Gluten Free Finland

Gluten Free options

The words I long to see..

Finland is a gorgeous country where you can see reindeers. I was driving down from the north of Finland, it was snowing and I saw a whole bunch of reindeers! One of the most amazing sights ever!

Moving on..It’s also a country with a whole bunch of celiac friendly options. My experience of Finland doesn’t truly represent the celiac friendly nature of the country. I arrived in cities late and night when most restaurants had stopped serving. Finland is definitely not an up-all-night kind of place but there are a lot of gluten free options if you get there when things are open! :) If you are headed to Finland you should have no problem finding safe, gluten free options both in restaurants and grocery stores.

After reaching the most northern point of mainland Europe, the only option was to head South. The end of the rally (we were driving 5000 miles from Scotland to Estonia via the northernmost tip of mainland Europe over 10 days!) 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.

ROVANIEMI – As a result of the long drive and the hour time difference, it was after 9.30pm by the time we got around to looking for dinner and being a fairly small town the only eateries open were fast food places. I noticed a couple of pizza places with gluten free options marked on the menu but they was closed already so no gluten free pizza for me. There was also a South Indian restaurant with plenty of naturally gluten free options but again it was closed. I decided to buy a tub of boiled rice from a chinese restaurant and managed to find the one supermarket still open at that time to get some tuna and fresh tomatoes to eat with it. This obviously wasn’t the most exciting meal of the trip but all I can say is thank you for late closing Chinese restaurants -they can always provide a desperate and hungry Coeliac with boiled rice! In reality, sometimes when you’re travelling gluten free this is the type of thing you have to do to stop from getting hungry, especially if you don’t want to risk getting sick. That evening was the big get together for all involved in the rally and thankfully vino is gluten free so whilst everyone else drank their beers I enjoyed a few glasses with my new rally buddies.

Again it was late in the evening when we arrived in HELSINKI. The drive from Rovaniemi was almost 600 miles and the walk from our hostel into town was a few kilometres. What was I going to eat tonight? I caught a glimpse of a couple of restaurants in the centre of town which had gluten free options (oh how I wish we had arrived earlier!) but they weren’t open so I quickly walked on in search of something that was. Everywhere but bars and nightclubs seemed to be shut, the supermarkets were closed for the night and only a few 24 hour deli’s were open, which had nothing but glutenous things to offer. I almost gave up on the idea of eating that night when my friend called to say they were finishing dinner. They were at an Indian restaurant, which was now closing, so I asked if she could get me a portion of boiled rice. How exciting, right? But at least this meant I wouldn’t starve. When I met them a short time later they had rice and chicken korma for me. I had no idea what was in the korma so my boyfriend took that while I stuck to the rice. Unfortunately, unlike the previous night, there wasn’t anything I could find to make my ‘meal’ a little more interesting…

Gluten Free Hummus

My boyfriend fancied some chips with his curry so we stopped by a small street vendor selling various fried, meaty treats. We started talking to the guy who owned this vendor and ended up having a really interesting chat. He was from the States and had been living in Finland for the past couple of years. On noticing that I was eating plain rice he asked if there was anything he could get for me to make it taste better. We explained my situation and he began looking through everything he had to see if he could find something for me. He felt bad for me and went above and beyond to look for something to give my rice flavour. We checked the salsas and sauces he had but nothing was gluten free. He asked if I wanted some meat or cheese but everything was processed. He even offered to cut up some tomatoes for me but I didn’t want to risk contamination. I thanked him for trying and said that I would be fine with my rice. He gave me a complimentary bottle of water and apologised for not having anything safe for me to eat. It’s nice when you meet people like him in life….

The following day before heading to the Ferry terminal, we decided to walk into town again to find something for lunch. The boat to Tallinn was 2 hours and I was looking to make myself a packed lunch for the trip. It was before noon and a Sunday so again many places were closed but fortunately today the supermarkets was open. I’m happy to report the supermarkets in Helsinki carry a bunch of clearly labelled gluten free products! Cereals, breads, rice cakes, crackers, sauces, pasta, bars, snacks – they have it all so preparing and cooking safe, gluten free food here would be pretty simple. I bought a variety of gluten free crisp breads and some fresh slices of salmon, a tub of hummus labelled as gluten free and a box of red grapes. I felt a bit queasy on the boat as we bounced through rough waters but my lunch meanwhile was delicious!

On the boat we took a walk around as usual to check out any possible gluten free options. Interestingly the ferry did a buffet and their menu states which of the items are gluten free. The cost was around 23 Euros per person so a bit steep for lunch but it was good to see that for any coeliacs who find themselves hungry on the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn or vice versa, you are catered for!

Gluten Free buffet options

Buffet on the Ferry

So my trip to Finland was a little unusual as I was there as part of a crazy 10 day, 5000 mile rally. I look forward to returning for the gluten free options I noticed were definitely available in restaurants but which I was unable to try due to arriving in towns so late. I walked past a tonne of closed restaurants with gluten free menus or gluten free options so you will definitely be fine in terms of finding safe, gluten free food if Finland is your destination.

If you are headed to Finland on your gluten free travels be sure to check out the Finnish Coeliac Society for tips on travelling in Finland as a coeliac as well as information on where to eat out and where to shop gluten free. They have a great list of restaurants/cafes/stores etc where travellers to the country can find gluten free food. A great starting point for any celiac headed to this lovely country. 😀

Have you travelled gluten free to Finland in the daylight hours? Share your experiences in the comments below?