Gluten Free Traveling in Japan

Next month I'm headed back to Japan for a short trip with my family.  It will be my daughter's first time to see this country she's heard so much about.  At six years of age, she's already such a Japanophile.  She's been known to tell people that she's Japanese as she used to live there in her mummy's tummy.

Since moving back to Australia, wow, seven years ago, I have been diagnosed as being coeliac and so has my daughter.  Eating gluten free in Japan wasn't something I had to think about too much when I lived there except for when my mother (also coeliac) came to visit.  I have been back three times for holidays since diagnosis and learn more each time I go.  Here's what I've learnt, in hopes to help anyone else traveling over there...

Preparation
Let's face it, being coeliac we've become the kings and queens of preparation and research before we go anywhere, if we want to eat without getting sick that is.  Japan can be a challenge in terms of eating gluten free and as a previous lover of all food Japanese I miss being able to just walk into a restaurant and get my favourite grilled eel or tempura prawns on udon.  That being said, there is so much more about the country to enjoy that I wouldn't for a second let a sensitive gut stop me from going.

Gluten Free Card in Japanese
I found this card invaluable.  I would use it at convenience stores, at supermarkets and at restaurants.  Wait staff would take it in to show the chef who would then let me know what, if anything was suitable and cook it up especially for me.  For Japan, the most common source of gluten will be the soy sauce that many dishes are cooked with.  For that reason, I chose to use a card from Select Wisely but if you do a web search there are other ones available as well.

Pack Snacks
To be honest, when I'm traveling over there for a few weeks I don't want to be spending valuable temple tramping and fabric shopping time on trying to find something to eat.  I always take over a lot of snacks that I can keep in my bag.  I usually take muesli bars, nuts (of course you can buy nuts over there, but if I take my own I know I don't have to worry about checking for extra ingredients or cross contamination), cereal, this trip I'm going to pack single serves of flavoured tuna, biscuits and rice crackers.  Oh, and packing your own gluten free soy sauce is a great idea too!

Book your accommodation
You've got to have somewhere to sleep of course, but I spend a lot of extra time choosing my hotels.  For the most part, I have found travel a lot easier by basing myself in one city (Nagoya for me as it's close to friends and in the middle of the main island), ordering a JR rail pass so I can travel on the Shinkansen as much as I like and booking an apartment with a full kitchen.  Sometimes these apartments are only available if you're staying for at least a week.  Booking through AirBNB is another option.  Otherwise I try to book a hotel room that at least has a microwave and a small cooktop.  When I have a kitchen I have a lot more freedom.  I go to a local supermarket and buy fresh ingredients so I still get to enjoy the local flavours but know that it has been safely prepared.  I often will also make up a Japanese "bento" box for lunch so then I only need to worry about eating out for dinner.  

The other option is to stay in a place that caters for westerners.  This trip we're staying in a hotel in Tokyo for a couple of days that has a large buffet breakfast with lots of fruit and will also cook up fresh omelets for us each day.  One place I stayed in, a Japanese business hotel, cooked me boiled eggs served with salad and tea every morning.  Or, on the flipside, if you stay in a traditional Ryokan, your host might be willing to prepare a dish of rice, pickles and grilled fish (without soy sauce) for your breakfast.  Yum!

Convenience Stores and Supermarkets
Your local 7-11 or any other of the convenience stores found on so many of the street corners in Japan can be a source for gluten free food.  Many of them sell pre-boiled eggs (choose the ones with the shells still on them) which became a standard breakfast on one of my visits.  They also have pre-cooked rice that they'll heat up for you, and salads with the dressing packed separately (don't use the dressing).  Some of the rice balls are gluten free, if in doubt check with the staff using your coeliac card.

At the supermarket, as well as fresh fruit and ingredients to cook with, there will be some pre-prepared food.  There you can usually find sushi, grilled fish and sashimi.

Another option, especially if you're in a large city, is to find a foreign food store.  There they will have foods from around the world and depending on where they originate from, there will be an ingredients list in English.  I usually go here to top up on snacks.

Japanese Foods to Eat
Sushi
Sushi becomes my staple diet while I'm in Japan.  Not all sushi is gluten free though. Check with the sushi bar first that they aren't using sushi vinegar that contains wheat.  I also check on the mayonnaise and the wasabi.  Most places the soy sauce will be a no-go, but if you're in a high-end sushi bar they may actually use a wheat-free tamari sauce instead so you can check if you like.  Then check with the staff (again, whip out that card of yours again), to check which ones are ok.  If you stick with the prawns (ebi) and sashimi ones you shouldn't have a problem.  Even if you're in a sushi train type environment, you can often get them to make it especially for you.

