On a different subject, do you know what’s awesome about Germany? Homemade lemonade being sold everywhere!!
I’ve been living (pretty much) wheat free for about 5 years now. When I was in high school I had terrible problems with my tummy and thought that it was maybe an allergy to potatoes. Without getting anything checked, I went without eating potatoes for about a year. This has caused me to love potatoes more than anything now… haha.
I finally went to the doctor about it in my second year of uni and he told me to try going wheat free for a few weeks, which I did and it sorted all my problems. Since I’m extremely scared of needles, I didn’t go for the official answer from a blood test for 2 years after that.
Being in Japan made it easy to avoid wheat to a certain extent… well, when I could choose my own food I could pick rice over bread or spaghetti… but during the week I had to eat something like the following for school dinners…
Yup, nice balanced meal!! The American boys used to laugh at how I was always complaining about carbs in my meals…
But now I’m in Germany. Germany is really pretty amazing for wheat free stuff. I mean, it’s not perfect (how awesome would it be if there were wheat free products used in restaurants!) but in the local supermarkets they have a pretty decent range of wheat free – and lactose free – goods. My local supermarket, Rewe, has recently launched a new range too…
The Frei From range is a little pricey – though just as expensive as in England – at about 3-4 Euros per product. I feel happy paying 3 Euros for the bread on the left there, since it’s quite big pack so will last me all week and also it doesn’t go stale before I’ve finished it. The thing with wheat free bread is that without the gluten in it, it’s lacking the “glue” to hold it all together and so many wheat free breads will crumble in your hand like sand when you pick it up. This bread is slightly stronger than most so it’s pretty good. I also tried the muesli in the range (about 4 Euros) but sadly it’s completely tasteless and yucky.
The Riveta-like things on the right are my staple food stuff. They taste great, last me all week, and are quite versatile. They come from a brand that does loads and loads of different Riveta-like things so this isn’t a special brand that makes things just for people with allergies like the others.
You can also get wheat free goods in drug store/pharmacy places like Rossman and DM. I bought the pasta above from DM, which also has a very good range of wheat-free breads. It’s a lot cheaper than other products at around 2 Euros, and it tastes pretty good.
As for eating out, though I do forgo my wheat ban occasionally and scoff a burger, I find it pretty easy to be wheat free out of the house. Most German food comes with potatoes anyway, but I like nothing better than having a big slab of meat (steak, or German style roast pork knuckle or something) which usually comes with salad or sauerkraut anyway.
I know my vegetarian friends find it hard here some times but I must say, as a wheat free person, I think Germany is pretty darn good. Are there any other wheat free peeps out there?
