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Being Gluten Free Around the World

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GFDustin's picture
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Joined: 06/28/2013

In May 2012, about 6 months after I found out that I was gluten intolerant, I was getting somewhat accustomed to the gluten free diet. My health was improving at a tremendous rate. No more random coughing, bad stomach aches, etc. Earlier that year, around February 2012, my girlfriend and I applied for a program to teach English abroad in Korea. It was in May 2012 that we left the United States to teach in Bucheon, Korea.

If any of you with gluten intolerance/allergies has traveled abroad, especially to Asian countries, then you probably know that many people don't even know what gluten is. It really is a "new" trend, so people don't really know when you ask them. Surprisingly, in Korea, there were a few restaurants (with English speaking owners) who knew about it and was able to direct us around. Luckily, my girlfriend is fluent in Korean and was able to converse with a lot of the Korean restaurant owners to see if there was wheat. The Korean word for wheat is "Mil" or "Meal". It's somewhere in between those two words.

If my girlfriend hadn't been my translator, I really don't know what I would've done. I probably would've stuck to a vegetable and plain meat diet. My reaction to gluten is pretty severe; if I eat a large enough amount, I start vomiting stomach acid and eventually pass out. So traveling in a different country with a huge language barrier is really dangerous. It's especially dangerous in countries where you aren't able to speak their language, or aren't able to communicate with them.

The dishes that I mainly stuck to were kimchichigae (kim-CHEE-chee-gay), sam gyup sal (some-gyup-sol), and soondubu (soon-doo-boo). These are pretty much available at any restaurant in Korea. They are delicious, full of flavor, and gave me no problems at all. The kimchichigae is kind of spicy, so that might give you heartburn, but it didn't give me any problems as far as a gluten reaction was concerned.

I was just wondering if you guys had any experiences with gluten and eating internationally? Also, have found any restaurants abroad that were gluten-free? If you do, list them here! And like I did above, maybe you can list some foods that are okay to eat for those on a gluten-free diet. Thanks!

GFDustin's picture
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Joined: 06/28/2013
Re: Being Gluten Free Around the World

Can you please transfer this to the appropriate section? I didn't see the other section. Thank you!