We all know Italian food is delicious but when it comes to
food allergies, namely milk, eggs and those of you who can’t have gluten, it’s
not easy. Add to this not eating meat
and you are looking at eating salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner or so I thought. Before heading out to Rome I spent some time
researching. Guide books are doom and gloom when it comes to being a non meat
eater with Vegetarians having it easier than Vegans. I discovered Happy Cow
website on which you can search by city for veggie restaurant/cafe recommendations. It
was good to have this information for back up but I ended up not using it. I
also found a useful blog post on www.walksofitaly.com. This gave me an idea of the kind of foods to look out for.
So how did I cope? I admit I spent four days eating
pizza. It turned out ordering pizza
without cheese was an easier task than expected. A pizza marinara is tomato
sauce based without cheese with oregano or garlic. I was confident enough to
order Vegetarian pizzas without cheese. The waiters had good levels of English
plus you just need to say “senza formaggio”. I must admit ordering pasta was
more daunting and I did not pluck up the courage to raise the issue of egg. I did spotted a couple of restaurants offering gluten free pasta so it's worth doing your research before arriving. Failing that if the pizza or pasta gets boring then salads (insalatas) are
readily available on menus.
Aside from pizza and pasta you have to eat Gelato. I had a
list of suitable places to try from Happy Cow but I did not need it. Turned out L’Orso Bianco which was next door
to our Hotel had dairy free options, soya and fruit sorbets. I think I had
seven flavours to choose from and I tried soya vanilla, soya chocolate, mango and
fruits of the forest. Also this place was good value for money three flavours
€2.50 cone or €3 cup. We also stopped at Blue Ice Gelaterie near the Trevi
Fountain, which was on the Happy Cow list. I had a soya pistachio which was
nice but did not rock the taste buds. It was also more expensive.
Another discovery which made me smile was pistachio
chocolate which I picked up in a supermarket. Its gluten free and has a “may contain traces of milk” label. I have been enjoying this treat and wish I had
picked up more than one bar to bring back with me. If I had been in Rome for more than 4 days I would have found
my diet limited and dull. The important thing was I managed. On the whole I
don’t have issues with cross contamination so I was not concerned about
tackling this issue with waiters. I ended up having bigger problems with food
at Gatwick and Fiumicino Airport. In fact I had nothing but a bag of crisps. I
really don’t understand why these places are not catering for allergy
sufferers.
Sarah x
Disclaimer - not all the food pictured above is dairy free or Vegetarian
Sarah x
Disclaimer - not all the food pictured above is dairy free or Vegetarian
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