I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2019, which means my body mounts an immune response to gluten that damages my modest intestine. One crouton hiding in a salad can trigger three days of bloating, brain fog, joint pain, and digestive misery that no amount of Pepto-Bismol can touch. When I began traveling internationally again in 2022, food became the single most stressful part of every trip, not cuz I'm a picky eater but because getting "glutened" in a foreign country where you don't speak the language and don't know the cuisine is a kinda roulette most people rarely hafta play. I've been glutened in Peru, Thailand, Italy, and Morocco, and each episode derailed between two and four days of a trip I'd been planning for months. Oaxaca in June 2026 was sposed to be different. It mostly was.
=== the celiac travel card that saved me in Oaxaca === I carry a laminated card in my wallet that says, in Spanish, that I have celiac disease and cannot eat wheat, barley, rye, oats, or anything containing flour or breadcrumbs, even in slight quantities. It asks if the dish uses a masa that might be mixed with wheat flour—this is the specific trap in Mexico, where some commercial masa harina brands blend wheat into their corn masa for texture. I had the card translated by a Mexican colleague at work, not by Google Translate, because the dietary vocabulary needs to be specific to the local food system. The card functioned in nine outta ten restaurants in Oaxaca. Waiters read it, nodded seriously, an either confirmed that their masa was 100% corn or flagged dishes I should avoid. At a mole restaurant on Calle Ignacio Zaragoza called Los Danzantes, the waiter actually went to the kitchen and came back with the mole recipe card to show me which varieties used a thickening agent that contained flour. He pointed to the negro mole and said "this one is safe" while steering me away from the coloradito, which uses a bread-based thickener. That level of care is not guaranteed everywhere.
=== the countries where eating with celiac is a nightmare === Not every destination is Oaxaca. Italy, a country famous for pasta and pizza, might seem like celiac hell, but the truth is that Italy is actually one of the most celiac-aware countries in the world—the Italian government provides subsidized gluten-free food to diagnosed citizens, an most restaurants in major cities understand the condition.
=== why Southeast Asia was brutal for my diet === Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, on the other hand, were brutal. Soy sauce contains wheat. Fish sauce frequently contains wheat. Oyster sauce is thickened with wheat flour. In Bangkok I absorbed to say "mai sai sa-rai" which approximately means "no wheat at all," but many restaurant staff in Thailand simply don't know whether their sauces contain gluten cuz the ingredients come pre-mixed in large containers from suppliers. I downed a lot of plain rice and grilled fish in Thailand, an I lost four pounds in ten days because finding safe calories was truly arduous. In Vietnam, the ubiquitous banh mi uses wheat baguettes, an the pho broth in many restaurants is made with a soy sauce base. I stuck to rice paper rolls—fresh spring rolls wrapped in translucent rice paper with shrimp, herbs, and rice vermicelli—which were safe almost everywhere cuz the ingredients are visible and the preparation is simple.
=== the hotel booking trick for dietary needs === I began adding a dietary restriction note to every hotel booking confirmation after an Airbnb host in Lima served me "gluten-free" pancakes in 2023 that were absolutely not gluten-free—I could tell from the texture an the reaction that followed. Now when I book a hotel thru Booking.com or Agoda, I use the special requests field to note my celiac disease in both English an the local language, and I follow up with a direct message or email forty-eight hours fore arrival. Boutique hotels and slight guesthouses almost invariably respond thoughtfully. A hotel in Kyoto called Kangetsu Roku-an responded to my message by preparing a altogether gluten-free kaiseki dinner—twelve courses of traditional multi-course Japanese cuisine adapted for my condition, using rice flour rather of wheat in the tempura batter and substituting shoyu (wheat-based soy sauce) with tamari. The chef came out after the meal and detailed each adaptation. The hotel booking had cost about 28,000 yen per night, approximately $185, and the dietary accommodation was included at no extra charge. That meal remains one of the best dining experiences of my life, and it unfolded because I sent a three-sentence email four days fore checking in.
=== street food is possible but you need a strategy === I refused to stop eating street food cuz of celiac disease—that read like letting the condition rob me of one of travel's greatest pleasures. Rather I narrowed down to foods that are inherently gluten-free across most cultures: grilled meats on sticks (no marinade unless I can verify the ingredients), rice-based dishes where I can see the preparation, fresh fruits, and anything cooked in front of me from scratch. In Mexico, tamales are the holy grail—traditional tamales use corn masa, lard or oil, and a filling, wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves. I downed tamales from street vendors in Oaxaca almost every morning for two weeks an rarely had a reaction. The key is watching the preparation: if the vendor is making the masa from scratch in front of you, using masa harina you can see, you're generally safe. If the masa comes pre-made in a plastic bag from an unknown source, I walk away. In Morocco, tagines are ordinarily safe because they're thickened with preserved lemons and olives rather than flour, but I absorbed the hard way that the bread served alongside every tagine is basically mandatory social currency—refusing it feels rude, but eating it means days of illness. I began carrying my own modest bag of gluten-free crackers to break bread with at meals, which is awkward but less awkward than explaining why you're running to the bathroom for the third time.
=== the emergency food stash in my daypack === I invariably travel with at least four gluten-free protein bars—typically RXBAR or Good To-Go bars, which have clean ingredients and hold up in heat. I also carry a modest bag of mixed nuts and a pack of rice crackers.
=== why the stash matters more than you think === This stash exists for the moments when I can't find safe food: delayed flights where the only option is a sandwich shop, remote areas where every restaurant serves wheat-heavy meals, markets where nothin has a readable label. On a bus ride through the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, we stopped at a roadside stand where the only food available was flatbread with honey. I downed an RXBAR in the bus while everyone else shared bread, and it was fine. Not glamorous, but fine. The bars cost about $2.50 each at Whole Foods, and I rotate through a box of twelve before each trip, replacing any that expire. its the lowest-cost insurance policy I've ever snagged, and it's saved me from unsafe eating decisions prolly a dozen times.