Gluten Free Paris – Paris Sans Gluten

Twenty years ago it was difficult to follow any special diet while dining out in Paris. Vegetarians were routinely served a trio of wilted vegetables scavenged from the kitchen and a request for two entrées (appetizers) instead of an entrée and a plat would raise eyebrows and elicit snarky comments such as, Il y a toujours un(e) difficile, There’s always a difficult one. Needless to say, substitutions required a preliminary and extensive charm offensive. 

For a variety of health reasons, the number of people avoiding gluten is ever increasing. While bread and pastries are revered, French cuisine is more than baguettes and pains au chocolat. Surprisingly, it is not as difficult as you’d think to maintain a gluten-free diet in France. Even before the businessman-friendly méthode Montignac burst onto the Parisian restaurant scene in 1986, heralding the beginning of low-carb mania in France, it was relatively easy to enjoy a traditional French meal sans gluten. 

© www.irbms.com

Begin a meal with a traditional plateaux de fruits de mer (oyster and shellfish platter), a salade niçoise, or a salade folle au foie gras. A ‘crazy’ salad almost always includes foie gras and is often paired with gésiers, duck gizzards. The addition of luxury items such as foie gras, homard, lobster, or langoustines is what makes this salad crazy. For the main course, steak frites, magret de canard or confit de canard (magret and confit are both made with the duck that provides the foie gras and has been raised on a diet of corn). 

Chickpea Flour Socca and Beer in Antibes

© 2013 Liam Bang

 

Half of the meals on the Marie Telling’s list of 44 Classic French meals you need to try before you die are unequivocally gluten free, including classics such as Moules Marinières, steamed mussels, Hachis Parmentier, shepherd’s pie with mashed potatoes, Steak Tartare, Pot au Feu, a beef and vegetable soup/stew without thickeners, Poulet Basquaise, chicken with tomatoes and peppers from the Basque region, and Escargots, garlicky snails. If you order Cassoulet, the signature duck and bean stew of the Southwest, in a restaurant request it sans chapelure, without the fine breadcrumbs that are traditionally scattered on top and grilled before serving. Boeuf Bourguignon, Blanquette de Veau and Navarin d’agneau, veal and lamb stews in cream sauce will have small amounts of flour for the sauces. If you make these dishes at home, it’s easy to substitute. You can even enjoy savory crêpes from Brittany, Galettes Bretonnes, traditionally made with buckwheat flour. You can also request that your sweet crêpe be made with a Galette Bretonne. Just make sure that it’s made with 100% blé de Sarrasin or blé noir. 

Dessert is a bit more complicated, but classic flourless French desserts fall into a few naturally gluten free categories.

Meringue-based -  Ile flottante, floating islands; Macarons; Mont Blanc, chestnut cream and meringue; Nougat; Meringue cookies.

Cream-based - Crème caramel, flan with caramel sauce; Crème brûlée, creamy custard with a burnt sugar topping; Fromage blanc, a fresh yogurt-like cheese often served with a coulis de framboise, a raspberry purée; les glaces, ice creams including sundaes such as a Café Liégeois with coffee ice cream, iced coffee and whipped cream.

Fruit-based – Delicious sorbets.

There are a couple of cafés offering exclusively gluten-free pastries, pasta and even beer.

Colorful Boulangerie Meringues

© 2013 K-Rae Nelson

The Biosphère Café, is located in the heart of the business district around boulevard Haussmann and is a perfect spot for a gluten-free lunch. Reservations are recommended.

Biosphère Café, 47 rue de Laborde, 8th, M: Saint Augustin or Miromesnil, Monday-Friday, Noon-6 p.m., Saturday, Noon-10 p.m. Tel. 01 42 93 45 58.

Helmut Newcake, is just off the Canal St. Martin, in a young and lively neighborhood. Daily lunch specials – salads, soups, quiche, pizza, pasta and risottos – are under 10 €. The Sunday Parisian brunch includes bread and jam, pancakes, smoked salmon and ham, salad, scrambled eggs, coffee, tea and juice for 24 €. Gluten-free desserts include lemon meringue pie, éclairs and cheesecake. There is also a small grocery store where you can stock up on gluten-free bread, crackers, pasta and beer.

If you’re here on a Sunday, you can also visit the gardens of the Saint Louis Hospital, one block north (entrance at 40 rue Bichat or 1 ave Claude Vellefaux, open to the public on Sundays from 11 a.m – 5 p.m.). The hospital was founded by Henri IV at the very beginning of the seventeenth century. Located outside of the city center at the time, victims of the plague and other contagious illnesses were sent here.

Helmut Newcake, 36 rue Bichat, 10^th, M: Goncourt & République, Monday-Saturday, Noon-7:30 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tel. 09 82 59 00 39.

If you’re looking for a natural foods store, you’re sure to run into a Naturalia. You can find freshly baked gluten-free bread and pastries as well as a selection of pre-packaged gluten-free bakery items at one of their approximately 40 shops in central Paris.