My wife is gluten intolerant, and do not eat wheat in three years. So, at first thought, my plans for the holidays Italy bordering on insanity. While I'm a big fan of Italian food, for Jen a week and a half of pasta, pizza and bread - the holy trinity of Italian table - sounds like a nightmare. As far as he is concerned, 10 days means 10 days in Italy convicted salad dressed with oil and vinegar. Even the desserts are not to be safe: and tiramisù gelato usually contains wheat.
For about 1 percent of the world population with celiac disease, gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains that gives bread and pizza crust and Italian staples spring they satisfy the other, is a poison. Doctors also recently admitted that many may be sensitive to gluten, and just feel better when they cut wheat and other glutinous grains from their diet. (Jen is in the latter camp.) You would think Italy would be hell for the gluten-intolerant.
To our surprise, we found it to be closer to heaven. Wheat prevalence in Italian cuisine has made Italy especially aware of celiac disease and Italy one of the best European destination for food-consciously avoiding gluten. Celiac disease is recognized as a serious condition there faster than in the United States or elsewhere in Europe. The Associazione Italiana celiachia, or AIC, Italian celiac association, founded in 1979; These days a lot of the world's leading experts on celiac disease is Italian.
photo
Genoa, where the authors argue that the gluten-free pizza. Credit Annalisa Brambilla for The New York Times
Awareness of the problem has penetrated everywhere from the hotel restaurant menu above and guesthouses to the most basic state and environment gelato stand. More than 150,000 people have been diagnosed with celiac disease in Italy, although the AIC estimates that the actual figure is probably over half a million.
However, when we left Berlin, where we live, to take the train all day to the northern Italian port of Genoa, I was nervous. Is there something for Jen to eat? Or will we get a two-class substitutions and missed the highlights? Not long after dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed to the Exultate, punk themed pizzeria to live in a city center square in the first maze I came in on a visit to Genoa a few years ago.
For an extra € 1.50, Exultate will be happy to make a pizza on a two-page menu with gluten-free crust. (The only thing forbidden is the beer list is long and varied, often to Italy.) Piled high with Italian sausage and mozzarella, it was the first pizza Jen in a few years, and it was nice.
The next night, after a day of exploring the steep, winding streets of Genoa, we headed to a small Trattoria Gianna with friends. Its specialty is seafood, but I really wanted to share the original genovese pesto, which I've talked about for years, with Jen and two friends. The owner, Immacolata in Nocci, happy to accommodate us, offer a gluten-free fusilli trofie than more traditional hand-rolled (short, special winding Genoa). "If you can not eat pasta, we need to find something else for you," said Ms in Nocci.
Continue reading the main story
The only catch, Ms in Nocci added in rapid Italian, is that the restaurant is too busy and the kitchen is too small to make just one serving gluten-free. So, soon all four of us dug into the dish family style fusilli in a creamy, emerald green sauce made from young basil plucked from the hills outside the city. There were no complaints.
photo
Swordfish at Trattoria Gianna in Genoa. Credit Annalisa Brambilla for The New York Times
The underlying sort of flexibility is the emotional resonance you may not find anywhere else. We found that the Italian responding magic words "senza glutine" not to upset or annoyed but with genuine concern, verging on pity. In Italy, unable to stomach discomfort or wheat more than fad diets.
"This is a tragedy for Italy," said Susanna Neuhold, food program manager of AIC. "The food in Italy is the center of social life and relationships with people. For someone who can not go out with their friends or to a meeting at a restaurant, it is a very big problem, psychological and social."
Resonance which has been translated into institutional empathy that might surprise Americans. For example, the first stop for Italian avoid gluten (or travelers wishing to cook for themselves) is not necessarily a supermarket, but a local pharmacy. At the center of Turin, I asked a pharmacist what package bespectacled corn pasta, rice flour cakes and focaccia is specially formulated to do hanging beside the dark wooden table. It turns out that people with celiac disease are given a monthly allowance of about 100 euros (about $ 135) of the Italian national health system to buy gluten-free products specially formulated. "In Italy, food is medicine," says the pharmacist.
