The GF Traveller
4000 Gluten Free Miles
Gluten Free Finland
May
04
After reaching the most northern point of mainland Europe, the only option was to head South. The end of the rally was Tallinn so this meant driving down through all of Finland. It took us five days to reach the top of Norway and we were now heading to the south of Finland in only two. It was not too surprising that my experience of gluten free eating in Finland wasn’t the best…..12 hour driving days meant we weren’t getting into town until late and this made it almost impossible to find something safe for me to eat. (more…)
Gluten Free Norway
May
02
Our rally took us through the entirety of Norway and what an amazingly beautiful country it is. We spent nights in Oslo, Trondheim, Fauske, Tromso and Nordkapp.
OSLO – As tended to be the norm on this rally, it was almost 9pm by the time we made it into the city to look for somewhere to eat. We saw a few Sushi places but as Sushi was the easy option we gave it a miss in an attempt to discover what other gluten free treats this city had to offer. Surely the world’s most expensive city would have something over priced to offer Coeliacs… (more…)
Gluten Free Copenhagen
Apr
28
The next stop on our rally was Copenhagen and as the drive from Amsterdam was so long it wasn’t until late in the evening that we finally arrived. After checking into our hostel and walking the 30 minutes into town, it was 9.30pm. Looking for something decently priced is difficult enough in a city like Copenhagen but also finding something gluten free when you are hungry and tired is not the easiest of tasks. I hadn’t been able to find much information online about eating gluten free in Copenhagen during my pre-trip researching so I decided to look for something that tends to be naturally gluten free that we may be able to find in a big city….the search for Sushi was on! Luckily we came across a nice wee Sushi restaurant after not too long of a search.
Sushi was one of my favourites before being diagnosed and thankfully still is. From my experience of sushi preparation, Nigiri and Maki sushi tends to only consist of rice, fish and sometimes rice vinegar so it’s generally a safe option for Coeliacs. I always check when ordering however that there hasn’t been anything extra added in the preparation of
Sushi in Copenhagen
the rice as sometimes Sushi restaurants use mayonnaise which can contain gluten. I confirmed here that both the Nigiri and Maki were safe and we decided to order four varieties of Maki…tuna, salmon, prawn and avocado with lots of wasabi. I of course gave the soy sauce a miss and instead ordered a side portion of delicious Korean kimchee for spicy dipping instead.
Just before getting back on the road the following morning, we managed to stop at Irma, a local supermarket, to see what kind of gluten free products they had to offer. This supermarket didn’t have a specific gluten free section but we found gluten free (gluten frit) products such as breads and cereals on the shelves next to their glutenous versions.
Gluten Free museli
Gluten Free bread
Gluten Free Amsterdam
Apr
28
Amsterdam
The first stop on our Northern Lights Rally was Amsterdam. As we arrived early on the ferry from Newcastle we had the whole day to spend with our Dutch friends and they were an extremely helpful source for finding out where I could buy gluten free food.
Gluten Free labelling
Birgit and Evert made us delicious gluten free lunch and dinner in their apartment and finding safe things to buy was easy as Albert Heijn, one of the most popular supermarkets in the Netherlands, labels all of their own brand products which are gluten free. Products such as yoghurts and biscuits which are gluten free carry the symbol but even products that are naturally gluten like eggs and cheese also carry the symbol. It was nice to walk around the store and know that everything I was putting into my basket was gluten free! (or gluten vrij as they say in the Netherlands) Albert Heijn’s website provides a list of all gluten free products the store has to offer. It’s in Dutch but may be helpful for gluten free travellers who wish to find out what kind of things they can buy in the Netherlands.
Tasty Dutch fig jam
For lunch we went to the local cheese store to buy a huge chunk of Dutch cheese and a few cuts of roast beef and ham. This was all fresh and naturally gluten free without any added nonsense. I used rice cakes as a base and also tried some delicious fig jam for a taste of the sweet after the savoury.
Lunch in Amsterdam
Dinner was home made pumpkin soup and salad with a mustard dressing….delicious and 100% gluten free! Dessert was marzipan biscuits, also from Albertheijn. My friends buy them regularly and hadn’t realised that they were gluten free until I came to visit. These delicious naturally gluten free treats are made of almonds and rice flour.
Pumpkin soup and salad
We didn’t have time to eat out in Amsterdam on this trip but our Dutch friends showed us a website where we could find a list of suitable places to eat gluten free. I will add a link to this site when I can locate it.
Gluten Free Rallying
Mar
18
Our next trip is a 4000 mile drive from Glasgow to Estonia (via the northernmost tip of Norway) on the Northern Lights Rally! The aim was to buy a cheap banger (ours is a 1980s Ford Escort names Maxi) and to drive it 4000 miles before giving it to an Estonian charity. We are driving from Glasgow to Newcastle then taking the Ferry across to Amsterdam where the rally begins. From there it’s through Germany to Denmark, across the Oresund bridge to Sweden, into and right to the top of Norway before heading into Finland and finally over in a short ferry ride from Helsinki to Tallinn….all in 10 days!
You can check out the details or become a team sponsor on the Tartan Eagles website:
If anyone has information on gluten free eating in Scandanavia or in any of the places we will be stopping in then please get in touch with me and share your knowledge…this would be greatly appreciated…we will be spending nights in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Trondheim, Fauske, Tromso, Nordkapp, Rovaniemi, Helsinki and Tallinn so will be looking for delicious gluten free treats in all of these locations.
From this 10 day trip in April I hope to bring lots of good information on gluten free eating in Scandanavia! I also hope that our banger can make it 4000 miles!