When one eats in a less typical way or has an autoimmune illness like celiac, traveling is more complicated, challenging, and requires planning. On our recent travels, at moments I lost my planning mojo, allowing myself to slide into a “It will work out” mindset. Not a good state for a celiac.
More than half our travel time was spent on an Azamara cruise ship, a line I give top marks for thoughtful, mostly careful food preparation and variety. At every meal, the kitchen offered at least one vegan entree, several vegetarian options, wonderful fish and lots of fresh vegetable and fruit salads. I could count on a delicious vegan curry or dal each day at lunch.
One evening, the chef made me a savory seafood stir fry with rice noodles and vegetables.
Looks good, doesn’t it?
Following a tour of Carara National Park and the Tarcoles River, we stopped for a typical Costa Rican lunch at the stunning Villa Caletos.
Beautiful fish, black beans, fresh veggies.
An this was the view from the restaurant. In my relaxed state, I grew loose with planning.
Once off the ship and in California for a road trip, securing food resumed the more typical pattern of sometimes all goes well and sometimes it doesn’t. No pampering, like on the ship.
In Los Angeles after an entertaining tour of the impressive Union Station, we and our friends headed to Olvera Street for lunch, the land of Mexican food (usually a safe choice) but which offered limited options for me. The restaurants were ripe for cross contamination, the beans were prepared with lard, the cooks disinterested in answering questions about the food. A little research ahead of time could have prevented this goof. I was off my planning game.
A quick google search produced a list of gluten free friendly restaurants and we headed to True Food Kitchen (truefoodkitchen.com) in Santa Monica which offered excellent safe food, lots of vegan options, a jazzy, fun atmosphere.
Our travels continued. Next up, traveling and eating on the Central coast
RetireTravelCeliacGo 