Could a spanish speaking mum help me translate please

[kingprawntikka]

We are off to Spain on our hols soon and my son can't eat wheat or gluten. I can just about explain this in Spanish but we are eating at the hotel buffet on an evening. I think starters and main course will be pretty easy to work out but desserts will be more difficult. Could you please tell me how to ask the staff if they could please check to see if any of the desserts are ok for my son to eat. Thank you

Don't speak spanish but have a look at this link as I found it really useful for italian....it gives you some useful baby phrases in spanish....based on this you may be able to cobble together the spanish words for asking if the desserts and wheat/gluten free.

www.milupa-aptamil.co.uk/en/article.asp?chco_id=1337

Enjoy our hols

Hi there,
Por favor, mi hijo mi hijo no puede comer productos con gluten or "wheat" (sorry forgot the word in Spanish, too many years living in the uk)" Me puede decir si este producto/postre contiene gluten or "wheat"
"Postre" is desert in Spanish.
But be carefull, the waiting staff might not know if the products contein gluten or wheat. I don't know if the products must say if they contain gluten or wheat, and you must find the in restaurants menu don't offer this information, as I don't think they have the obligation of doing so.
I think now, you can find products in supermarkets for people who can't eat gluten, but I don't know if they are very common.
I hope you don't have any problems and you have a very good holiday in Spain, and hopefully someone will come and let you know how is wheat in Spanish.

This book looks useful: www.coeliac.co.uk/shop/301.asp?cat=1&product=96 - it could be that the staff won't understand where gluten can be found so I would think it would be safer to include a list of usual sources of gluten, eg, wheat, oats etc.

wheat is trigo according to the phrase book on the milupa website.

more stuff here: www.coeliac.co.uk/documents/spanish_feature.pdf

I have to agree about not letting other people decide whether wheat (or trigo) is in the desserts.

As you already know it is easy for people to miss up on simple things when they are not familiar with the precision some allergies or other health conditions may require. DS has been offered ice cream after we said he was allergic to milk, as they thought obviously that he was only allergic to milk and not to products prepared with it , and in Spain they are good at preparing all desserts in house which means there wouldn't be many labels around to read.

When we travel with DS, I take a glutten free chocolate cake packed in separate slices. I take one with me everytime we go out so we can stop at cafes and eat a pastry without DS feeling left out. Alternatively, was ask for fruit as a dessert.

Hello,
True that in Spain they are not obliged to advise the contents of the food, so you have to be extra careful and ask before you order.

An idea: you could let the reception staff know that your child is allergic so they can make a note when you check-in and alert the kitchen. You could also let them know the evening you are going to eat so they could tell you what the menu is going to be like so you are prepared. The reception staff will speak English, so it will not be a problem, the problem could be the "communication between departments" and how willing they would be to help you (it should not be much of a problem, trust me, I work in the industry).
You can tell them that your child is "celiaco" . Or you can tell them: "mi hijo es alergico y no puede comer gluten o trigo, ni tampoco leche. Tiene este postre algo de esto?". --> My son in allergic and he cannot eat gluten, wheat or milk. Does this dessert have any of this?

Hope this will help!. Good luck.

Oooops, sorry, got confussed with another post: forget about the bit when I wrote: "milk".
I also meant: "my son IS allergic...", cannot type properly this am...

Thank you so much everyone, for the useful advice and the spanish phrases. Much appreciated !

Hi there,
I have been in this type of holidays in spain and as a spanish, I am 90% sure that all cakes will contain wheat because there are all flour based.However I am 100% sure that you will have plenty of different type of fruit to choose from. So if i was you i will go for the healthy and safe choice of dessert.

Thank you for that info Madrilenya, i wasn't sure about cakes because i was wondering whether it may be like the cakes in Italy, where ground almonds are often used instead of flour.

YEs, there are but they have milk...

I have found that in pretty much any place except the US and UK, it is worth adding to whatever food allergy restrictions you give a waiter, a sentence about how you (or your child) will drop dead (be dramatic!) if they have even a touch of the stuff. It will make people take you seriously, as food allergies are not really always taken seriously in other countries.

That's not a bad idea Sofia! Dramatic but prob will achieve the right results
Especially when sometimes they ignore your request and just tell you what you want to hear and hope for the best [and that can even happen in the UK].

YEs, life threatenting allergies are unheard off in most countries so explain what will happen (actually, in the translation cards I use for DS I have the instructions for the waiter about the food DS can't have, on the reverse the translation for calling an ambulance and specifying what will happen if DS has a reaction)

That however, has not prevented a cook to hand DS a peanut cholocate bar when we has finished the food he warmed up for him, or for a cook to put butter in his meal thinking we wouldn't notice so... try the food, and in doubt don't eat it. (Hence why I inisist in keeping food simple and recognisable: grilled meats with boiled vegetables all the way through the holidays...)