Gluten free in France - My experience

As I mentioned earlier I found eating gluten free in France relatively easy. I did most of the cooking myself which made things a lot easier! There´s a big supermarket chain in France called the Super U. While camping this was the supermarket we went to. They did sell some gluten free products mainly from Dr. Scharr. I didn´t buy anything as I brought a lot with me and I´m already familiar with Scharr´s products. While staying in an apartment we did our shopping at L´eclerc. Which has a much bigger range of gluten free products in comparison to the Super U. L´eclerc has its own gluten free brand called Chaque jour. I bought some products by this brand. The chocolate chip cookies were a bit of a disappointment. The raspberry cookies were divine! I wish I brought more of them home with me. I haven´t tried the flour or the pasta yet. I´m planning on baking a bread using the flour.The supermarkets in France are HUGE. They have loads of fruit and vegetables and have their very own butcher. There were a lot of natural gluten free foods to choose from! 

 

We ate out a few times. I printed a French restaurantcard at home. This turned out to be a lifesaver! I don´t speak any French and the French don´t speak English that well. Which made explaining the gluten free diet rather difficult! On entering the restaurant I gave the waiter my friendliest smile and handed over my restaurantcard. He smiled back and nodded and pointed to the kitchen. After consulting the cook (well at least that’s what I think he was doing in the kitchen!) he showed me exactly which dishes I was able to eat from the card. This usually turned out to be a salad or a steak (without sauce) and some vegetables. Those options were fine for me. The dessert card was more challenging.  Either the dish contained gluten or the cook couldn’t guarantee me that the dessert would be gluten free (ice cream). I didn’t have any dessert while eating out but enjoyed some fruit as soon as we returned to our apartment.

Overall my experience with gluten free food in France is very positive. There is a lot of gluten free products (L’eclerc) available and eating out wasn’t that difficult when using my restaurantcard!