Yaki Niku
Also known in Japan as "Korean BBQ".  This can be a bit of a splurge but is so delicious. You will be given a menu of raw meat to choose from and to be honest, they all look the same.  You can also order plates of vegetables.  Here though, make sure that you ask for no marinade, no sauce and just salt and pepper only.  Then they bring the raw food out to you and you cook on your own grill.

Buckwheat Soba
Just be careful to check that it is a 100% buckwheat noodle and that it isn't served up with soy sauce.

Yaki Tori
This is delicious char-grilled chicken on a stick and you can order it with just salt (no marinade).  Be careful though, it may be cooked on the same grill with other gluten-containing foods so there is a higher chance of cross-contamination.  

Daifuku
A traditional rice cake sweet with a marshmallow-like consistency.  It's filling often contains red beans but my favourite during strawberry season comes filled with the sweet.  Be careful to check that it isn't the version with sponge cake and get someone to help you check the ingredients.  I found some use wheat starch, some don't but if you find the right one and you have a sweet tooth, these are heavenly!

Kyoto's Yatsuhashi
You'll find these all over Kyoto and especially in souvenir stores at Kyoto station.  They are a traditional sweet made from rice flour, sugar and cinnamon.  They come in two versions - "Nama Yatsuhashi" (raw) which will be a in a triangular shape with a filling (often bean paste, but check ingredients as newer versions may not have a gf filling) and the cooked version is a little, hard biscuit with a curve to it.

Places to Eat
Outback Steakhouse
This is an "Australian themed" steakhouse and found in a number of places in Japan.  It's my go-to place to eat in Nagoya.  The staff usually speak good English and I can get a steak and vegetables gluten free.

Tony Romas
Another western restaurant with locations around Japan where I've always been able to get a delicious gluten free meal made for me.  It's my go-to place in Kyoto. 

Japan Crepe in Harajyuku (Tokyo)
I haven't actually been here yet, never knowing the countless times that I passed it that their crepes are gluten free.  This one is booked in for my trip next month.

McDonalds
If you get desperate, McDonalds is a fall back.  In most outlets the fries are cooked in their own oil (check first though) and you can get a meat patty on its own.  Be aware though that often in Japanese culture they don't like veering from the menu so I had a bit of explaining to do and one store was happy to do it while another one I could only get the fries.

Indian
As most Indian curries are naturally gluten-free I've found this can be an easy place to eat out.  Just explain (often here English is better than Japanese) your dietary needs and they will be most accommodating.

Family Restaurants
Dotted all around the country, they often have basics on the menu so check to see if the cook is willing to make something gluten free for you.

Coco Ichiban
This is a Japanese curry chain resturant that is dotted all over the country, I'm told they have menus in English and now have an allergy free curry.  You can read more about it here.

Little Bird Gluten Free Cafe - Tokyo
I haven't tried it but would like to on this trip.  You can find out more about them here.


Things to watch out for

Mugi-cha
This tea is not to be confused with green tea, as it looks similar.  Mugi-cha is made from barley so to be avoided.

Sembei
Ahhh... rice cakes.  You'd think they'd be an easy option right?  Sadly no.  Many of them had soy sauce in their glaze.  There certainly are some gluten free ones but you have to search a bit and don't assume that they naturally will be.

Mixed Rice "Healthy Rice"
When I was last living in Japan, "healthy rice" was a bit of a fashion.  It actually contains barley grains, so stick to plain white rice.

Helpful Blogs
Celiac Travel has a great post including the Kanji for gluten-containing ingredients here.

Legal Nomads has a comprehensive guide on eating gluten free in Japan including a list of restaurants that I'm going to enjoy testing on my upcoming trip here.

Ctrl Alt Eat has a lovely read on gluten free eating in Japan here.

If you've traveled to Japan and eaten gluten free, I'd love to hear your tips and favourite places to go.  I will try to update this post after my next visit too and add in anything I new I have discovered.  Happy travelling!

Coeliac

This is a blog post I have umm-ed and ahh-ed about writing for quite a while now, and to be honest still feel a little funny about.  It's not my usual craft-based post and certainly not where this blog will be going.  It is one however, that is really important to myself and my family and I'd like to write in case it helps even a single person.  After some encouragement from friends and an (online) conversation with this wonderful woman about coeliac disease and the responsibility of having a voice in the blogworld, here it is.

Photo source

I'm coeliac (or celiac for the American readers), as is my mum and my little one.  As The Man is wheat/gluten intolerant post-chemo, we are a completely gluten-free household.  Other when buying something new at the supermarket, at home we don't really think about it too much, it's just how we eat.  Often when we go out, we have places that we frequent because we know that we can get "safe" food.  My close friends are all very understanding about our dietary requirements so there is no stress there either.  So for the most part we forget that it can be an issue.

