Selfie Does Traveling with Dietary Restrictions: Paris Style
I can…eat the ice cream!
I was regaling my colleague (and our uber driver) with this particular story while on a work trip that just would NOT end. The short version of the story is this: I’m the only person in the history of vacations to Paris to have lost a significant amount of weight. Like. Ribs I’d never seen before. The long version involves me finally flipping out and (politely) demanding a potato in response to being served my 900th plate of poisson et haricots*. Anyways, this long-winded, dramatic tale reminded me of how important it is to have a game plan for eating while traveling - which I certainly do now and have had for a long time. But if you have any sort of dietary restrictions, I hope you will find this useful.
I, like most humans with a pulse, love and dream of Paris. I, like most people with a food allergy, do extensive research prior to traveling anywhere to figure out where I can eat. There are a million places to eat in Paris as long as you’re willing to plan and travel out of your neighborhood and can maybe speak a decent amount of French. Otherwise, you might practice the heck out of food-related French but you know, Parisian waiter DGAF, and that’s part of the charm, no? At any rate, Paris, food-wise, was sans breakfast and included a lot of lean proteins and vegetables. Like, I literally tried to order a Breakfast Americain sans pan and the horrified proprietor** brought me an espresso. I very carefully memorized “I have a gluten allergy. What can I eat on this menu?” in French which I practiced for weeks. And except for Italian restaurants (thank you and who knew?), I was consistently served the same meal.***
All that being said, if you are willing to make your family go out the way of your intended itinerary, I suggest Helmut Newcake next to the Opera, a detailed map of places you think you’d like to eat, your French allergen cards, a flexible attitude and all the risotto you can eat. I came equipped with 4 out of the 5 so, I tried.^
For the cards, I used this site: http://www.celiactravel.com/cards/french/
Bakeries: http://www.helmutnewcake.com/ – We got sandwiches, the best gfree baguettes I’ve ever had and eclairs from this bakery on our last day. Highly recommended!
http://chambelland.com/en/ I was really keen to try this place but alas, it was nowhere near our hotel or anywhere else we went: http://www.noglu.fr/en/paris-75002/restaurant/ .
I had an amazing pizza at the cutest place in Les Halles – we were in the neighborhood to catch a show at one of the famed jazz clubs and this is one of my favorite dinners we had: http://www.restaurantgemini.fr/gemini-halles-restaurant-italien-paris-1/.
Memorializing this hunger, this hair and the time I thought about eating this guy’s arm like a zombie
There was also plenty to eat on the Rue Cler where there were gluten-free items on the menu which was great! While plenty of restaurants did not want to put up with the gfree shenans, there were plenty of options in the markets! Both supermarkets and street markets had great food. Finally, if you’re starving, you can also give up and find yourself a meal Americain (like chicken with french fries) which is never what I’m going for in another country but it’s not like it’s not an option. And obviously, there’s always plenty of wine.
Thinking about Potatoes
Happy travels and I’ll see you out there, adventurers! How do you find ways to get what you need food-wise in places where you don’t speak the language?