Traveling Gluten-Free in France

France is a gastronomic wonderland. Estate wines, artisanal cheese, and freshly baked croissants are synonymous with French cuisine. But what if you’re gluten intolerant? All those glistening pastries, so perfectly sculpted and delicious, are off-limits, unless a serious case of gastrointestinal distress is part of your travel plans. So what’s a gluten-free traveler to do?

Luckily, it’s still possible to enjoy French cuisine sans gluten, and it all starts with knowing the less obvious places gluten may lurk — and where, surprisingly, it’s absent. And, as the number of travelers with gluten-free diets grows, it’s becoming easier to find gluten-free products and to communicate dietary needs in restaurants, groceries and cafes.

Two famous French menu items are naturally gluten-free: macarons and savory crepes. The crepes (called galettes de sarrasin) are made entirely of buckwheat flour. If you’re unsure of the presence of gluten in your meal, or want to request that gluten be held out, ask for the food “sans gluten,” as “gluten-free” is not a widely understood term.

Useful resources to prepare for your trip include Celiac Travel’s Gluten-Free Restaurant Card, The Gluten-Free Guide to France and Celiac.com’s page for traveling in France.

And as a sign of the growing community of gluten-free eaters within France, there’s an organization called Association Française Des Intolérants Au Gluten, whose website is a trove of resources for travelers.