how to order food in Spain
 

You folks are such a wealth of information. Thanks for all the advice!!!! My other questions are:
1) how do I order steam sea bass in restaurant with nothing on it? i.e. no salt, no oil, no butter, no wine, no garlic, NOTHING added? I also needed it steamed on a plate or aluminium foil. How do I say it in Spanish? Trying to avoid waxed paper product as I have BAD corn allergy and my allergist told me that some paper plates and cups have corn derived coating.
2) How do I order in Spanish "Steamed cauliflower and/or Zucchini?"
As you may have guessed, I am bringing a lot of emergency food with me.

WOW, I admire your dedication to travel while having such eating restrictions/ habits. Be forewarned, better for you to pack lunch or find a well stocked supermarket (basement of Corte Ingles on Gran Via/Madrid is a great supermarket, if anything to get souvenirs food items).

1. Steam sea bass with nothing on it? i.e. no salt, no oil, no butter, no wine, no garlic, NOTHING added?

TRY: Perca hervida NADA añadido; sin sal, no aceite, sin mantequilla, sin vino, sin ajo. Cocinado en papel sin cera, en plato o papel de aluminio.

2. Steamed cauliflower and/or Zucchini

TRY: Coliflor hervida y/o Calabacin hervido.

I strongly suggest you write this down on a piece of paper and simply pass it on to the waiter/cook. Try to explain the best you can your allergies, as this might get some strange looks from waiters.

Have a great time in Spain!

steamed anything...AL VAPOR.

cauliflower, coliflor
zuchinni.. calabacin as already mentioned.

sea bass ..besugo al vapor or en papillotte.

only very good restaurants will prepare that that way.
most likely veggies will be boiled (hervido).

before you sit down i would ask the waiter to find out if they are prepared to do things like this.

"perdone, podría preguntar si el chef me puede preparar un plato especial. Tengo muchas alergias y solo puedo tomar .........
al vapor o sin nada de aderezo en absoluto ni o aceite ni sal, ni vino, mantequilla, etc.?
Se puede preparar en aluminio, tambien.

A close friend of mine has severe allergies and whenever she travels she gets someone from the destination to write out the following phrase:

I have severe food allergies and cannot eat the following foods: (list here. . . if it is really long then just move to the next sentence). My food must be prepared without extras and through steaming or boiling in just water.

Thank you!

(she has them laminated and printed on paper the size of a credit card)

But what if the restaurant does not have sea bass, cauliflower, or zucchini? (I am not so sure the last two, especially, are staples in most Spanish eating places.) Are there any other things that you are able to eat aside from those three?

Along those lines. . . if you have a very limited diet, you might want to list foods that you can definitely eat so that there are no grey areas. Also, if you list a few things you definitely can eat, we might be able to recommend actual meals or dishes. For example, if you can eat green beans, carrots, potatoes, onion and greens, then I would make you an "hervido" which is simply a boiled vegetable medley served hot and then you season it as desired.

Sunny I have just read your other posts..are you putting us on here? You are going to bring canned luncheon meat to Europe..you can eat THAT with your food alleriges?

I don't understand. I have a severe allergy to corn plus I am lactose intollerant, but there are tons of foods I can eat.

I don't understand what salt, olive oil, butter, wine, garlic etc. has to do with a corn allergy.

It is true that some paper products do have corn in them (plates and cups) but I can't imagine a restaurant serving food on a paper plate.

I am very confused about this thread.

eks and love- hopefully she will answer, but she might fall into the same category as my hallmate in college: food intolerant. She could not have dairy, no spices, no vinegar. . . the list was astounding! Pretty much every day she ate fresh vegetable salads with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of equal (no sugar, either, apparantly). When we went to restaurants we had to call ahead and say that we were brining our own pasta. They would make it for her and she would have plain pasta with a litle lemon and some sliced avacado.

I think it will be better for her to hire an apartment or aparthotel and have a cooking place. I don't even think that her can go to restaurants so easily on the States... The things she can eat are available almost in every supermarket..but no so easy to find in restaurants.

Restaurants in Europe are probably going to be less familiar with catering to such "allergies." I would agree that writing down specifics, being prepared that you may not get what you asked for, and a willingness to pay a little more of a grauity should be expected. I've travelled in Europe for business and I've found Europeans are less equipped to deal with these kinds of requests.

Hi LeClair, your poor roommate..and I thought I had a problem!! That would be terrible, and your are probably right..sounds like that is possibly sunnysky's problem

Kendrina, I agree, a facility with a kitchen would seem to be the only way to eat without problems as one could prepare their own food.

And I imagine the two of you will be meeting each other at some point and in someplace in Spain! Best wishes to you LeClair with your new life in Barcelona. I hope you will be able to post from time to time.

BTW, not to get off subject, but did you know there is a ferry that goes between Barcelona and Genoa, Italy? That might be something for you to look into at some point. Best wishes.

Hi all,
See my new posting about Food Allergies in Spain. It will probably answer all your questions...

Debbie

I also agree with the suggestion of getting an apartment with a kitchen, and shop for food at some market or other. It's the safest option.

Your other post (summary):

allergic to: eggs, milk, oats, beef, corn, corn starch, corn syrup, potatoes, potato starch, garlic, onions, bananas, peanuts, most nuts, broccoli, all seafood, except for seabass, not so sure about salmon and tuna

Can eat: Soy milk, tofu, seabass, pork, ham, rice, rice cereal, brown rice pasta, french bread sometimes, non-iodised salt, Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Phosphate, pears, oranges, watermelons, watercress, cauliflower, zucchini and cucumbers.

I have a travel size cooking pot which I am going to bring with me to Spain and Italy.

I will be bringing prednisone, Benadryl, Epi-pen and cortisone cream with me.

So. . . here goes for Spain:

your edibles:
Soy milk- lecitina de soja
tofu- tofu
seabass- corvina (lincasanova said "besugo" which my dictionary lists as "sea bream" and viajero listed perca which is "perch")
pork- cerdo or puerco
ham- jamón
rice- arroz
rice cereal- cereales de arroz (Rice Krispies are available)
brown rice pasta- pasta de arrroz integral
french bread- pan baguette
non-iodised salt- sal no yodada
pears- peras
oranges- naranjas
watermelons- sandía
watercress- berro (I have never had this in Spain)
cauliflower- coliflor
zucchini- calabacín
cucumbers- pepinos

So. . . Spain is all about the pork, and chuletas de cerdo (pork cutlets) are common on menus. If you ask for them "al vapor" then they will be steamed. Arroz blanco (white rice) is very common and if you ask for it "sin sal y aceite" it should come plain as the day. Sometimes they put a bay leaf in it, so just make sure you emphasize "arroz blanco sin más."

As you can have french bread and pork, perhaps you can eat a bocadillo de jamón dulce (packaged ham luncheon meat) sin aceite.

There is a lot of fresh fruit, so you might end up doing that a lot.

Good for you not letting this stop you!

Thank you, Thank you so much again. I am now very prepared!!! Barcelona here I come.. I have printed out everything so far and it will accompany me on my trip.