Gluten Free Products in Thailand

Once I arrived I watched the open kitchen restaurants and street vendors to see how they cook and how their cleanliness was. My observations were:

• They use the same wok for every dish, so the chances of cross contact are high because they don’t clean between different dishes.
• When they were using oils, they looked and smelled super old. I concluded that it is unlikely that they change the oils and there would be a high chance of cross contamination there.
• They use soy sauce in many dishes, so beware.
• The Thai people are so friendly, and I found them to have a yes culture. Even if you ask them a question, they almost always say yes, even if they don’t understand you. This doesn’t translate well to discussing your eating challenges and finding out what products are in different meals.
• Thailand doesn’t have a large celiac population, so what can you expect. People don’t worry about things they don’t need to.
• Let me tell you a story from two vegan couples that we met when traveling. They both talked with the food provider to ensure that they weren’t consuming animal products and they were guaranteed that there were no specific animal products or by-products in what they were eating. Well, they consumed pork fat, egg and one had milk and these travellers did their best to give examples of what they couldn’t eat and got a ‘list’ of what was included in the meals.

My conclusion: Unless the restaurant has gluten free products on their menu, I am not going to chance it. My comfort threshold is very high, and so far, it doesn’t meet my standards. So, I take my food consumption in my hands and cooked for myself from Top Market and Tesco and bought fresh produce at street markets.