Post by Silly Yak on Feb 14, 2011 9:20:18 GMT
THAILAND
From luncheonette:
*****************************
Thailand is super easy- one of the easiest countries for celiac. You really only need to be careful of two things:
First, Chinese influence (more in the north) means soy sauce. Otherwise, Thai food only uses fish sauce, and the menu will tell you whether they use rice noodles or Chinese style wheat noodles. American Thai restaurants are generally bad about using soy sauce instead.
Second, in some of the tourist restaurants they will do the breaded-fried thing on a few stir-fry items. It's often just labeled "fried" or something basic. All you have to do is make sure to ask. Tons of people speak English in Bangkok and Phuket. I don't know about other places. If they don't, most places have pictures of everything. You can see if that's an issue or not.
Otherwise, no issues. Wheat just doesn't figure into the Thai diet. Dairy doesn't either. The gluten-free meals on planes can be pretty good, but I always come prepared. On the way back you should be able to find a lot to eat in the Bangkok airport.
www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index ... opic=39417
******************************
From Japsnoet
*****
Thought I would make a recommendation after a very positive experience we had in Thailand.
I have multiple food intolerances. Thai air provided an excellent gluten and dairy free breakfast and lunch from Sydney to Bangkok 8 1/2 hour flight and from Bangkok to Phuket an 1 1/2 flight I was provided with a lovely fruit snack when the others got a Danish.
We stayed at the Evason Phuket & Six Sense Spa www.sixsenses.com/evason-phuket/ . When we booked our holiday we confirmed with the resort that they were able to provide gluten free and dairy free meals. They bent over backwards to accommodate all my food intolerances. On arrival I was provided with two little cards showing all my food intolerances in English and Thai.
They baked special bread for me, offered to make cakes and pizza if I wanted any. I was able to eat 90% of all the meals that where provided at the buffet as they were all naturally gluten free. As a person who lives a gluten free life style it was a complete delight as the gluten was very seldom present in an any of the dishes that they prepared for the buffet. 90% of the desserts were gluten free. Whenever soy was used in a dish it was mentioned to me and they would provide a dish without soy for me. All the noodles that where use were rice noodles. There was four restaurants to choose from in the resort.
I also had an option to order from the a- la-carte menu. Nothing was too much trouble for them they even changed individual meals and made suggestions how they could adapt a meal to accommodate my food intolerances. They had a fantastic awareness and understanding of what is required to accommodate a gluten free diet. I did not get sick once in the two weeks that we were there and ate to heart’s content. All the staff in the resort’s restaurant were made aware of my gluten & dairy free status. The moment we provided our room number they knew who we were. The resort’s overall service was impeccable. I had my little food cards with me at all times and if I needed to query any meal they were happy to listen and provide information. I got better service in Thailand than I have gotten in some of the best restaurants in Sydney. I was at no time made to feel like a leper or a difficult customer. Even when organizing day tours they accommodated my gluten & dairy intolerance and gave the choice of having an individual meal prepared or the choice of being able to serve myself first. I did check with the tour operators each time before we left on our canoeing and motor boat trips that they were aware that I needed a gluten free meal when I arrived, before the tour left for the day. Each time there was more than enough for me, each a very tasty meal without me getting sick.
I did buy some Thai sesame, honey and sunflower bars and just carried them around as snack in my handbag. The variety of fruit available was spectacular and the prices were really reasonable.
On top of the food issues the resort was excellent in every aspect. There was more than enough to do and the service was fantastic. We will definitely be visiting them again in the future. They actually got the Green award for the resort that is the friendliest to the environment. They were def a rare find. We have often done island resort holidays and found them be one of the best we have been to so far. From a culture, food, service and overall experience they were tops.
We are not financially associated with them, just happy to support a resort that was so accommodating to a gluten free diet.
www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index ... opic=38280
************************************************
From JF chandler:
The CarreFour stores in BKK stock a couple different boxed brands of gluten free bread and baking mixes.. Brand name is Basco..