There is a similar move in the world of eating out. Since 2000, AIC has been offering training and certification for restaurants, bars and hotels. The current network of more than 3,500 establishments throughout Italy, inspected every year by volunteers. "Ten years ago, the problem is where to eat. Now there are more options," said Ms. Neuhold. "It helps improve the quality of gluten-free food. Customers are very demanding Italy - also celiacs".
In Turin, Italy Slow Food movement center, tourist information office in Piazza Castello offers a seven-page list of restaurants with gluten free options. We started just a few steps away at the local post Grom, people gelaterias chain based in Piedmont.
photo
Grom offers gluten-free gelato. Credit Annalisa Brambilla for The New York Times
When Jen got to the front of the long line, he hesitated to mention he wants a cup, not a cone, and asked if gelato is glutine senza apricot. Server busy eyebrows raised. In what is obviously a well trained ritual, he went to the back and wash your hands, then lifted apricot gelato steel tube to reveal another side - contaminated by crumbs cone - down. A spoon, carefully folded napkins clean, has been obtained from the tub in the back of the store is closed.
Grom (which has two branches in New York, plus standing in Central Park open in the summer) is the best case scenario, but we found that even the small gelaterias and the restaurant is not in the list of the AIC, the servers know their stuff. A list of materials that are always close at hand, and sometimes prominently displayed.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Indeed, Italy's obsession with quality ingredients work to benefit gluten-free travelers. At L'Archivolto, a restaurant specializing in Ovada prominent Piedmontese cuisine surprising our trip, server, Paola Padoan, almost offended when I asked in broken Italian how he knew so many gluten-free menu.
"What do you mean, how do I know?" He said. "There are many people with food allergies. It is important that we know what is in the food. We make everything - from meringues for pasta - in our kitchen, so of course I know what every single ingredient".
As Jen unfortunately eyeing tajarin L'Archivolto this, traditional Piedmontese egg noodles with butter salsiccia in raguù, Ms. Padoan asked whether gluten-free penne would be an acceptable substitute. It was.
photo
L'Archivolto Kitchen, a restaurant in Ovada that offers gluten-free pasta. Credit Annalisa Brambilla for The New York Times
Thanks to intense competition (and the state subsidies), the gluten-free alternative to a restaurant good enough to put out their next flagship wheat. M-Bun, "slow fast food" burger chain based in Turin, even serve beef patties are eating grass on the gluten-free bread (and on a separate tray, to avoid contamination) on request.
Some of the most valuable food that we had, however, take advantage of the many regional specialties that lend themselves naturally to a wheat-free diet, especially in northern Italy. "What most Americans do not know is that the pizza and pasta is a big part of the culture in Italy, but they are not everything," said Shauna Ahern, cooking gluten-free Washington State-based writer and blogger who teaches cooking classes in Italy several times each years.
Polenta, for example, for pasta in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northeast of Venice. In Turin, capital of Piedmont, we partied in farinata, grilled thick crepe made of chickpea flour. (Tuscans make something similar and called it cecina,. Just across the border in France it is known as socca) What is the Vercelli,, slightly damaged sunburned city is located in the middle of a seemingly endless acres of bright green rice paddies and risotto Italian capital. The menu includes many there take from satisfactory, gluten-free dishes - such as local specialty panissa, warm mix rice risotto, sausage and beans; and Borbone, a delicious mix of risotto, eggplant and smoked mozzarella.
At sunset, we passed the steep, vine covered valley to Agriturismo Latimida, a working farm a few miles from the spa town of Asti which I found on the AIC website. The owner has offered a gluten-free menu for 13 years, since her son was diagnosed with celiac at age 4.
As children goose chase in the yard outside, we sat under the arched-ceiling brick for a five-course meal. When the waiter (the owner's son, sneakers and T-shirts) issued a fresh rolls, still warm from the oven, Jen looked at them doubtfully. I tried one and honestly not sure if they have wheat or not. "Senza glutine?" I asked.
"Si, certo," he said with a shrug, retreated to the kitchen. Over the next two hours, we worked our way through five programs, including gluten-free noodles with zucchini from the garden outside, sweet pickled onions that melted in our mouths, and purple living mirtilli risotto, made with wild blueberries.
