Figuring out how to travel gluten free in Türkiye seemed easy, but we were challenged. Most restaurants have options that could have been gluten free, but were not. We used our gluten free restaurant card a lot, and staff was happy to help. Despite our efforts T had gluten once.
The itinerary of our road trip from Izmir to Cappadocia is here.
We always bring gluten free food from home. T had gluten free oats with fruit juice from supermarkets for breakfast in most of the hotels we stayed. We also brought many servings of Real Turmat dehydrated meals, that T used for lunches and dinners.
In restaurants we used the “Gluten free restaurant card” smartphone app to communicate what T needed. The staff often seemed not to know much about celiac disease, but were always happy to help. In one situation his plate came with a piece of bread, and we had to return it to the kitchen. Another place the plain rice had cerials added, and we had to return it.
T got sick in Göreme. We suspect it could have been corn bread from the hotel breakfast. Unfortunate, as the staff had prepared in advance with specific gluten free products, and also made it very clear which dishes from the buffet they believed were gluten free.
In Göreme several restaurants marked allergens on their menu, and here the staff was knowledgeable.
T had a lot of delicious meat stews with rice.
Google Lens is really good for translating, and handy in supermarkets when examining the ingredients list.
