Gluten-free dining in Spain

Suggestions for what? Restaurants? How to ask for gluten free food? Knowing what food is gluten free?

If it's the last question I would hope that having been advised of your gluten intolerance you will have researched what you can and cannot eat.

If it is restaurant recommendations then you'll have to be far more specific about your locations!

In Europe all restaurants have to display allergen information and menu's frequently list which items are gluten free, usually identified by the letters GF next to the item.

It is an adjustment, I appreciate that. You also want to know if you have to avoid every crumb (celiac) or can tolerate a bit (wheat sensitive). I haven't yet been, but have learned Spain has a good public awareness of gluten issues. Mention "celiac" and they will show you their gluten free options.....even McDonalds has gluten free bun alternatives! But you need to let they know at every restaurant and many will not have any GF bread options. Google 'celiac+ name of city' visiting, or 'celiac+country+blog' should give you further specific insight.

if you are just gluten intolerant, ie: avoid gluten, then you should be able to find various gluten free products in supermarkets ( or even try pharmacies) things like bread, biscuits, cereals, cakes ( a small range in boxes etc). try supermarkets like casino, carrefour etc. sometimes they place the gluten free products in the 'bio' section, sometimes along with the usual items.

we have not been to spain or portugal, but have spent many weeks in france, in many areas and cities ( we just spent another 3 weeks there) it is no way as good as say italy, but you can source some products. look for sans gluten. their knowledge of GF is poor, from our experience.

I buy my own bread etc and have to take it to breakfast, when breakfast is included. as most hotels don't have it available.
as for restaurants in france, while there are meals that probably don't have gluten, they are generally not shown as such. so you just have to aim for what sounds like it wont. eg: buckwheat galletes, omelettes etc.( which are very common in France)
believe me, we have spent many collective hours looking at restaurant menus, looking for GF listings. In France, I can hardly remember one ( you probably did not want to hear that) When we asked the staff they often could only give perhaps one menu option, but generally not helpful.
in spain, perhaps look for paella and other rice dishes.
try doing a search for 'gluten' in the search bar above. as this topic has been covered before.

hope this helps.

My husband has celiac disease and requires gluten-free food everywhere. What works best for us is to have cards in the language of specific countries to show at restaurants and grocery stores. Here's a source: http://www.celiactravel.com/cards/

Also, in Spain there are celiac associations by region which restaurants can be members of. They post a wheat sheaf symbol with a cross across it to indicate gluten-free menu items (we did not see GF on any menus).

When breakfast is included at hotels, we email directly ahead of time to see if they can accommodate his requirements. We travel with portion size baggies filled with GF cereal and then with the addition of some milk and a banana, he's good to go.

You'll find it is not all that hard to find menu items that are without gluten. Always let your server know because sometimes things have gluten in them even though you might think otherwise (gazpacho would be one good Spanish example). And even if the server is not entirely sure, they will ask the chef. Europeans on the whole seem to be better at gluten allergies than in other places, including the US. But don't expect an actual gluten free menu.

Your sensitivity level is important as even if an item does not have gluten, cross contamination can be an issue for those that are hyper sensitive. If it is high, search out restaurants that are known for their gluten free attention.

Unfortunately tapas and pintxos will be a challenge. Many are put on a small slice of bread. By no means all, but you may need to find places with a wide variety of tapas, not just a bar serving a few different ones.

Just an FYI there is a gluten free app called Dine GF which includes international destinations.

from our experience , ( selecting restaurants for meals- for two month trips) it is not as 'easy' as some people mention. while its not impossible, not all of europe is the same. you just can not group it all together. IMO.
for example, we just spent 5 nights in paris. we spent some time walking specifically to GF restaurants. ( they can be hidden away in back streets) then when you find them their menu is very very limited ( often with very little 'imagination') and very expensive.
the meal options also get 'mixed' with vegetarian. they sometimes (read often) assume that just because you are GF that you also want vegetarian.
things to watch out for.
- often GF pasta is under cooked, GF pizza bases, under cooked.
- GF options on menus is often a extremely small printed * at the bottom of the menu, saying something like please ask for GF options.
- even buckwheat gallettes- when you ask if they are GF, they sometimes say , they have traces of wheat.
- GF options in a bakery, often is a meringue.

I wish it was easier, but unfortunately its not, it takes a lot of 'leg work'.