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We rented a car so I had room for
all this food in the trunk, but if I was traveling by train buying all this food might not have
been practical.
There
were two main brands of gluten-free foods in this Vienna store: Dr. Schaer and
3-Pauly. Dr. Schaer is based in Italy and we can buy many of their fine products
on U.S. web sites. I believe 3-Pauly is a German brand. In Germany and Austria,
some of the health food stores are known as Reformhaus and one of the breads
had that name on it, for example an aseptically-packaged loaf bread called Hausbrot (brot is bread in German) that was excellent. I also bought
two Dr. Schaer breads: one called Rustico loaf which looks like small slices of rye
bread (but wasn't.) The other was called Landbrot and was 5 slices of bread,
which was perfect. I had brought along heavy duty plastic bags so I could
transfer the bread to these bags once I opened the packages and keep them fresh
in the trunk of our car. Nights were chilly so the trunk was like a
refrigerator.
I
noticed a hand-written chalkboard message by the bakery and, with my limited
German, I could translate enough of the words to figure out that one could order
fresh-baked loaves of gluten-free bread, ready for next-day pick-up during
weekdays. What a terrific service.
Later in
the trip, I found an excellent Reformhaus health food store in Salzburg---steps away from Mozart's birthplace---with
a great selection of gluten-free packaged foods.
Use
Dining Cards in Restaurants
I
already had an Italian Dining Card from my previous trips to Italy. I used
information from the web site of the Celiac Society of Austria to develop my
German (Deutsch) dining card and edited it with the help of my daughter-in-law's
Austrian parents. I used the cards frequently, however, most restaurant workers
speak English in the larger cities
such as Vienna so we could converse in
English about my needs.
I found
these celiac society web sites at
www.clanthompson.com. Click on Resources, then Lifestyle, then Travel and
then Celiac Associations which are listed by country. This was a terrific source
of help and there are also dining cards on the web site as well. The European
celiac web sites are not written in English (German in Austria and
Italian in Italy) so you will need someone to help you translate them. On the Italian
web site, there are gluten-free restaurants listed by city.
Breakfast in Europe
Most European hotels include
a breakfast buffet of cold
meats, cheese, a wide
selection of cold cereals,
breads, pastries, fresh
fruit, and yogurt.
Everything but the cheese
and yogurt was off-limits,
so I toasted my special
bread (using the white
toaster bags I brought along
for this purpose. Sometimes,
we could order poached eggs
so I did this whenever I
could. I had also bought
gluten-free muesli in Vienna
so I ate this often.
Memorable
Meals
One of my favorite questions
after a big trip like this
is "What was your favorite
meal?" Unquestionably, it
was the roasted goose on our
first night in Vienna. We
had just arrived in late
afternoon and immediately
searched for a good
restaurant, which wasn't
hard. Vienna is full of
excellent restaurants. Most
restaurants post their menus
outside the front door so we
could determine if the
dishes seemed appropriate. I
had heard about the famous
Pumpkin Soup (Austria is
known for pumpkin products)
and wanted to sample it. Our
Viennese waiter spoke
excellent English and seemed
to understand my dining card
so he suggested the Pumpkin
Soup, which was absolutely
outstanding. And, then he
said, "By the way, in
addition to our other
specials, today we have
Roasted Goose with Red
Cabbage." It was simply
prepared, but outstanding in
flavor. I had to forego the
customary huge dumpling that
is typically served with
this meal because it
contains flour.
The runner-up meal happened
the next night in Vienna. We
needed a quick supper since
we were headed to a Mozart
concert (it's his 250th
birthday so there were lots
of Mozart events). We found
an Austrian restaurant and
the only thing that was
acceptable for me was the
Pumpkin Risotto, which
turned out to be absolutely
fantastic. (Again, the
dining card was very useful,
but the waiter also spoke
English). Perhaps the best
risotto I've ever eaten.
And, the concert was one of
the very best we've ever
attended.
