Gluten Free in Austria
 

I mantain a strict gluten free diet due to Celiac Disease. It is not a choice.
I have not traveled much in Austria but the couple of times I was there had difficulty with Gluten Free meals.
Part of the problem is that I do not speak German.
I usually do fairly well in Spain, Italy, Portugal, France and UK/Ireland
I will be in Nurenberg, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich during the Christmas Market period this year.
Any suggestions of where or what is safe to eat will be welcome.
Any special pastries or restaurants that you can recommend

Monitor: I was not sure if to post in "disabled travel" or here in dining buzz. Please move as you see fit.
Thank you

I'm gluten intolerant rather than coeliac, so am less concerned about cross contamination. As always it depends where you go. It's certainly a well known condition but, at the same time, typical German food is heavy on wheat. But there are limited menu options possible, and breakfasts are easy with their focus on meats, cheeses and yoghurts.

As a side note, LH lounges are very aware, with GF breads available.

LH in general does a great job all around - I prefer their gluten free meals and have had very little problems getting gluten free in flight. Just make sure you request it ahead of time.

New EU laws have recently been introduced that forced all eating venues in the EU to mark on their menus which allergens are in their food. All food containing gluten is marked on the menu, usually with a footnote next to the respective item.

Ask your waiter if you are unsure, I know many people here in Austria who live gluten-free and they manage fine.

I imagine many celiacs in Austria do just fine but with only a few days and unable to travel cross town to shop I am a little limited.
Are the new EU laws mark the allergen as wheat or as gluten?
in the US products are marked with allergen wheat but not regularly as gluten.

1) Which laws are you talking about? Never seen this kind of labelling in many restaurants throughout Europe ("all eating venues": what on earth is this, a new politically correct term?). And, strictly scientifically speaking, there is no way you can mark on a menu all allergens, since all proteins of any source can potentially become allergens.

2) Gluten is not an allergen or, to be precise, the symptoms of coeliac disease are NOT due to an allergy: "Coeliacs" have a genetic predisposition. True, you may find a corresponding label in some menus, but for example I've not seen any kind of label in either ice creams or instant coffee, and many of them do contain gluten!

Finally, the chance that "your waiter" knows are minimal. The people in Austria (and elsewhere) who manage fine is not because they ask their waiter but because they have first hand information by having had to eat, over the years, gluten-containing stuff when least expecting it and they know what to avoid.

What about leaving medicine to medics rather than waiters and frequent flyers?

Never heard of the former but in practice, that is a rarity

I've seen it for example on the OBB trains, and very few restaurants...but to assume a normal beisl would have this info marked out (or the servers to know and/or be accomodating to it!!) is not realistic

http://www.henryamzug.com/media/1603...menuekarte.pdf

http://www.zuden3hacken.at/PDF/Speis...den3Hacken.pdf


Most restaurants have websites, and most of them have their menus online, I advice visiting the places you might want to eat (sifted through Tripadvisor, etc), and checking the menu beforehand.

Further to the EU-related labelling obligation:

An EU regulation (here) does indeed exist for Gluten-containing food, but in "reverse": It is now [possible] for foodstuffs for normal consumption which are suitable for a particular nutritional use to indicate such suitability. In other words, the absence and not the presence of gluten is regulated.

Mea culpa: An EU directive for allergens does indeed exist, as mentioned by Revilo199 (sorry!). Whether this is helpful is a different story. The list contains, among others, fish, milk, eggs, peanuts and nuts (yes, the latter separate from the former), crustaceans and mollusks and so on, as well as the products of the above. In addition, the list also contains gluten-containing foodstuff although, as stated in my previous post, this is not an allergen.

I repeat, though, that I have not encountered a single menu in a restaurant that contains this kind of labeling. For example, Quiche lorraine should be described in a menu as follows:

Quiche lorraine [caution: contains cereals containing gluten (i.e. wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut or their hybridised strains) and products thereof, milk and products thereof, eggs and products thereof]

Needless to say that there is no foodstuff regulation for people who suffer from G6PD deficiency (but since this affects almost uniquely Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, as well as African Americans... no comment!).

Have not paid attention to this abroad so I can't comment about the enforcement of said directive elsewhere, but if definitely exists in nearly all Austrian restaurants.

I'm aware the Greeks are not exactly as keen as we are on following laws KLouis so I guess that's why you've never seen it before. :p
Pay attention next time you go for dinner, maybe you'll see it.


Here is an example from a famous Viennese restaurant (Figlmüller, who claim to have the best Schnitzel in town...):
http://www.figlmueller.at/de/figlmue...lzeile_web.pdf

The little letters next to each item are the allergens contained, more information about those is on the backside of the menu.
Apparently the letter A stands for cereals containing gluten, I hope this was helpful.

Thank you all for your comments/suggestions

The menu at figlmueller looks good even though the number of choices without the letter A is limited.

The issue with these large restaurants is of course, cross contamination.
For Celiacs, that is a big issues

One more question:
Last time I was in Vienna I found the only Gluten Free Wasa crackers ever. I have never seen them in any other country that I have traveled and cannot be found in the US.
Anybody familiar with them?
I happen to find them in a little convenience store next to the Opera.

Yes, for Greeks laws are there to be broken ;). But, honestly, this is the first time I see this kind of label, and I'm not talking about Greek restaurants. By the way, any idea what the allergen "o" is, which is contained in the wines served at Figlmüller?

sulphites