It sucks having food allergies, and it sucks even worse when you have a travel bug, but the world doesn’t always accommodate your “issues”. However, as I have found in five years of travel, I almost always kind find an option to eat, and never have I gone hungry. At least not yet.
You may have to pay more for a meal, but many times it’s less or the same. You may not get your first menu choice, but you will likely get SOMETHING that is good. You will also likely try something new and exciting that you maybe never though of as an option before.
So here are my tips to surviving on the road:
- Know your allergy and what you can and cannot eat.
- Know what recipes commonly have in them that might be an issue.
- Learn what you need to ask in a language, or find a card to carry about your food issue.
- Shop and cook for yourself as much as possible. Regardless of everything, you will likely be able to go to a store and buy ingredients to make a rocking meal.
- Be brave and try new things.
- Such as Snails (Escargot), Caviar (Fish Eggs), Cheese (often with odd bacteria) and new fruits and vegetables you may have not seen before.
- Learn about countries and what common foods are. Mostly European and the Americas rely on bread (wheat) as much as they do. That’s not to say that other parts of the world don’t use wheat, but often their diets have a rice or corn base. With other grains mixed in.
- Experiment with ingredients you find and try to ask questions from locals.
- Always go for the salad bar when in doubt of everything else. Or just a salad.
But also be realistic that you might get sick and have cross contamination. For that here are tricks that help
- Probiotics or yogurt to help with digestion
- Enzymes to help with digestion
- Mineral Water also can help with stomach issues
- Coconut Water also can be soothing and for hot summer travel, it replaces electrolytes
- Finally, if you can find it, Kombucha can also be a quick fix to an upset gut.
- Look for vitamins to take with you traveling, but always check country-specific regulations on medicine and other pills.
Happy Travels,
Rebecca
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