Then, there was the
memorable meal of a whole
fish. This was in Italy,
along the Adriatic Coast,
and again, the waiter
quickly understood my dining
card and recommended the
whole fish, which was
filleted and roasted to
perfection. In fact, I often
ordered grilled or roasted
fish in many restaurants
because it was the safest
item on the menu and every
time, it was fabulous. I
didn't order dessert very
often because I seldom found
anything that was safe. But
we found many gluten-free
chocolate bars and I had
Pamela's biscotti with me,
so I never lacked for sweet
things.
Gluten-Free on the AutoBahn
Europe's equivalent of our
Interstate Highways are the
Autobahn's in Germany and
Austria and the Autostrada
in Italy. Both have gas
stations and restaurants
along the way that are
similar to ours in that they
sell coffee, soft drinks,
packaged food, and
souvenirs. I was amazed to
find gluten-free packaged
foods at these stops in both Austria and
Italy. In fact, I found the
best gluten-free bread I've
ever tasted in one of these
truck stops in Italy called
Auto-Grill or Fini Grill.
The bread was manufactured
in Milan, Italy by CoPharma
and the package bore the
name of Giuliani. The
package was clearly marked "senza
glutine" (without gluten)
and also marked "senza
latte" (without milk) as
well.
Awareness
of Gluten-Free Diet
In general, I found that
most persons were aware of
the gluten-free diet.
Sometimes they likened it to
an allergy, pronouncing it
with a hard, rather than a
soft "g" but they understood
the importance of avoiding
gluten.
One day we found ourselves in the
Austrian city called Villach at lunchtime and
began searching for a
restaurant. We noticed a
sign that said "Gasthaus
Brandenburg" and followed
the road, which went on and
on up the mountain, eventually leading to a
forest. We both thought
"this is either going to be
very good or very bad." As
it turned out, we eventually
found the gasthaus at the
top of the mountain and we
were its only luncheon
guests. The proprietress
understood what it meant to
avoid gluten and spoke good
English. She served us a
wonderful Pumpkin Soup and
Pork Roast with Red Cabbage.
She was very proud of all
the renovations they had
made over the years and
showed us a photo album
chronicling these
improvements. She then
showed all of the rooms to
us and they were lovely. If
we were to go back to
Austria, I would try to stay
here because it was a lovely Austrian gasthaus. Their web
site is
www.zurbrandenburg.at if
you would like to view it..
The
Noschmarkt
We
always like to walk outdoors a lot on the first day because it helps with
jet lag. It also feels good after sitting on the plane for 10 hours. Vienna was
experiencing its first snowstorm of the season, so we walked in snowflakes for
awhile and then, as the day grew warmer, the snow turned to rain. Undaunted, we
just flipped open our umbrellas and trudged ahead. I had read about the Noschmarkt, an open-air food market that one person described as "being
able to eat your way through it." It reminded us of Pike's Market in Seattle,
only much larger. All kinds of fresh food were displayed---fresh fish, fresh
meat, fruits, vegetables, herbs---some of them absolutely gorgeous. I didn't
risk eating there, but it was clear that many people were doing their weekend
food shopping that day.
A
Thousand Nights in Tuscany
I always like to read books
that take place in the
country I'm visiting, so I
read a book called "A
Thousand Nights in Tuscany"
an account of living in
Tuscany by an American food
writer called Marlena de
Blasi. Her colorful
descriptions of food,
culture, and adjusting to a
new way of life (she had
recently married an Italian
man) captivated me so much
that I re-read the book,
which I seldom do. We spent
one entire morning trying to
find the small Tuscany town
she writes of, only to later
learn that there are 2
Italian cities by this name
and we, of course, found the
wrong one.
Food
for Thought
“Where there is love there is life”---Mahatma
Ghandi
Where
in the World is Carol?
Except for my trip to
Europe, no travel in
November. Happy Holidays!
May all of your holiday
travel by safe.
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