £1.80.

I shall be writing to Earls Court.

Son Julia Hotel, Majorca

 

We stayed at this hotel in Majorca for my sixtieth.

They understood what to do and a good gluten-free few days was had by all.

I should say that the hotel is not cheap, but the grounds, pool etc are magnificent. Note too, that we’ve spent New Year on the island and were able to swim outside, as it’s not unknown for the temperature to be 20 degrees. A double room in October was about 184 Euros a night upwards. Suites were up to 700 Euros.

They seem to be part of the Stein Group of hotels and I’ve e-mailed them to see if all hotels have the same gluten-free policy.

As an aside, I noticed that at Palma Airport, all of the prepared salads were properly labelled and it was obvious which contained gluten, as it’s the same in one form of Spanish.

Gravetye Manor

 

We went here before we went off to Majorca for my sixtieth birthday on the 16th.

It was very good and they even produced some gluten-free bread for the nibbles. And that was without warning.

But we couldn't make any allowance for the awful weather.

Visiting London

 

This is based on an e-mail I wrote to a guy in the States, who's visiting London in August.

He'd queried the cost of food in London.

It wouldn't be that much for a fish. We ate in L'Escargot on Saturday and the food was about £23 each for two big courses. My wife actually paid £15 as she stuck to the set menu. But L'Escargot is expensive.

If you have your own flat, you'll be fine. Pimlico is not an area of London I know well, but you are very close to Tate Britain, which is an excellent gallery. It's free too! All the big museums are.

How long are you staying? The reason is that you can get some pretty good Tube/bus tickets or buy an Oyster Card.

This site explains it all.

I should say that I'm sixty next month and not short of a bob or two, but I always use public transport in central London. Even late at night, as it's all very safe. In many cases use the buses, which are easy with an Oyster as you just touch the reader and walk in.

You also have to remember that given good weather, London is not an expensive city. You can roam a long way on public transport and there is much outside to see. Just walking along the river from Pimlico to the city is a free show, unlike any other city in the world.

If you like the theatre you never need to pay full price on say a Monday or a Tuesday. Just go to the half price booth in Leicester Square. I've seen some very good shows that way. In fact last weekend we went to a small theatre in Soho and paid £7.50 for the ticket as against the £30 plus you'd pay full price in a top theatre.

So come and enjoy my city.

Top ten things to visit, in no particular order :-

1. Hampstead Village and the Heath - Northern Line and then walk down to Cafe Mozart on Swains Lane, bus back to central London
2. Greenwich - Take the Docklands Light Railway from Bank through the city
3. The City - Just walk around it.
4. British Museum - Free and the best roof in the world - See the Hoxne Hoard.
5. Trafalgar Square and National Gallery - Whistlejacket
6. Tate Modern - What to do with an old power station
7. London Eye - That will cost you a bit but worth it.
8. Regents Park and Canal - Walk the Canal from the Park to Kings Cross
9. North London Line - Take the train across the top of London and see all the development of Eurostar at St. Pancras
10. Crossness Pumping Station - Difficult to get to, but the four largest beam engines in the world

Hope all this helps.

Salzburg

 

Last week I went to Salzburg on business.

It’s not my town really, as Mozart is not my taste in music. Well, I don’t have any taste in music.

I was with a German speaker and I coped very well with the food. In two restaurants, the chef came out and ascertained what I needed and made sure everything was fine.

It’s a very pretty city, but I didn’t see that much, as it was chucking it down.

Incidentally, the flight cost £32 from Stansted on Ryanair. That was all taxes and charges.

The Aeolian Islands

 

A few weeks ago, Celia and I went on holiday to the Aeolian Islands. If you don’t know where they are, they are a series of about ten volcanic islands, that lie between Sicily and Naples. The best known is the active volcano Stromboli, which is how every child draws a volcano. It’s even got smoke coming out the top. But although the islands are in fact part of Sicily, they are rather different in character.

We stayed in two hotels on two different islands; Panarea and Salina.

Panarea is an unusual island, just a few kilometres across, where there are no cars. There are just golf buggies, those funny three wheel vans and pickups, and of course scooters, some of which are electric. Even the Carabineri and the taxi drivers use golf buggies.

The hotel we stayed at was smart and very chaotic. I didn’t get glutened, but it wasn’t one I would trust, so we ate out in the town. We found an excellent restaurant/hotel called the Da Pina, where they really understood what was needed, even if their English was limited. They have a website at www.dapina.com. From the web site, it also appears they have villas and I did check out the delis on the island and eating GF shouldn’t be a problem.

Most people understand about coeliac on the island and we had an experience in the bar on the port, where when they discovered I was a coeliac, they always brought GF nibbles with the drinks.

Panarea has a reasonable sandy beach, with a restaurant called Zimmari, which is south of the main town. Except that you had to pay for the umbrellas and loungers if you wanted them, it was an ideal beach for kids in that there were no sellers of anything.

Salina is a much bigger island and we stayed at a hotel called the Signum. It is excellent, family-run and has a web site at www.hotelsignum.it. It was quite expensive, but I couldn’t fault it. As an example of how careful they were, they always provided an appetizer before meals. They would tease by saying, I wasn’t having one and give Celia a crostini or something like that. Then I would get a special one of rice or mushroom.

So we ate in the hotel every night.

One thing you ought to like if you go there is rabbit or coniglio as they are native there. I suspect they were released by the Normans, who ruled the Islands in the Middle Ages. They brought rabbits to the UK as well.

They cook it rolled up with vegetables and no bones.

So we had a very good holiday in perhaps one of the most unusual places in Europe.

We got there by flying to Palermo and then getting a hydrofoil. As you can see, we stayed in hotels, but friends had an excellent time with their family on another island, Lipari, where they self-catered. Lipari is much bigger and has a lot more to do, with many shops, a big museum, marina, castle and cathedral.

I’m going to post this to my Coeliac Diary with a few pictures.