Years ago, on tour with Natalie Cole, we arrived in a sea town of Pescara, Italy for a show. We were staying in a lovely beach resort and went down to the outdoor restaurant for dinner. I was Gluten-free back then, too (have been since 2004) but was not worried about what I would be able to eat. I can always get salad, fish, vegetables, rice dishes. I was utterly and pleasantly shocked to find that the hotel offered gluten free pasta on the menu! You know I ordered it up and enjoyed it greatly.
Here in Sicily, I am finding it hard to not try out all of the yummy senza Gluten items. You may find it surprising that in the land of pasta and bread I am finding more Gluten Free products then ever. But, really it makes sense. To Italians that is what they live on and they can not imagine living with out it. So, you better believe that they make everything you can think of in Gluten-free varieties and they make it damn good!
I have heard that here all Italians are tested for celiac disease at an early age, so they very much understand when you say that you can not eat Gluten. I was also told that here in Italy if you are allergic to Gluten the government gives you a certificate worth 100 Euro each month to buy special Gluten free foods with.
Upon arriving to Marsala my host told me that her friend owns a pharmacy that has plenty of Gluten Free items. I made this up to mean a small shelf, but to my surprise it is pretty much an entire room! To access the items, you leave the pharmacy, go down an alley and enter through a load in door to the stock room basement. There I stand in awe. They have pasta in all shapes and sizes, cookies galore, breads, crostini, chocolate filled croisants, pizza, crackers, ice cream cannollis, ravoili, lasanga. Seriously everything.
At home I mostly eat foods that are naturally free of gluten, and on special occasion may get a gluten-free pizza or buy a loaf of bread. In the eight years since I have been gluten free, the product choices have greatly improved. They used to all be very dry and had about 12x the ingredients that the regular item they were imitating did. So, that was not so great taste wise or health wise. I may not have been eating gluten, but I was eating a ton of other stuff that my body didn’t need to be breaking down.
The products here do not have huge ingredient lists, but many of them are high in salt and sugar. These Italians know how to make gluten-free good! Just keep adding sugar and salt! So, while I did indulge quite a bit when I first got here, I have greatly lessened that in the past month. I was totally hooked on pasta, breads (to dip in the amazing olive oil!), crostini, you name it.
I savored it all! And…made sure I was getting daily greens in too….
Although, pharmacies are fully Gluten free stocked, the local supermarkets all have selections as well. In each one that I went to, even in a tiny one on the island of Favignana I stumbled upon Gluten free items. My favorite? This gelato cannoli that the owner of the pharmacy gifted to me… holy schmoly!
I am incredibly happy that I did get to indulge in these items. I was able to join in pasta and pizza dinners, and be a part of their local way of eating.
