Mr D and I recently took a trip to Burgundy in France to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I was looking forward to a week of walking, cycling, reading with plenty of delicious food and seriously good red wine from the region. Since Mr D and I were staying in a gîte we had to get quite acquainted with supermarkets and gluten free shopping in France. I absolutely love exploring supermarkets on our travels abroad so I was very much looking forward to exploring the gluten free breads and cakes in French supermarkets.
The gorgeous Burgundy village in which we were staying had 2 supermarkets which were of a similar size, an Intermarché and an ATAC. Having tried both we preferred the Intermarché but that was not food driven: The wine section was better in the Intermarché!
Both supermarkets had gluten free sections. In the Intermarché the section was larger:
In the ATAC supermarket the gluten free goods were in an aisle with other free from goods. The gluten free items are those in blue packets on the left hand side:
We went into bustling Dijon and came across this Le Marché Bio supermarket. They had a good range of both French and international gluten free brands.
The Dijon Bio store did have it’s own gluten free section but I found some of the goods on offer quite pricey. For example I paid EUR 7 for a loaf of long life bread.
Most of the products I found in France were gluten free versions of biscuits, cakes and pasta. There were several varieties of flour and ready to bake bread mixes which might be useful to know if you wanted to bake your own bread while on holiday (hmmm well you might!). Although if you are self catering, I think you would want to bring your own loaf tins and other gluten free baking ingredients.
Some French gluten free products I bought:
These were meant to be for breakfast to get over not being able to have a pain au chocolat but I didn’t like them very much. They tasted to me like they were full of additives:
Now these I did like!
I bought some great gluten free Madeleines the last time I was in Italy and one of these is a perfect breakfast with a good coffee. The taste of these Madeleines was good, but not as good as the ones I bought in Italy.
What I found really surprising about shopping for allergies and intolerances in France is that the labelling of food items in France is very inconsistent. Some items (notably those which are explicitly marketed as gluten free) have clear labelling on them which can be seen in the photos above and this example from the Madeleines:
Wiso Sans Gluten is a new-ish brand of gluten free bread which is available in supermarkets in France and Belgium.
Make sure when you are looking for Wiso Sans Gluten bread and cakes in French supermarkets that you look both in the gluten free supermarket aisle and the regular aisle as these gluten free products are not always segregated.
The EU regulations on gluten free labelling which came in to effect in 2012 mean that the top 14 allergens should be labelled on all products, just as they are in the UK and in the rest of Europe.
It is possible to shop and eat gluten free in France although it’s not as Coeliac friendly as other European nations. Whilst Paris has many excellent gluten free restaurants and bakeries (I have added some links below), outside of Paris, the their is less gluten free knowledge across the rest of France.
In my view the gluten free sector is much more developed in the UK than in France and so the products available in France are not as sophisticated as those we find in the UK.
Many of the items I saw in France were fairly synthetic and certainly none of the higher quality gluten free brands we see in the UK, or Italy for that matter. Do look out for Genius products while in France; they have gluten free croissants or baguettes!
My essential tips for gluten free food shopping in France:
- Gluten free goods are available in French supermarkets but the variety and quality of the range may not be the same as available in the UK
- Seek out health stores, such as the Bio chain which sells brands including Schär as well as French gluten free goods. Other health food stores include Naturalia and La Vie Claire
- For negotiating ingredients on labels where allergy information may not be explicitly stated, use the French version of these excellent Allergy wordlists.
- When purchasing items in stores (e.g., the delicastessen), use these Coeliac Travel language cards in French
- Check out the website for the French Assocatiation of Gluten Intolerants. Details of gluten free food manufacturers are in the left hand menu.
Most importantly enjoy all of the wonderful naturally gluten free food and wine which France offers!
Thanks for this. Great tips and will come in handy next time I visit France. not sure when that will be. It could be for a weekend when I am in the UK in March.
Looking forward to sitting down and reading your adventures. We’ve had such a hard time in Mexico (no gluten, no dairy, no meat, sigh).
Hello! Sorry to hear you had a hard time in Mexico food-wise. Whereabouts were you? I spent a summer in Mexico while I was at University, loved the country!
Thank you for the advice on buying GF in France. In Bordeaux at present time unable to find anything GF in shops. Mercure hotel although advised when booking won’t supply anything and we have obviously been looking in the wrong shops.
Julian
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Did you manage to find any gluten free foods in Bordeaux? Hope that you had a wonderful trip.
Hi,
As a celiac living in France I always order my gluten free food from the UK using this wonderful website:
https://boxfromuk.co.uk/collections/gluten-free
I recommend this service to all gluten free food enthusiasts as they have greatest selection
Author
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing this link. What’s your perspective on living gluten free in France, as a coeliac resident there, would you say you see some improvements? As a frequent visitor I see great improvements in restaurant options in Paris but there’s still a long way to go outside of Paris….I quite like the Carrefour own brand of gluten free goods but the quality of ingredients is not ideal and lots of sweet things (i’d prefer more savoury options).