After each course, we looked at each other with a mixture of amazement and relief. "It nonvigilance," said Jen. "Knowing you can eat it, 100 percent, it was feeling really good."
For about 1 percent of the world population with celiac disease, gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains that gives bread and pizza crust and Italian staples spring they satisfy the other, is a poison. Doctors also recently admitted that many may be sensitive to gluten, and just feel better when they cut wheat and other glutinous grains from their diet. (Jen is in the latter camp.) You would think Italy would be hell for the gluten-intolerant.
To our surprise, we found it to be closer to heaven. Wheat prevalence in Italian cuisine has made Italy especially aware of celiac disease and Italy one of the best European destination for food-consciously avoiding gluten. Celiac disease is recognized as a serious condition there faster than in the United States or elsewhere in Europe. The Associazione Italiana celiachia, or AIC, Italian celiac association, founded in 1979; These days a lot of the world's leading experts on celiac disease is Italian.
photo
Genoa, where the authors argue that the gluten-free pizza. Credit Annalisa Brambilla for The New York Times
Awareness of the problem has penetrated everywhere from the hotel restaurant menu above and guesthouses to the most basic state and environment gelato stand. More than 150,000 people have been diagnosed with celiac disease in Italy, although the AIC estimates that the actual figure is probably over half a million.
However, when we left Berlin, where we live, to take the train all day to the northern Italian port of Genoa, I was nervous. Is there something for Jen to eat? Or will we get a two-class substitutions and missed the highlights? Not long after dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed to the Exultate, punk themed pizzeria to live in a city center square in the first maze I came in on a visit to Genoa a few years ago.
For an extra € 1.50, Exultate will be happy to make a pizza on a two-page menu with gluten-free crust. (The only thing forbidden is the beer list is long and varied, often to Italy.) Piled high with Italian sausage and mozzarella, it was the first pizza Jen in a few years, and it was nice.
The next night, after a day of exploring the steep, winding streets of Genoa, we headed to a small Trattoria Gianna with friends. Its specialty is seafood, but I really wanted to share the original genovese pesto, which I've talked about for years, with Jen and two friends. The owner, Immacolata in Nocci, happy to accommodate us, offer a gluten-free fusilli trofie than more traditional hand-rolled (short, special winding Genoa). "If you can not eat pasta, we need to find something else for you," said Ms in Nocci.
Continue reading the main story
The only catch, Ms in Nocci added in rapid Italian, is that the restaurant is too busy and the kitchen is too small to make just one serving gluten-free. So, soon all four of us dug into the dish family style fusilli in a creamy, emerald green sauce made from young basil plucked from the hills outside the city. There were no complaints.
photo
Swordfish at Trattoria Gianna in Genoa. Credit Annalisa Brambilla for The New York Times
The underlying sort of flexibility is the emotional resonance you may not find anywhere else. We found that the Italian responding magic words "senza glutine" not to upset or annoyed but with genuine concern, verging on pity. In Italy, unable to stomach discomfort or wheat more than fad diets.
"This is a tragedy for Italy," said Susanna Neuhold, food program manager of AIC. "The food in Italy is the center of social life and relationships with people. For someone who can not go out with their friends or to a meeting at a restaurant, it is a very big problem, psychological and social."
Resonance which has been translated into institutional empathy that might surprise Americans. For example, the first stop for Italian avoid gluten (or travelers wishing to cook for themselves) is not necessarily a supermarket, but a local pharmacy. At the center of Turin, I asked a pharmacist what package bespectacled corn pasta, rice flour cakes and focaccia is specially formulated to do hanging beside the dark wooden table. It turns out that people with celiac disease are given a monthly allowance of about 100 euros (about $ 135) of the Italian national health system to buy gluten-free products specially formulated. "In Italy, food is medicine," says the pharmacist.
There is a similar move in the world of eating out. Since 2000, AIC has been offering training and certification for restaurants, bars and hotels. The current network of more than 3,500 establishments throughout Italy, inspected every year by volunteers. "Ten years ago, the problem is where to eat. Now there are more options," said Ms. Neuhold. "It helps improve the quality of gluten-free food. Customers are very demanding Italy - also celiacs".
