Being the second largest city in Argentina, I would have expected more from Cordoba in terms of gluten free foods but unfortunately it seems to just be Buenos Aires that is coeliac friendly.
Cordoba does have lots of dieteticas, which sell the usual gluten free pasta, flours, cookies, crackers and snacks so there are products to be found for coeliacs living in or travelling to Cordoba but none of them sell frozen or fresh goods. I think I must have wandered into more than 20 different dieteticas all over the city in the hopes of discovering one with a freezer full of gluten free empanadas like they have in BA but sadly my search was in vain… Not only that, none of the people working in these stores had any idea either where I could find such a thing in Cordoba, Do people here make their own empanadas or have some shipped over from BA? I’d be interested to find out if any locals or visitors to Cordoba have had more success with this than I did.
Whilst I never found empanadas I did come across an amazing Middle Eastern store called Estrella de Orienta (Corrientes 348) by chance which turned out to be amazing! I had been craving hummus for a while and wondering why I’d never noticed any around Argentina when suddenly there was a store with signs saying they sold hummus. I wasn’t sure if it would be gluten free so I went in to ask. I couldn’t have hoped for a better reponse from the kind lady working there when she told me that one of her employees is coeliac and showed me a few different things that I could eat. This is where I got introduced to Meshe, which is grape leaves filled with meat, rice and tomatoes. 100% gluten free and so flavoursome (especially when dipped in their delicious creamy hummus) that I bought 1kg and returned the next day for the same again.
Brendan
Apr 28th, 2012I went to Estrella de Orienta yesterday, and the woman remembers you and was aware of your website. Apparantly, I wasn’t the first celiac to stop by there after reading your post. Thanks for writing such a helpful site.
Laura
Apr 28th, 2012Wow, that’s amazing! Thanks for letting me know, Brendan. It makes me very happy when I can help celiacs to find safe food on their travels 🙂
Ceci
Mar 10th, 2014Hi! I live in Cordoba, Argentina, and i know a dietetica just like that one you found in Rosario, it’s called “el super del celiaco” or “dietetica luz verde” (Colon 5282) they sell frozen food, empanadas, pizza and everything you described!! you have to go there if you come back 🙂