Marley with a tasty coconut! 🙂
Who are you and where are you?
My name is Marley and I am a Canadian living in Bangkok.
Tell me about your relationship with gluten..
Whilst living in the UK for four years teaching, I was diagnosed with celiac disease. It took a while for the doctors to figure that one out, constantly telling me that I had IBS and needed to “eat more whole wheat.” Bastards! When I was seriously ill, I went to a dietician to find out what I was doing wrong. She asked if I had ever been tested for a wheat allergy or celiac disease. After a serious strongly worded letter to my doctor surgery, I was tested and diagnosed with celiac disease.
Why should gluten free travellers visit your town?
Bangkok has an array of interesting restaurants and dining experiences. I have found two lovely shops: Sunshine Market (Sukhumvit soi 31) and another whose name currently evades me (Sukhumvit soi 9). Some of the more central Villa Markets and Topps sell gluten free items like crackers, biscuits, baking mixes and pizza crusts. When dining out, I tend to go to restaurants that I have been to before so they know me and my dietary needs. Any of the big international hotels will also cater to gluten free needs.
Tell me something fun about your town..
I actually want to tell you about my favourite island, Koh Phangan. I spent two weeks there recently and was over the moon because I found several restaurants and shops that were gluten free.  Since there are healthy vegan/yoga types everywhere, there were lots of salads and rice paper wraps available. My biggest and happiest surprise was World’s End restaurant in Chaloklum, to the north of the island, which serves a good range of gluten free food. The owner is gluten free herself and  regularly has gluten free cookies, bread, buns, burgers, pasta and falafel prepared.
Where is your favourite place to eat out in your town and why?
I really love Thai food and find most places safe to eat, so long as I stipulate that I cannot have soy sauce but that fish sauce is ok. I don’t eat anything that is deep fried unless I know it will not be contaminated. I also stay away from street stalls as the woks are not regularly cleaned.
Restaurant recommendations in Bangkok include Sunrise Tacos (corn tacos), Mrs Balbir’s for Indian food, Cabbages & Condoms and Olive. You can check out Marley’s blog for more recommendations on safe places to eat in Bangkok and across Thailand!
Do you live in Thailand or have you travelled there? What and where did you eat, gluten free?
Kayla
May 13th, 2015I referenced this article while in Thailand and just want to let anyone else who stumbles upon this page that almost all Thai food has gluten. This blogger may not be very sensitive, but my “no soy sauce no oyster sauce” card plus my celiac card still landed me in bed repeatedly and here’s what a Thai chef finally explained to me:
Thai MSG has gluten, and it’s used in curry paste, on fried rice, in pretty much everything. Also, Knorr stock has gluten and you might be surprised how many restaurants use Knorr stock exclusively for all their soups. I’ve read that even fish sauce is often mixed with soy sauce or oyster sauce, making it unsafe as well. This information explained a lot about the sorry condition I found myself in. The best bet is to really get a place with a kitchen and like this blogger said, go to Tops for internationally imported foods with proper allergen labeling. I’ve completely given up on most Thai food, which is super sad.
Sanita
May 15th, 2015Dear Ms.Marley,
Just to let you know that we, maisonduvins, shop located in Sukhumvit 19, imported several gluten free food, such as pasta, cookies, flour mixes from Australia.