But leaving our little bubble to explore new places to eat or travel, it becomes apparent that not everyone "gets" it.  I think there is sometimes a view that when having to ask questions about ingredients and cooking methods we are being fussy, and this is the bit I feel funny about, wanting to explain why we're not just being picky or difficult.

I've had waiters huff at me and newly met people scoff at my choosing a restaurant based on their gluten free offerings - (even to the point of being told "why would you want to eat there, there is much better (non-gluten-free) pasta places in Melbourne") and on a number of occasions have been served so called gluten-free food which has been contaminated with gluten.

Coeliac disease isn't an allergy.  It may appear a bit like one, but it's actually an autoimmune disease.  Simply put, exposure to gluten causes damage to our small intestine which then leads to a range of symptoms and health problems.  While the intestine is damaged essential nutrients can't be absorbed properly and implications include anemia, higher risk of osteoporosis, infertility and miscarriage, liver disease, depression and an increased risk of certain lymphomas.  In children it can cause lack of development, shortness and behavioural problems.  Not to mention, if you're symptomatic, you feel downright awful.  For me, when I'm exposed to gluten, I have, umm, shall we say, digestive issues, I'm exhausted and get really painful mouth ulcers.  Damage from a single exposure can take a couple of weeks to heal and for symptoms to clear.

Luckily, the treatment is seemingly simple, a strict gluten-free diet.  For most people, what comes to mind is staying away from bread, pasta, cakes, that sort of thing.  But gluten is hidden in so much more.  In the supermarket there are entire aisles that we never even bother going down anymore, with gluten being in almost everything down there.  It's often in sauces, in cereals, chocolates and icecreams, gluten-containing ingredients are often used as thickeners in so many foods and I've even been caught out by drinking a green tea that had gluten in the colouring.  Unless something is clearly labelled "gluten free" a coeliac needs to go through every ingredient on the packet on everything they buy, as it is in so much more than wheat.  I carry a gluten-free ingredients list in my handbag, as well as have an app on my phone to help me decipher what I read.  Coeliacs are also advised not to eat anything with the claim "may contain traces of gluten".  That "trace" is enough to make us sick.

For the little one, we also have to consider gluten in things that she plays with.  I make gluten-free play dough for her and ensure that any paints or glues that she uses are also safe.  Even though she's not going to eat (well hopefully she won't...) the glue or paint, while she's creating, things get on her hands, her hands touch her mouth.... we've had some slip ups and she's ended up sick and with night terrors for a week, just because of a little paint.

When eating out, for a coeliac, it's not just the ingredients that needs to be questioned, but also the food preparation and cooking methods.  You see, if you have coeliac disease, it only takes about the equivalent of a crumb of gluten to cause damage.  If the gluten free food has been prepared on the same board / cut with the same knife / cooked in the same pan / toasted in the same toaster / cooked in the same oil / served with the same tongs as a gluten containing food, gluten contamination can occur and make us sick.  Potato chips/fries that are cooked in the same oil as any (non-gluten-free) crumbed food are not gluten free.

Being an autoimmune condition, the story for many coeliacs doesn't end there.  Autoimmune conditions like to hang out together so if you have one, it's quite common to have another or a few.  For me, it's a thyroid condition that I'm required to take a little tablet everyday for the rest of my life.  Just a little tablet, but.... if I'm exposed to gluten, the damage to my gut means that I don't absorb my medication properly so within a day or so I'm hit with a double dose of fatigue, pins and needles in my hands, feet and face, painful arthritis and my hair starts to fall out.  On top of all that lot of us are also hit with some, or a whole gamut of food allergies or intolerances.

There are some people that are intolerant to gluten or choose to avoid it as a lifestyle choice who don't have to be so strict about the food.  But please, next time someone around you asks about gluten in food, spare a thought, they may be coeliac and be asking for a serious reason.

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Some extra stuff...

A word of advice, one from my own experience, if you suspect you're coeliac, you must be eating gluten before testing.  If you're blood test is negative yet you're symptomatic (which can be as simple as having problems with low iron level), it's advisable to get an endoscopy to rule out coeliac disease or at least see a good gastroenterologist.  The blood test is not 100% accurate and it will also only detect 90% of coeliacs.  Very long story short, for this reason, I went undiagnosed for 27 years despite repeated blood tests.

This is a really useful site for information.

This is the app I use for checking gluten free ingredients in food.

I like this app for finding restaurants that serve gluten free food when I'm travelling.