In Turin, Italy Slow Food movement center, tourist information office in Piazza Castello offers a seven-page list of restaurants with gluten free options. We started just a few steps away at the local post Grom, people gelaterias chain based in Piedmont.
photo
Grom offers gluten-free gelato. Credit Annalisa Brambilla for The New York Times
When Jen got to the front of the long line, he hesitated to mention he wants a cup, not a cone, and asked if gelato is glutine senza apricot. Server busy eyebrows raised. In what is obviously a well trained ritual, he went to the back and wash your hands, then lifted apricot gelato steel tube to reveal another side - contaminated by crumbs cone - down. A spoon, carefully folded napkins clean, has been obtained from the tub in the back of the store is closed.
Grom (which has two branches in New York, plus standing in Central Park open in the summer) is the best case scenario, but we found that even the small gelaterias and the restaurant is not in the list of the AIC, the servers know their stuff. A list of materials that are always close at hand, and sometimes prominently displayed.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Indeed, Italy's obsession with quality ingredients work to benefit gluten-free travelers. At L'Archivolto, a restaurant specializing in Ovada prominent Piedmontese cuisine surprising our trip, server, Paola Padoan, almost offended when I asked in broken Italian how he knew so many gluten-free menu.
"What do you mean, how do I know?" He said. "There are many people with food allergies. It is important that we know what is in the food. We make everything - from meringues for pasta - in our kitchen, so of course I know what every single ingredient".
As Jen unfortunately eyeing tajarin L'Archivolto this, traditional Piedmontese egg noodles with butter salsiccia in raguù, Ms. Padoan asked whether gluten-free penne would be an acceptable substitute. It was.
photo
L'Archivolto Kitchen, a restaurant in Ovada that offers gluten-free pasta. Credit Annalisa Brambilla for The New York Times
Thanks to intense competition (and the state subsidies), the gluten-free alternative to a restaurant good enough to put out their next flagship wheat. M-Bun, "slow fast food" burger chain based in Turin, even serve beef patties are eating grass on the gluten-free bread (and on a separate tray, to avoid contamination) on request.
Some of the most valuable food that we had, however, take advantage of the many regional specialties that lend themselves naturally to a wheat-free diet, especially in northern Italy. "What most Americans do not know is that the pizza and pasta is a big part of the culture in Italy, but they are not everything," said Shauna Ahern, cooking gluten-free Washington State-based writer and blogger who teaches cooking classes in Italy several times each years.
Polenta, for example, for pasta in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northeast of Venice. In Turin, capital of Piedmont, we partied in farinata, grilled thick crepe made of chickpea flour. (Tuscans make something similar and called it cecina,. Just across the border in France it is known as socca) What is the Vercelli,, slightly damaged sunburned city is located in the middle of a seemingly endless acres of bright green rice paddies and risotto Italian capital. The menu includes many there take from satisfactory, gluten-free dishes - such as local specialty panissa, warm mix rice risotto, sausage and beans; and Borbone, a delicious mix of risotto, eggplant and smoked mozzarella.
At sunset, we passed the steep, vine covered valley to Agriturismo Latimida, a working farm a few miles from the spa town of Asti which I found on the AIC website. The owner has offered a gluten-free menu for 13 years, since her son was diagnosed with celiac at age 4.
As children goose chase in the yard outside, we sat under the arched-ceiling brick for a five-course meal. When the waiter (the owner's son, sneakers and T-shirts) issued a fresh rolls, still warm from the oven, Jen looked at them doubtfully. I tried one and honestly not sure if they have wheat or not. "Senza glutine?" I asked.
"Si, certo," he said with a shrug, retreated to the kitchen. Over the next two hours, we worked our way through five programs, including gluten-free noodles with zucchini from the garden outside, sweet pickled onions that melted in our mouths, and purple living mirtilli risotto, made with wild blueberries.
After each course, we looked at each other with a mixture of amazement and relief. "It nonvigilance," said Jen. "Knowing you can eat it, 100 percent, it was feeling really good."
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