Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Gluten Free Eating in Laos

Congratulations!  This may not be as hard as you thought it was going to be. Or perhaps it doesn't seem as hard to me since I've already been traveling for 7 months.

To prepare for a gluten-free visit into Laos, I recommend getting a gluten free restaurant card translated to Lao. I got mine from selectwisely.com.  They offer cards for gluten, fish, nut, dairy allergies and more.  Their language selection is pretty great, and if they don't currently offer a language, they'll research it for you.  The Lao card worked well (the card I got from them written in Thai did not function for me at all.)  Select Wisely will either mail you a printed/ laminated card or email a PDF that you can print and laminated at a copy shop, so you can purchase it on the road.

Here are some helpful words, phonetically spelled.  They are Thai, but the most Lao people understand Thai tjust fine.  The only problem is that tones completely change the word, and I'm not so good at tones:
See-oooo  Means soy sauce.  If you are gluten free, you have to stay away from everywhere in SE Asia
Nahm Pla  Fish sauce.  Mostly okay, although if you read labels in a grocery store, some have wheat inside
Bahng or Bahng sa Liiiiiiii  This is a rough translation for wheat, wheat flour, although it also means corn flour.

If you are adventurous, you can try out the following phrases:

Geen Nahm Pla die.  Fish sauce do want
Geen See-ooo mai die.  Soy sauce do not want
Khao Chai Mai?  Do you understand?

Sadly, I will say that without soy sauce most stir fried dishes lose their flavor.  Luckily for you, in Laos they liven those dishes up with generous amounts of MSG.  In one restaurant we visited there was a condiment tray that had sugar, salt, and msg ready to be spooned onto your food.  The omelets in Laos are really tasty, and I can testify that they sparkle on your toungue more than anywhere else in the world I've been.  Either they have better chickens or they flavor them with monosodiumglutemate.  I would usually say No MSG! but I'm already asking so much that I let that one slide for the sake of simplicity.

We generally ate a tourist restaurants where the staff spoke English, and were used to dealing with crazy falangs and their weird food requests.  I generally avoid street food because of the language barrier and because it can't be made to order. On the treks went on, I discussed my food issues in advance, and most of the food they sent for lunch and dinner (sticky rice, omelet, veggies) didn't have any soy sauce in them anyway.

Things you can eat*
*always ask, because local recipes can vary.
Rice- brown, black, steamed, sticky, or as noodles, rice is your friend. It is eaten by Lao people with every meal of the day.  I know that that the other term for sticky rice is glutinous rice, but never mind- it does not contain the same protein that causes you problems. Spend enough time in Asia and you will be sick of the stuff, but you will always be able to eat something


Lap- (also spelled lab, laarb, or some variation) The national dish of Laos!  It is made up of crumbled meat (beef, fish, chicken or pork) and sometimes tofu or bamboo mixed together with galanga, lemon grass, mint cilantro, lime, sugar and fish sauce.

Jeow- literally, chilli paste.  You can find it in a multitude of forms here- red, thick and spicey, with chunks of tofu, mild and made from eggplant, green chilis, or with some kind of pork.  Usually listed as an apetizer, the Jeows are served with steamed carrots, kale or cabbage and sticky rice.  May contain fish sauce, and always double check that soy sauce, mushroom sauce, or oyster sauce is not an ingredient.

Fruit- every market will have a fruit stall.  You can get a cup of mixed fruit, or a whole pineapple sliced up for you for $1.25USD

Sticky rice with coconut and mango- not as sweet as the Thai version, but still good.

Papaya Salad- wicked spicey, and full of fish sauce.  If you are buying from a street vendor, watch which sauces go into it, and if it looks dark brown stop them from using it.

Omelets and Fried Eggs- almost always available, see the paragraph on MSG

Things you MIGHT be able to eat

Spring rolls- in Northern Laos, they seem to use rice noodle sheets instead of wheat wrappers, that they then deep fry.  If you are sensitive to cross-contamination, stay away from these.

Soups- Pho, Khao Soi, noodle soups, vegetable soups. . . the Lao people really like to eat soup.  I personally only get soup if I can get it made to order and stay away from street vendors.  I make sure to ask for the white rice noodles, with NO soy sauce, NO oyster sauce and NO mushroom sauce, and pray for the best.

Curries- yellow, green, red, tofu. . .  most will use either soy sauce or fish sauce to give it a salty flavor.  I usually ask for just salt instead.

Stir Fried Anything-  whether you want fried rice, fried noodles, or some combination of veggies and/ or meat, they will automatically use soy/mushroom/oysters sauce unless you ask for something else.  If it comes out with a brown sauce, they might have used tamarind but probably didn't follow your instructions.

Fruit Smoothies- although I didn't drink them often, and when I did they weren't an issue, I read another blog that warned against smoothies because they might mix in some sort of wheat or barley powder in with the sugar.

Here is more good news: if you get tired of Lao food, almost every tourist town will have an Indian restaurant run by a family from Tamil Nadu that serves up curries, pakoras and dosas, all (most likely) safe for your consumption.

Although a food allergy creates a more challenging travel experience, I hope it doesn't hold you back from visiting.  With research, patience, and a lot of restaurant conversations traveling while celiac is entirely possible!

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post! I'm about to move to Laos and I have celiac and a bunch of food allergies I'm trying to work with while traveling there. Your information is super helpful and put me at ease :) thanks!

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  2. This is a great help for a fellow celiac traveler going to Laos! You wrote exactly what I needed to know - the specifics!

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