<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
We had a great trip to Nova Scotia. We get less sick than some of you but
our only bad time was probably bulk rice at one of the stands at the
Festival. Otherwise Stan Fest provided some food we could eat (a fish cake
made specially for us and a kebab stand). We did bring 3 coolers of food
and enjoyed seafood restaurants. We just bring in our own bread products
and don't expect miracles. The only grocery store we stopped in was in a
small town and we found no gluten-free section. Our bread products were
starting to go after a week so for a longer trip we would have needed a
larger grocery store.
Nova Scotians were very friendly and helpful.
Our last dinner was in Old Orchard Beach in Maine and there were three
desserts we could eat!
Here are my responses
Ellie
New Hampshire
there's a chain of grocery stores called "superstore" and the ones that
are "market concept" (have market in name - like trinity market...) have
a natural food section that includes gluten-free foods, like breads
(kinnikinnik and a couple other brands), there's also nature's path
waffles, nature's path cereals, and a bunch of baking supplies, gf
goodies, and in the regular cereal aisle, there's one called "ancient
maize" and it's by president's choice (store brand/chain wide) white box
w/ orange-ish trim, and it's gf at regular cereal pricing :) :)
superstores can be found in the major centres, but also in many smaller
towns/communities, but not all are market concept, but just giving a
call to the store in question will get all questions answered as to
whether they are, and if not, who's the closest...
have fun!
I don't know whether you are planning to get close to Halifax
or stay out in the country. Here in Halifax there is a great natural food
store "Great Ocean's" (on Quinpool Road, its on the corner of Quinpool and
Beech). They have all kinds of gluten free stuff. Also, a couple
of months ago I noticed that Sobeys had gluten free waffles and
other gluten free bread-like products in their fridge in the health-food
section. (This was in the Sobeys of the Halifax shopping center annex.)
I haven't checked lately whether they still have them.
As for restaurants, I have found generally that people are very good
at making meals gluten free if you ask them (I would stay away from places
that don't look clean, because then I can't believe that anything gluten
free could come out of their kitchen). Only avoid the Chinese
restaurants. I have never been able to convince them to not use
soy sauce.
I don't live in Nova Scotia but am aware they have a very active Celiac
Group in Halifax, with branches in Yarmouth & in Sydney, Cape Breton. If
you don't get sufficient response to your query, you might send them a
message. Their website is http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/celiac.halifax/ &
includes a link to send email. Have a good trip! Aggi-Rose
You should contact the Halifax Chapter of the Canadian Celiac Assoc. -
contact info can be found at
<http://www.celiac.ca/>
The Atlantic Superstore chain carries gluten free bread, muffins, cookies,
bagels etc. in the Natural Value section.
I'm not sure what part of Nova Scotia you will be in but the stores in the
big centers will have a good selection.
El Peto Products, Kinnikinnick, Glutino, Glutano, and Schaar are all names
of gluten-free only vendors. The staff in the Natural Value sections are
generally very will informed about celiac disease.
My wife and I (I'm the one with CD) took a vacation in NS about two years
ago, flying in to Halifax from Santa Ana, California without any
reservations... but I had done some research on likely places to stay. We
are both in our early 70's and we like to just wander the countryside,
mostly avoiding the largest cities. We planned to stay in motels (or camp
cabins) with cooking facilities but eat out (mostly for lunches, but with
some dinners). It all worked out very well for us. We only covered the lower
half and just briefly dipped into Cape Breton and back out on the same day.
We plan to go back to see the upper half... but we won't make it this year
we're going to a 100th birthday party for an aunt who lives in Pocahontas,
Ark.
First thing you need is the Nova Scotia Guide for Doers and Dreamers
(available at <http://www.novascotia.com/> ) it has almost everything you'll
need to know to successfully travel around the province.
Nova Scotia is very GF friendly. I was astounded by the "SUPER-SUPER"
markets they have in some of the larger towns (Bridgewater comes to mind
because that was the first one we found) that are the size of about 3
football fields side by side. They each seem to have a whole separate aisle
(about 50 foot long) carrying nothing but GF products. If you ask at the
checkout counters, they will direct you to where the GF food is.
We stayed at lot's of lovely places (staying about 3 days at each). We
arrived at Halifax at about 9:30pm and just got a motel near the airport and
headed down the Lighthouse Route planning to stay either in Peggy's Cove (if
we could find a nice place there) or go on to Lunenburg. Peggy's Cove is
strictly a tourist trap... but worth a drive through and maybe a brief stop,
but full of bus tours on very little accommodations. In Lunenberg, we stayed
for 3 nights at the Topmast Motel ( <http://www.topmastmotel.com/> ) and the
view from the balcony outside our room (I believe room #15) was about what
you see in the opening picture of the website. We had a queen bed and a
kitchen.
We made side trips out daily, one day just seeing Lunenberg (which is like
seeing Germany). The Lunnenburg Academy is worth seeing. On another day we
went out to a country fair near New Germany and had a wonderful time and a
buffet lunch (I'm not too sensitive, so I just stick with the stuff that
shouldn't have gluten and check for gravy thickeners, and sauces). On the
final day in Lunenburg we drove south around Ovens Park and Bisser's Beach.
The next day we spent driving down the Lighthouse Route through Yarmouth and
up the Evangeline Trail all the way to Annapolis Royal. The Bay of Fundy
tides are not to be missed.
The remainder of the trip went similarly with every motel room or
cabin/cottage having a view of water. The people are great and the scenery
is beautiful. We even had the unique experience of going through the tail
end of a hurricane that brought a tidal surge in the middle of the night
that put water beneath the cottage we were in (it was raised up about 2-1/2
feet above the ground so we didn't get wet) and left a track of seaweed
showing where the high tide mark was.
Anyway, you'll enjoy NS and the people are quite knowledgeable about CD and
GF requirements. Restaurants are quite helpful, although we usually ate
salads without croutons for lunch. The lobster is fantastic !!!
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