Villa Markets stock a decent selection of other kinds of gluten free products, including cereals. And they sometimes have things like gluten-free bread flours, though they're really hit and miss. All the stores have plenty of rice and corn flour, which are gluten-free.
Having lived here for a couple of years, my impression is that it's tough to find pre-prepared gluten free foods. It's more a matter of making a list of the various raw gluten free food that you like/enjoy, and then working those into your shopping and cooking plans.
www.thaivisa.com/forum/Gluten-Fr ... id=2822293
***************************
From polecat:
…1) Bread: you ain't going to get it. Nowhere does gluten free bread, so you have to make it yourself. This isn't so bad, really as Ogran do a couple of flours that are available from Villa.
2) Pasta: No sweat. Gluten free pasta is available. We get ours, along with gluten free cookies from an excellent little store on Sukhumvit 19 called Maison du Vins. Go down 19, past the Honey Hotel and it's about 10 yards on your left.
3) Cereal. Gluten free cornflakes by Nature's Path, and a couple called Koala Crunch and Gorilla Munch by some Australian brand I can't remember. All available from Central Chitlom and Carrefour Rama IV.
4) Snickers. Yes, you can eat Snickers. But not Mars.
5) Cake. There are some little microwave all-in-one cake mixes called Magic Cake. They are made here and exported to Canada. About 4 flavours. Delicious. About 70 baht. From Central Chitlom and other places.
6) Corn/rice cakes. Made by Ogran again, I think. Mrs p lives on these. Can be pricey, so look out for offers which are frequent. Central Chidlom & Villa.
7) Sausages. Central Chidlom make sausages without any wheat content. Ask them to point them out. …
www.thaivisa.com/forum/Gluten-Fr ... id=2822293
******************************
From mysecretcurse:
THAILAND:
I was extremely cautious when I first got there but after awhile learned I didn't have to be. It seems in Thailand everything is not gluten coated the way it is in the USA. I had an extremely hard time communicating my needs though, even WITH the gluten free restaurant cards which I had printed out in Thai. I showed them many times at many restaurants and was still brought meals containing bread, so I eventually stopped using them. My recommendation is to not bother bringing these cards to Asia. It seemed that even when people read them they still didn't fully understand, and they didn't seem to get that I couldn't have soy sauce, no matter how much I tried explaining it. So what I found was better was to just avoid anything which could possibly contain bread pasta or soy sauce.
I avoided the curries for the first month, but eventually I got the guts to try one, after asking millions of people who were eating them "Does that taste like it has soy sauce in it?" haha . I tried the red and green curries and found they were safe! And very good. I ate them usually for one meal a day after that.
I also ate tons of hamburgers minus the bun. It was fun trying to explain "No bread!" to the Thai's. LOL they sooo didn't get it. They would smile, nod and say "NO BREAD!" and then bring me a hamburger with the bun lol. But the good thing was once I stayed at a guesthouse or town for more than a day, I could go to the same place and they would remember me. The Thai's are great, they would see me coming, give me a big smile and say "Hamburger no bread!" lol
I ate a lot of french fries as well, but be careful! I was mildly glutened a couple times from this. Same as America, sometimes they fry the breaded fish sticks and things in the same oil.
A few places had steaks, chicken or beef, and I found the steaks had relatively little seasoning and I wasn't irritated by them. MOST meat, if not breaded, is okay.
I avoided the ketchup for the first month because of vinegar issues, but tried it about halfway through and it seemed okay, I think they use rice vinegar.
They have a good brand of yogurt over there, I don't know what its called because it's Thai, but its the yogurt they have almost everywhere, it comes in a blue and white cup and its DELICIOUS and safe.
I had some fruit shakes in Thailand and the ones I had seemed to be okay. In Thailand.
