Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

South Africa?

soulcurrent

Recommended Posts

soulcurrent Explorer
soulcurrent
Posted

Has anyone had any experience with gluten-free in South Africa? I'm thinking of going to Cape Town next year. I've read about some of the local eats and seems like there's a lot of bread heavy dishes but I can probably skip those fairly easily.

  • 2 weeks later...
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


lucia Enthusiast
lucia
Posted

I went to SA last year. It was a great trip. I'm still in recovery and didn't want to stress my gut, and SA is one of the few places outside of North America and Europe where I felt safe traveling. SA is as industrialized as any Western country. Of the cities I visited (Jo-Burg, Durban & CT), Cape Town is the most progressive, and it was easy to find specifically gluten-free foods, servers who understand "gluten-free", and a wide variety of 'ethnic' (ironically, meaning non-Western) cuisine. You'd have no trouble whatsoever. I highly recommend "Africa Cafe" in Cape Town for a special night out where you can order scrumptious dishes from an 'all you can eat' gluten-free menu. Here's what I wrote at the time of my trip:

I just returned from a trip to SA, where I visited Jo-Burg, Cape Town and Durban. I wanted to comment that I found gluten-free food with no more or no less difficulty than in the states (and I live in NYC). I tried researching options before I left, and found little information online. Once I was there though, to my surprise, I found many options and a range of people who knew what "gluten-free" meant. (Of course, I also encountered many people who had no idea what I was talking about.)

Restaurants that catered to tourists in Cape Town had a high awareness of "gluten-free." I even had a gluten-free menu handed to me at one of these. Remarkably in Cape Town, I stumbled into a bakery with gluten-free products and also discovered a health food store with a wide variety of gluten-free products. In Durban, the owner of my (moderately-priced) b&b served me gluten-free bread. Generally, groceries in the cities I visited carried gluten-free products at about the same rate and the same cost (high) as in the states. But most importantly - and significant to someone coming from the states - foods were all labelled with allergen information. I ate prepared foods from Woolworth's a lot for that reason.

South Africa's ethnic diversity also made eating out easier. There are a wide variety of Indian restaurants (especially in KwaZulu Natal). And native African food does not use gluten. For example, traditional South African food features pap, which is corn-based. I also ate Ethiopian food and pan-African food, which were naturally gluten-free (in both cases, my server could confirm this).

I'd actually recommend SA as a place to travel for someone with gluten issues. The tourist track is well-equipped to deal with gluten intolerance, and generally the country is very hospitable to us gluten intolerant folks. Whatever frustrations I had there were equivalent to what I've felt in the states. Actually, slightly less so thanks to the SA system of labeling for allergens.

  • 7 years later...
Bonnie PA Newbie
Bonnie PA
Posted

What can I do when travel company says they will refund my fully paid trip (which does not mean my airfare or trip insurance cost will be recovered) but refuse to allow me on trip because of celiac disease and food sensitivities? Lawyers are expensive and I could lose. I tried to convince them to simply give me plain meat and veg’s baked in aluminum foil. They’re flat out refusing to take me on trip.

cyclinglady Grand Master
cyclinglady
Posted
14 hours ago, Bonnie PA said:

What can I do when travel company says they will refund my fully paid trip (which does not mean my airfare or trip insurance cost will be recovered) but refuse to allow me on trip because of celiac disease and food sensitivities? Lawyers are expensive and I could lose. I tried to convince them to simply give me plain meat and veg’s baked in aluminum foil. They’re flat out refusing to take me on trip.

Can you find out if your trip insurance will cover the cost of the airfare?  Consider going and traveling on your own?  Get the airline to re-issue another ticket to another destination?  

If the travel company can not accommodate you safely, I would not go.  Is it worth it traveling and being sick?

 

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      126,058
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    Jtestani
    Newest Member
    Jtestani
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      120.9k
    • Total Posts
      69.1k
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Kathleen JJ
      Options - 7 year old boy - Helicobacter pylori and serology

      By Kathleen JJ · Posted

      And yes, of course it's better to know and we will adjust.  It's just, he's 7 and in our house we can control what he gets. But he plays soccer 3 times a week and in the changing room the boys share candies. I can and will tell him not to accept them any more, but "mistakes" will be made.   I'm really burdened by the potential social impact for him. He so loves to go to a restaurant as a family - I'll guess that's finished. Going to birthday parties at another kids house? I am reading about Coeliacs and apparently the fact that something as much as TOUCHED something with wheat is enough, even if he doesn't feel the symptoms - how can we control that bar from keeping him locked up?    And the worst worry of all: how do you tell a little boy to do all of this to not have symptoms that he does not have. If he'd been having horrible diarrhea or feeling really tired, we could tell him 'see, you feel so much better now, that kind of food was just not good for your body', but now, what will our argument be? For clarity: of course we will put him on the diet, I am not saying I don't believe in the necessity of that, it is just that it will be quite a stretch to 'sell' it to him 😞
    • StaciField
      My bone structure is disintegrating and I’m having to have my teeth removed

