These are our experiences about how to travel gluten free in South Africa and Swaziland (Eswatini). Eswatini is the current name for the country Swaziland. But as most travellers are more familiar with Swaziland, we use that name. Read our full itinerary and travel stories from a 15-day road trip here.
Read more about celiac disease and how it affects T here.
South Africa and Swaziland are not the easiest countries to travel with celiac disease, but it helps a lot of you if you like meat in your diet.
Restaurants don’t use much processed ingredient or additives, so dishes that would logically be gluten free or also in fact often gluten free.
There is not knowledge or understanding of gluten and celiac disease in all restaurant, so in some places we made the judgement ourselves that there was little risk. It was difficult for us to judge how well the restaurant kitchens handle the separation of dishes with and without gluten, but during our 15-day trip, Tobias was not ill from gluten.
We had brought gluten free bread and biscuits from home, and T often had that for breakfast, in combination with what was on the buffet at the hotel we stayed at. Hotels often also offered eggs.
For lunch and dinner, T had a lot of pap, a South African dish made of corn and similar to mashed potatoes. He also had lots of meat and potatoes.
These were our experiences about how to travel gluten free in South Africa and Swaziland. What is your experience? Please leave a comment below!