The Pad Thai uses rice noodles but unfortunately I found that most places make it with soy sauce. So it's a bummer, but pad thai, stir fries, and most other asian dishes are a no go because of soy.
www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index ... opic=56927
*********************************
From luncheonette:
*****************************
Thailand is super easy- one of the easiest countries for celiac. You really only need to be careful of two things:
First, Chinese influence (more in the north) means soy sauce. Otherwise, Thai food only uses fish sauce, and the menu will tell you whether they use rice noodles or Chinese style wheat noodles. American Thai restaurants are generally bad about using soy sauce instead.
Second, in some of the tourist restaurants they will do the breaded-fried thing on a few stir-fry items. It's often just labeled "fried" or something basic. All you have to do is make sure to ask. Tons of people speak English in Bangkok and Phuket. I don't know about other places. If they don't, most places have pictures of everything. You can see if that's an issue or not.
Otherwise, no issues. Wheat just doesn't figure into the Thai diet. Dairy doesn't either. The gluten-free meals on planes can be pretty good, but I always come prepared. On the way back you should be able to find a lot to eat in the Bangkok airport.
www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index ... opic=39417
******************************
From Japsnoet
*****
Thought I would make a recommendation after a very positive experience we had in Thailand.
I have multiple food intolerances. Thai air provided an excellent gluten and dairy free breakfast and lunch from Sydney to Bangkok 8 1/2 hour flight and from Bangkok to Phuket an 1 1/2 flight I was provided with a lovely fruit snack when the others got a Danish.
We stayed at the Evason Phuket & Six Sense Spa www.sixsenses.com/evason-phuket/ . When we booked our holiday we confirmed with the resort that they were able to provide gluten free and dairy free meals. They bent over backwards to accommodate all my food intolerances. On arrival I was provided with two little cards showing all my food intolerances in English and Thai.
They baked special bread for me, offered to make cakes and pizza if I wanted any. I was able to eat 90% of all the meals that where provided at the buffet as they were all naturally gluten free. As a person who lives a gluten free life style it was a complete delight as the gluten was very seldom present in an any of the dishes that they prepared for the buffet. 90% of the desserts were gluten free. Whenever soy was used in a dish it was mentioned to me and they would provide a dish without soy for me. All the noodles that where use were rice noodles. There was four restaurants to choose from in the resort.
I also had an option to order from the a- la-carte menu. Nothing was too much trouble for them they even changed individual meals and made suggestions how they could adapt a meal to accommodate my food intolerances. They had a fantastic awareness and understanding of what is required to accommodate a gluten free diet. I did not get sick once in the two weeks that we were there and ate to heart’s content. All the staff in the resort’s restaurant were made aware of my gluten & dairy free status. The moment we provided our room number they knew who we were. The resort’s overall service was impeccable. I had my little food cards with me at all times and if I needed to query any meal they were happy to listen and provide information. I got better service in Thailand than I have gotten in some of the best restaurants in Sydney. I was at no time made to feel like a leper or a difficult customer. Even when organizing day tours they accommodated my gluten & dairy intolerance and gave the choice of having an individual meal prepared or the choice of being able to serve myself first. I did check with the tour operators each time before we left on our canoeing and motor boat trips that they were aware that I needed a gluten free meal when I arrived, before the tour left for the day. Each time there was more than enough for me, each a very tasty meal without me getting sick.
I did buy some Thai sesame, honey and sunflower bars and just carried them around as snack in my handbag. The variety of fruit available was spectacular and the prices were really reasonable.
On top of the food issues the resort was excellent in every aspect. There was more than enough to do and the service was fantastic. We will definitely be visiting them again in the future. They actually got the Green award for the resort that is the friendliest to the environment. They were def a rare find. We have often done island resort holidays and found them be one of the best we have been to so far. From a culture, food, service and overall experience they were tops.
We are not financially associated with them, just happy to support a resort that was so accommodating to a gluten free diet.
www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index ... opic=38280
************************************************
From JF chandler:
The CarreFour stores in BKK stock a couple different boxed brands of gluten free bread and baking mixes.. Brand name is Basco..
