wheat challenged in Paris
 

Hello everyone. Back to Paris this July and appreciate all the past tips received here. This time, rather than drooling at the shop window, can anyone suggest bakeries or stores where I can find non-wheat baked goods and pastries? Rye and other grains are fine for me - just have to avoid the wheat.

Hi bev3. I have never been to Paris unfortunatly but I do have food allergies.

This is what I would do. Get your food allergies translated into French. Take this to a Kinko's and have it laminated. Get more then one in case the first one gets lost or misplaced.

You can then hand this laminated card to the clerk in the bakery or the waiter in the restaurant. This will give you a much better chance of not ingesting wheat which obviously would be a problem for you.

And have a beautiful time in Paris!

Guessing you might have better luck at health food stores, easier than regular bakeries?

Thanks LoveItaly for that tip - I did ask before in a bakery for rice bread; probably my French but I got some blank stares... Writing it down will save us all some time.

Suze, we are staying in the 6th so I will look for some health food stores in the area. Hopefully I can stock up on some crackers I can eat while my travelling companion enjoys her baguette!

Hi bev3, as they say in Italy "prego". I cannot eat dairy or any corn products. I have a family member that cannot eat wheat. So I sure understand your problem. Someone here a couple of years ago gave the advice to have the allergy translated for the country one was going to and having Kinki's laminate it. Along with the idea of having the waiter in a restaurant take the laminated card into the chef in the kitchen. I thought that was such a great idea.

BTW, I have seen flourless chocolate cake that is suppose to be a French receipe. Hope you can find it.

Take good care, and have a wonderful trip.

Flourless chocolate cake! Now I'm inspired!! Anyone know how to say that in French?

Love Italy, please respond to my naples, california post!

kparker, ok!

Hi bev3, I found a flourless chocolate cake receipe that was suppose to be a receipe from France that I sent to my relative who like you cannot eat flour. I will see if I have it. If I don't I would imagine that someone here will or we could find it on the web. Now stop that drooling, LOL!!!
I will get back to you on this receipe.

Hi Bev,unfortunatly I do not have the receipe for the flourless chocolate cake but here is a receipe for you that you might enjoy.

SOCCA (Chickpea, Olive Oil and Cumin Pancakes)

1 and 3/4 cups of chickpea flour
3/4 teaspoon course or kosher salt.

3/4 teaspoon cumin

1 and 1/2 cups of water

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Coarsely cracked black pepper.

Instructions: Combine the chickpea flour, salt and cumin.

Combine the water and 1/4 cup olive oil.

Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, whisking constantly. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Liberally oil three 9 inch round cake pans with olive oil and pour one third of the batter into each one, so that it coats the bottom of the pan with 1/4 inch of the batter. Bake in the upper third of the oven until golden brown on top and crisp. 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove the pancakes from the pans with a spatula and cut into wedges. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and with the pepper. Yields 3 socca, serves 9

Not chocolate cake, but I think this receipe sounds real good. I forgot I had it.

Bev, go onto to www.google.com and type in the search box for flourless chocolate cake. You cannot believe how many receipes there are!!! Enjoy

Loveitaly, thank you for the pancake recipe - will give it a try as is sounds different and interesting.

Will give the chocolate cake search a try as well - but after I'm back from Paris as I have no trouble eating creme brule(s) and need to be a little mindful of the desserts in coming weeks!

Thanks for your posts!

Chocolate cake without flour in French is "gâteau au chocolat sans farine"

To say specifically without wheat flour, would be "sans farine de blé"

Here is a French recipe for one:

http://www.choco-club.com/gateausansfarine.html

Hi Christina - thanks for the language tip and the recipe (may have to get my dictionary out to make it, but I now know what to look for on the menu). Your note explains why I didn't get very far when I said on a previous trip J'ai allerique a ble - needed "farine!"

Many thanks!

Loveitaly brought up a great idea. Make a card that says, in French, that you are allergic to wheat and ask for recommendations and show that to the waiter. I did just that in Italy last month. I recently developed an allergy to shellfish (very disappointing for me) and I went online and found a place that will print the cards out for you. I think it was around $10. I found the wording on an allergy website, then had a friend who speaks Italian translate it for me. I had this on a 3x5 that I carried with me and showed it to the waiters before I ordered, then asked if what I was ordering was OK. I also learned the common names for shellfish so I could try to avoid them but you never know.

For what it's worth, rye bread in France is called "pain de seigle." You won't necessarily find it in every bakery but it's pretty easy to find if you shop around a bit.

hi, bev -- French recipes are in different measures than American ones, also, it helps if you can measure things in grams.

ble means wheat (farine is flour), so saying you were allergic to wheat should have been fine; they probably just didn't know what you were saying for various reasons. "allerique" isn't a word, for example (you should have said "je suis allergique au ble")

If you are avoiding wheat, but not rye, you should know that it is standard baking practice to include wheat flour in the mix for rye bread, as rye flour is very dense. Some specialty stores will have a section of wheat-free foods, often frozen to extend shelf life, and I have seen wheat-free rye bread in the freezers of several health food stores. My husband has Celiac disease and must avoid all wheat, rye, barley, and oats.

We found a few things at Monoprix(crackers, etc)
Here is a communique from the French Coeliac Society, which offers some good info:

A Holiday guide for cŒliacs / Guide de vacances pour Cœliaques
In France as in other countries, you can buy any product as soon as there is no wheat flour (“farine de blé”) in it. If there is starch, without the name of its origin, it is corn starch (“amidon de maïs”). If there is wheat starch (“amidon de blé”) in manufactured products, it is labelled with its origin.
You will find gluten-free products in certain chemistries (“Pharmacies”) or in dietetic food stores (“magasins de produits de régime”). There you find the names of Valpiform', Glutabye, Labelvie which also have fresh products, or Dr Schär, Hammermühle, Sanavy … . Some supermarkets now have gluten free products: Monoprix or Casino with the name ‘Allergo’. Most of those brands make sliced breads, pastas, noodles, biscuits, flour, cakes ... (=“pain tranché, pâtes, nouilles, biscuits, farines, gâteaux”) without gluten.
You can order fresh gluten-free products, as fresh bread (=“pain frais”), fresh “baguettes” and fresh cakes (=“gâteaux”), by telephoning or mailing at:
1. VALPIFORM’ : 1 square du Docteur Laborit, Z.A.C. Mercières 1, 60200 Compiègne, France
tel: 08 20 00 05 52, fax: 03 44 86 87 89, site: www.valpiform.com
2. Soreda Diet (Glutabye products): 2 impasse des Crêts, 74960 Cran Gevrier, France
tel: 04 50 57 73 99, fax: 04 50 57 88 45, site: www.glutabye.com.
You can find names of shops selling Dr Schär gluten-free products on the site: www.schaer.com .
For the time being we have no specific gluten-free restaurants in France. But if you ask for grilled meat and plain vegetable it is generally OK. Otherwise you can ask for the ‘Chef’ and show him the copy of our membership card, he must understand.