Trying to book a holiday for gluten free vegan family!

[RockpoolGirl]

Hi all!

Trying to organise a holiday for us all but struggling. Me and the kids don’t eat meat and can’t have dairy or gluten due to allergies.

I’m wracking my brains thinking how this can work without a mountain of hassle abroad.

Any suggestions or ideas?

Just book self catering & eat in/go to restaurants with options, although tbh I’d imagine most all inclusives will need to cater for all diets too, I don’t see it being much of an issue.

can’t have dairy or gluten due to allergies

Diagnosed by whom?

Maybe best to self cater and I'm not normally a fan of that option.

Self cater.
Expecting an hotel to cater for you isn’t reasonable.

@ifailed allergy specialist at hospital

What do you normally eat on any given day?

Italy is very good with gluten and coeliac issues - surprisingly!

@MrsSkylerWhite

Self cater. Expecting an hotel to cater for you isn’t reasonable.

Virtually all hotels will have vegetarian, gluten free or dairy free meals, it’s hardly that unusual.

Where are you looking at going on holiday OP?

Virtually all hotels will have vegetarian, gluten free or dairy free meals, it’s hardly that unusua”

Not vegetarian, vegan. As you say, “or”. Catering for an entire family with all of those requirements for every meal for an entire week or more is very difficult.

www.alternativetravelers.com/vegan-hotels-spain/

www.veggie-hotels.com/467-1-Vegetarian-and-vegan-travel-in-Italy.html

Perhaps if you go somewhere that's already strictly vegan / veggie then the gluten thing will seem easier as you'll only be asking one thing?

We always did self catering when my DS had CMPA - easier to monitor ingredients of foods etc.

Greek/Mediterranean locations. Lots of big fresh salads and fruits, Dolmades (rice stuffed grape leaves), chickpeas, fava beans. There are lots of traditional/popular dishes that would be a fit to vegan, gluten and dairy free menus.

S/c but most hotels will be able to deal with requirements

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.livekindly.co/8-vegan-family-vacations/amp/

Even if hotels do have vegan and gluten free options on their menus, they will be very limited.

Surely the only thing is to go self catering?

Dd is vegetarian and coeliac but also has a dairy intolerance (diagnosed by gastro consultant) and yes while places may cater for coeliacs, vegetarian, vegans it’s actually a bloody nightmare trying to get someone to cater for it all together.

For instance you can NOT book a vegetarian gluten free meal on any long haul flight I’ve ever been on. You ring them up and try to convince them that’s what you need and they promise it’ll be sorted. And the gluten free meal has chicken and the vegetarian one had pasta! So neither suitable.

Similar in a lot of restaurants and in hotels. I’d agree that self catering would be better.

@LawnFever actually yes lots of places have gluten/dairy free or vegetarian options but not many can offer much choice if you want both in the same meal. My DH booked me a birthday meal once and was assured that there were options for every diet. However when we got there there was nothing that was both gluten free and vegetarian so they had to make something bespoke for me.

OP self catering would give you most choice but also as @JassyRadlett said I found Italy surprisingly accommodating for coeliacs with gluten free pasta and pizza available in most places.

Lots of posters saying vegetarian.

That’s very different from vegan,

I also third Italy! We went with Neillson and the hotel was brilliant at feeding DD (who was always hungry due to taking part in sailing, windsurfing, swimming, SUPing etc all day every day.
She learnt quite a bit of Italian, mainly for "without gluten", "without milk" etc etc.
She does it meat though...so I'm not sure how you'd do for protein?

Personal choice but we self cater when abroad with allergies as can't trust caterers and wouldn't be able to relax

@MrsSkylerWhite

Lots of posters saying vegetarian.

That’s very different from vegan,

Most places cater for vegan diet now too, it would be helpful if the OP gave some indication of where in the world she’s looking to go.

Self catering is always an option anyway.

Go self-catering. I don't agree most places cater for gluten free vegans. And even if they say they do how can you be sure.

Asia? Both India and SE Asia would have vegan and very little dairy. I'd think both could accommodate gluten as well.

@A580Hojas

Even if hotels do have vegan and gluten free options on their menus, they will be very limited.

Surely the only thing is to go self catering?

Surely most people don’t eat every meal in the hotel even if they stay there on holiday?

Even when we go all inclusive we never eat every single meal in the hotel.

Italy - dh is a veggie & I am gluten free we went on a train tour - the only place that was difficult was a rather lush hotel in Turin I landed up with sliced tomato & a slice of cheese
& Spain is rather good too