Villa Markets stock a decent selection of other kinds of gluten free products, including cereals. And they sometimes have things like gluten-free bread flours, though they're really hit and miss. All the stores have plenty of rice and corn flour, which are gluten-free.
Having lived here for a couple of years, my impression is that it's tough to find pre-prepared gluten free foods. It's more a matter of making a list of the various raw gluten free food that you like/enjoy, and then working those into your shopping and cooking plans.
www.thaivisa.com/forum/Gluten-Fr ... id=2822293
***************************
From polecat:
…1) Bread: you ain't going to get it. Nowhere does gluten free bread, so you have to make it yourself. This isn't so bad, really as Ogran do a couple of flours that are available from Villa.
2) Pasta: No sweat. Gluten free pasta is available. We get ours, along with gluten free cookies from an excellent little store on Sukhumvit 19 called Maison du Vins. Go down 19, past the Honey Hotel and it's about 10 yards on your left.
3) Cereal. Gluten free cornflakes by Nature's Path, and a couple called Koala Crunch and Gorilla Munch by some Australian brand I can't remember. All available from Central Chitlom and Carrefour Rama IV.
4) Snickers. Yes, you can eat Snickers. But not Mars.
5) Cake. There are some little microwave all-in-one cake mixes called Magic Cake. They are made here and exported to Canada. About 4 flavours. Delicious. About 70 baht. From Central Chitlom and other places.
6) Corn/rice cakes. Made by Ogran again, I think. Mrs p lives on these. Can be pricey, so look out for offers which are frequent. Central Chidlom & Villa.
7) Sausages. Central Chidlom make sausages without any wheat content. Ask them to point them out. …
www.thaivisa.com/forum/Gluten-Fr ... id=2822293
******************************
From mysecretcurse:
THAILAND:
I was extremely cautious when I first got there but after awhile learned I didn't have to be. It seems in Thailand everything is not gluten coated the way it is in the USA. I had an extremely hard time communicating my needs though, even WITH the gluten free restaurant cards which I had printed out in Thai. I showed them many times at many restaurants and was still brought meals containing bread, so I eventually stopped using them. My recommendation is to not bother bringing these cards to Asia. It seemed that even when people read them they still didn't fully understand, and they didn't seem to get that I couldn't have soy sauce, no matter how much I tried explaining it. So what I found was better was to just avoid anything which could possibly contain bread pasta or soy sauce.
I avoided the curries for the first month, but eventually I got the guts to try one, after asking millions of people who were eating them "Does that taste like it has soy sauce in it?" haha . I tried the red and green curries and found they were safe! And very good. I ate them usually for one meal a day after that.
I also ate tons of hamburgers minus the bun. It was fun trying to explain "No bread!" to the Thai's. LOL they sooo didn't get it. They would smile, nod and say "NO BREAD!" and then bring me a hamburger with the bun lol. But the good thing was once I stayed at a guesthouse or town for more than a day, I could go to the same place and they would remember me. The Thai's are great, they would see me coming, give me a big smile and say "Hamburger no bread!" lol
I ate a lot of french fries as well, but be careful! I was mildly glutened a couple times from this. Same as America, sometimes they fry the breaded fish sticks and things in the same oil.
A few places had steaks, chicken or beef, and I found the steaks had relatively little seasoning and I wasn't irritated by them. MOST meat, if not breaded, is okay.
I avoided the ketchup for the first month because of vinegar issues, but tried it about halfway through and it seemed okay, I think they use rice vinegar.
They have a good brand of yogurt over there, I don't know what its called because it's Thai, but its the yogurt they have almost everywhere, it comes in a blue and white cup and its DELICIOUS and safe.
I had some fruit shakes in Thailand and the ones I had seemed to be okay. In Thailand.
The Pad Thai uses rice noodles but unfortunately I found that most places make it with soy sauce. So it's a bummer, but pad thai, stir fries, and most other asian dishes are a no go because of soy.
www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index ... opic=56927
*********************************