Italian FODMAP Friendly Fun

Italy.  Of all the countries, in the entire world, we had to choose that one.  A place with national dishes comprising every major FODMAP.

I wasn’t expecting it to be easy – we’d booked a self-catering apartment and packed rice milk in anticipation of the hell that was sure to ensue, but it never did.

Italy is very allergy aware.  It’s easy once you’ve researched the area and got the hang of checking for ciprolle (onions), funghi (mushrooms), aglio (garlic),  and asking about ‘senza glutine’ and ‘senza lattioza’.

Most dishes are straightforward; the menu listings are the ingredients.  No packet sauces lurking in the background, no sweeteners or flavour enhancers waiting to trip you over with their FODMAP evilness.

When we did need to ask for allergen information every member of staff knew what we meant (even in our broken Italian), and could respond (often in two languages).  No faffing to find ‘the folder’, no needing to call the chef and no hunting down a manager.  No excruciatingly long queues building up behind your blushes.  Simple, accurate answers to allergen questions, provided immediately.

The approach to cross contamination was similarly refreshing.  Restaurateurs can undertake qualifications to show that they are gluten aware, and display the crossed grain symbol in a red emblem to show their status.  Great for coeliacs and IBS types who can’t handle even a smidge of gluten/fructans.

We found a number of restaurants offering safe options.  Fish and meat dishes were often ok, as were gluten free pastas (but remember to limit your tomatoes!).  We used lactase enzyme to help us eat pizza (senza glutine for Mr FODMAP, but it was as good as my gluten-filled version) and gluten free tiramisu.

We found a number of locations selling ice cream (yes, chocolate ice cream!), that was dairy free, and some places even had gluten free cones.  The sorbets were all dairy and gluten free, but so filled with fresh fruit that intake had to be strictly limited.  We also found lovely granite (a kind of posh slush puppy) which was great, but sometimes had glucose-fructose syrup in it.

The supermarkets have well-stocked gluten free sections (including beers we’d never seen), low FODMAP pesto, non-dairy milks (darn that wasted suitcase space!), different flours, safe (ish) amaretti, and in some cases fresh GF low FODMAP pasta, which was gorgeous. Meat was remarkably cheap, and fruit and vegetables from the markets are cheap and largely organic.

We went to a couple of gluten free stores and were astounded by the range of products.  Each label required careful checking, as these items were less straightforward and simple, but we still came home with FODMAP cannelloni, cakes, gnocchi (with a choice of flours!) and specialities of the region.

Most items use rice or cornflour, Mr FODMAP is usually a bit wobbly with the latter, but his stomach seemed to thrive on it.  Even the expresso seemed to be ok, when at home coffee is always a no-no – I think sunshine and coffee just agree with him.

We were staying in a town called Como in the north of Italy.  You can find a map with the locations and descriptions of the FODMAP places we went to here:

The area is an hour or so from Milan, which also has amazing FODMAP feeding opportunities.  

Have you found any FODMAP gems on your travels?