      By StaciField · Posted

      I’m 41. You have helped me achieve the goals of finding a way of getting nutrients into my body so I will see how it works for me. Thank you so much.
    • Kathleen JJ
      Options - 7 year old boy - Helicobacter pylori and serology

      By Kathleen JJ · Posted

      Thank you for your reaction. The reference values are both "<10", although I found a medical paper from Netherlands (I'm Belgian) who use the same values and there the see a positive daignosis as twice more then 200 and a positive biopsie. I didn't see how to change this in my original message, sorry...
    • cristiana
      Options - 7 year old boy - Helicobacter pylori and serology

      By cristiana · Posted

      Hi Kathleen Welcome to the forum. I am based in the UK so I am just picking this post up before our US based moderators appear.  I think they will want to know the lab values of both of the figures you have provided us with (min/max reading) as they tend to vary - could you post those for us, please? We see a lot of coeliacs who also have helicobacter pylori on this forum.  I am not sure how that would reflect in the blood results so I will leave this to be answered by my more experienced colleagues @trents or @Scott Adams. Obviously, you won't really know for sure where things stand until you have your meeting with the consultant.  I am sorry that you have to wait, but it will be worth knowing one way or another.  Apart from his recent gastric issues, it is fantastic to know that your son is otherwise a picture of health.  But it is worth bearing in mind that undiagnosed coeliac disease can cause health issues in the longer term, so far better to know now if he does turn out to have coeliac disease and adapt your son's diet accordingly, before other health issues have a chance to appear. Cristiana  
    • Kathleen JJ
      Options - 7 year old boy - Helicobacter pylori and serology

      By Kathleen JJ · Posted

      Hi all, I'm very new at this and 'this' has been quite a rollercoaster ride.   Last august my 7 year old son suddenly had these colic like pain attacks that would come a few times per day/night during 10 days. Because they were that bad and because our older daughter had her appendix taken out at 7, we ended up at ER twice to have him checked out. On both accounts blood was taken, on one account an ultrasound was made, showing swollen lymph nodes around the stomach, and the working theory was it was a violent reaction to a viral infection (even though he was not nauseous nor had diarrhea or anything like that). After 10 days it stopped as suddenly as it came on.   On October 1d my daughter started vomiting in the middle of the night, had a fever, and my son also threw up once (no fever). We kept them home from school, daughter kept on vomiting, fever stayed, son was perfectly healthy during the day, although he only ate yoghurt to be safe. The plan was to let him go to school the day after. In the night prior to his school return however, he woke up at 1, screaming with pain, begging to go to ER, which we did - the pain from august had returned.   Again bloodwork, but nothing found. It ended up only being that one pain attack, but because they were that bad, we went to the pediatrician the week after to have him checked up more thoroughly. He is a very energetic, sporty boy and he showed off his six pack with great pride to the doctor. She said he looked as an example of health, but did a more extended search because as the last blood test his liver values had been ever so slightly raised and she wanted to see how they'd do after a month.    So on November 8 we had his blood drawn again. His liver values had returned to normal, which did confirm the working theory that his pains were viral-infection triggered.   However, to everyone's (including the doctor) surprise, he also had these values: Transglutaminase IgA + >128 U/mL Gliadine IgG + 123.0 U/mL    I take it these are quite high. So last Tuesday he got his gastroscopy done, we'll have the result around the 25d we hope.  Whilst going for taking samples of the bowel, the gastro enterologist did notice some nodes in his stomach that present like a reaction to a Helicobacter pylori type infection, which would very much explain the type of pains he had.   We are still very much in shock by the Ceoliakie diagnosis (I know, it still needs to be confirmed by the biopsy, but with those numbers we kind of expect it) as he has no symptoms at all. The doctor said 'once he goes on a gluten free diet you'll see him blossom into an energetic, more happy boy' and we're like: but he is bouncing around singing and joking all day, I really can't imagine him being MORE energetic and happy - meaning, he's welcome to be that of course, but this is not a tired, withdrawn kid.   And even if the biopsy gets back negative (unlikely), what could these numbers have meant then? Could the Helicobacter pylori have an influence on this?   I have so many questions but are only eligible for a consult on December 6d so my data driven mind is going crazy having so little information or knowing so little about what everything means...   Kind regards, Kathleen  
×
×
  • Create New...