Gluten-Free Friendly Travel in Venice

 

I would like to share how easy it is to eat out, if you are gluten free,  in other countries. Today I am highlighting Italy, in particular Venice.

Since 1999, in Italy, all children are tested for gluten sensitivity and celiac disease and as a consequence the general culture of Italy is very knowledgeable about the serious consequences of undiagnosed celiac disease, including the high rates of complications and death.They appreciate celiacs need good gluten free food and need to be treated like every one else.

And so the GF food is wonderful in Italy. 

Well, thanks to Maria Roglieri, author of The Gluten-Free Guide To New York and The Gluten-Free Guide To Italy we can all relax and enjoy the gondola ride. Maria is going to share with us today some extremely helpful tips about how to fearlessly eat gluten-free in Italy.

Italy is gluten-free heaven (although some Italians beg to differ since you can't get a gluten-free hamburger bun at McDonald's) in large part because everyone in Italy knows about celiac disease.  When you ask restaurant staff about gluten-free food (il cibo senza glutine), they automatically respond with the question "Do you have celiac disease?"
All Italians are tested for celiac disease at an early age.  The many who test positive receive great services:  a monthly stipend from the government for gluten-free food plus extra vacation time to shop for and prepare gluten-free food!  Also, the companies that sell gluten-free products have all worked to promote awareness and understanding of celiac disease.  It is a law that gluten-free food must be made available in schools, hospitals, and public places and that all pharmacy products and food labels must indicate the presence of gluten if present.  In Italy, you can even study for a Master's degree in "Celiac Disease:  From Diagnosis to Management."
When I ask restaurant owners, managers, and chefs if they can provide a gluten-free meal, sometimes they say "no" but much more often they respond positively with comments such as,
- "Come no?" (effectively, "Why not?  Why do you even ask?"),

To read all of the article follow it at Celiac chicks....

To find more listings of restaurants and food stores in Venice, read another blog written by Anna...

Venice      -Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Venice can be a lonely place for anyone GF.  I have been on a GF diet for close to ten years and have been pretty successful at it (or so I say), however, for me personally, Venice served as a cold reminder of how much I miss freshly baked non-GF bread.  With all the advances in GFF cuisine, the bread has come miles from where we started, how ever it is one of the items that still has a way to go.  So, walking through the beautiful little streets of Venice I could not escape the smells coming out of the little pizza joints, stores and restaurants, but the most difficult for me was the smell of freshly baked bread (pastries and croissants as well).  With that said, I was very lucky to stumble upon a small store (MEA LIBERA TUTTI) that caters to us GF divas.  The owner was not only very friendly and approachable, but she is a wealth of knowledge of anything GF.  She deals with non-GFF Venice every day and is more than willing to share the lessons that she has learned.  She became my guide to GFF Venice - for which I am eternally grateful. 

MEA LIBERA TUTTI (check out the store on Facebook)

CANNAREGIO 3803 (but when looking for it, ask for Calle Racchetta / Priuli street to find it since Cannaregio is the area the store is located in, not the actual street name)
TEL. 041 5210454
mealiberatutti@gmail.com 

The places below are not the only places that are supposedly GFF in Venice.  I came across some that have a limited GFF menu (such as Osteria Anticopolo on Ruga Realto 778), but such places are not necessarily 100% GF, because of the possibility of cross-contamination.  However, all the places below are guaranteed GF and are constantly inspected to make sure that they stay that way.

Read the list here.