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Hi List Mates!!!


I am writing because of the posting "Airline Food & Portugal".  Where Sheila
indicated a bad experience as a CD in Portugal.

Well, if you never had been in Portugal. Go there!!! Do not be afraid!!! The
landscape is magnificent, the monuments are fantastic, the people is nice.
well, very very nice :o). and the gastronomy? It is superb!!! And the
Atlantic. oh, is fabulous!!! It is a Paradise for the tourists and not the
hell for CD!!!

In plenty of countries, including Portugal, for numerous reasons, the
ingredients (or some of them) are not listed in the products; the people are
not informed about CD and its complications. And it is not given a lot of
support to the PWCD (People With Celiac Disease). In some countries is
easier be a CD than in others. in Portugal is necessary to know how to
facilitate our life (or period of time, for example as a tourist) as a CD
without having problems.

In Portugal, the word gluten says anything to almost the people!!! But if
you say you are not able to eat any kind of flour (farinha, Portuguese
translation); that means no bread, no cakes, no cookies, no to some
chocolates, no to some national Portuguese products. the face of the person
change completely. you have to try it!!! ;o) Portuguese people love to hear
and to talk. If you tell your story of being a celiac, explain what celiac
is, the complications when you eat gluten (here if you exaggerate is the
best for Portuguese people take good care of you!!! Besides the normal
complications, if you say that exist the possibility of having cancer or to
die in the case you eat a little something with flour or derivate of it. I
do not guarantee it is 100% safe, but is close to it. Do not forget to
indicate possible sources of contamination!!!!).

In Portugal, for me the safest is to eat at home or at 1 or 2 restaurants
where I trust the cocker. But, when that is impossible and/or when I have no
time I order the components of the meal: soup (not all the soups are safe,
because plenty of them have different kinds of pasta, the more usual are
called "pevide" or "massinha" in Portuguese); rice or boiled potatoes, you
can join to the potatoes the olive oil, vinegar (from grapes or lemon), salt
and pepper (usually they come to the table and you join the quantity you
prefer); meat or fish (is easy find fresh fish, which is very good), boiled
or "barbecue"; salad of vegetables without condiments, I ask the
 "galheteiro" (is an interesting utensil where you can find a little bottle
with olive oil,  other with vinegar, and 2 little things, one with salt and
another with pepper ) and I do my own sauce to the salad; as a dessert you
may eat an ice cream from the trademark CAMY (is the best for CD, but do not
forget to read the ingredients), fruit or fruit salad, pure marmalade, some
cheeses. and other desserts if you ask what you can have as a CD. Drink
water, natural juice or taste the Portuguese Wine. Do not forget to taste
the Port Wine (Vinho do Porto) and the Madeira Wine (Vinho Madeira). Never
eat the entries, unless they are olives or ham; never eat fries or French
Pommes Frites; never eat something you or other person have not sure it is
gluten free. The coffee you drink in Portugal is fantastic, but it is not
safe take it everywhere I advice you to drink it at specialized houses of
coffee.


Regards,
Sonia