Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

FOOD AND DRINK

How hard is it to eat gluten-free in Spain?

It can often be a challenge to move to another country or travel abroad when you have a gluten intolerance and it can be made even trickier if you don’t know the language. Here's what coeliacs need to know about living and travelling in Spain.

Published: 23 May 2024 09:59 CEST
gluten free spain
In big cities and towns it's easy to find gluten-free food at supermarkets and restaurants, although it tends to cost more. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

Studies indicate that around 0.7 percent of the EU population suffers from coeliac disease, but many cases go unreported. Many more people are gluten or wheat-intolerant rather than being classed as coeliac.

Luckily Spain is becoming more and more aware of different dietary needs and many people here suffer from the disease or are intolerant too.

The Federation of Celiac Associations of Spain (FACE) estimates that there are between 600,000 and 900,000 people who suffer from coeliac disease in the country.

Eating out

According to the Spanish tourist office Madrid, Barcelona and Asturias are the regions in Spain with the most restaurants serving gluten-free food. Many establishments in these places will list whether a dish contains gluten or not, with a wheat symbol, the letters gf or sg (sin gluten).

In fact, the Asturian village of Cangas del Narcea has been named as Spain’s first ever gluten-free destination, which also celebrates National Coeliac Day every year on May 27th. You can find out more about it here. 

Extremadura is also becoming a coeliac-friendly destination thanks to the Gluten-Free Extremadura project, which raises awareness and promotes establishments that have gluten-free menus.

Naked & Sated is a chain of gluten-free restaurants that have establishments in Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao, Málaga and Pozuelo de Alarcón. They serve gluten-free pizzas, burger buns, toast, cakes, and French galettes, among others.

The Association Coeliacs of Catalonia has a list of some of the best gluten-free restaurants in the region and The Association of Coeliacs of Madrid has the same. 

READ ALSO: ‘I pay €15 for a few potatoes’ – What it’s like being a vegetarian in Spain

Supermarkets

If you’re cooking for yourself, it’s very easy nowadays to find gluten-free food in the major supermarkets. National chains with good free-from sections include Mercadona, Carrefour, Alcampo and El Corte Inglés.

All these places sell everyday items such as gluten-free pasta, bread, pizza bases, crackers, biscuits, pastry, alternative flours and more.

The bad news is that gluten-free options in supermarkets are a lot more expensive than their wheat-based counterparts. The Federation of Coeliac Associations of Spain (FACE) prepared a ‘Price Report’ on specific gluten-free products and estimated that the difference in spending is an extra €1,087.72 per year.

The investigation also noted a significant increase in the price of gluten-free products of €167.57 when compared with 2023.

Spanish gluten-free food

Spaniards eat a lot of bread, that’s true, but when it comes to main dishes you’ll find that lots of Spanish food is naturally gluten-free anyway.

Paellas, meat and seafood stews, grilled fish, pisto (similar to ratatouille), and tortilla (Spanish omelette) are all made without gluten and the good news is that dishes rarely contain pastry – it’s more about the rice and the potatoes here. The main thing you’ll need to make sure is that the sauces aren’t thickened with flour.

A lot of tapas can be gluten-free too, including patatas bravas (potatoes with spicy tomato sauce) or aioli (garlic mayonnaise), pimientos de Padrón (fried green peppers), anchovies, ham and cheeses.

You can even eat a lot of the desserts that are not baked such as flan (like creme caramel), arroz con leche (rice pudding), ice cream and turrón (almond nougat). 

Some classic dishes you need to watch out for are gazpacho and salmorejo (cold tomato-based soups) which contain bread, and croquetas which have bechamel sauce and breadcrumbs.

Many beers are also gluten-free in Spain, simply ask for cerveza sin gluten when you order.

READ ALSO: The best vegan and vegetarian Spanish dishes

Vocabulary

While some people are intolerant to just wheat, others can’t eat anything containing any form of gluten, so it’s important to be aware of the vocab so you can ensure what you’re eating is safe for you.

The most important words and phrases to learn are sin gluten (gluten-free) Soy celiaco (I’m a ceoliac).

Wheat – Trigo
Barley – Cebada
Oats – Avena 
Rye – Centeno

Help for coeliacs who live in Spain

If you suffer from the disease and you live in Spain, there is actually financial aid that you can apply for in order to help with the extra cost of your shopping.

One option for aid is from the General Mutuality of State Civil Officials (MUFACE), which amounts to up to €400. Beneficiaries must be part of MUFACE and can apply for aid until December 31st, 2024. At the time of application, applicants must prove they suffer from the disease.  

There are also different regions that provide extra help for coeliacs. These include Ceuta, Melilla, Extremadura, the Basque Country, Navarra and the Canaries.

In Ceuta, depending on your family income, aid can go up to €400 per year. In Melilla, the maximum figure amounts to €780 per year per person and €1,500 per year per family unit.

The government of Extremadura and the Provincial Council of Cáceres, together with the Celiac Association of Extremadura (ACEX), provide food packages for low-income families.

The Basque Country, the Provincial Council of Vizcaya has allocated €100,000 annually in aid, which is €80 per applicant.

Navarra has allocated a total of €30,000 in aid, with a maximum of €90 per month.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

COST OF LIVING

Spain to eliminate tax on olive oil to ease price jump

Spain's leftist government said Friday it will remove the value-added tax on olive oil, a staple of Spanish cuisine which has soared in price due to a severe drought that has caused a sharp drop in the country's olive harvest.

Published: 21 June 2024 15:01 CEST
Spain to eliminate tax on olive oil to ease price jump

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government will from July “permanently” include olive oil in the list of “basic necessities” which are exempt from the tax, the budget ministry said in a statement.

This is “wonderful news for all Spaniards,” government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria said during an interview with private television station Antena 3.

The measure which will be approved at a weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday will “ease the burden on Spaniards’ wallets” as well as “support the olive sector and stimulate consumption of a product that is so important for our country,” she added.

Supermarkets have reported a spike in thefts of olive oil bottles since their price has soared, prompting some retailers to fit them with security tags normally seen on pricey items like alcohol while sales of cheaper alternatives such as sunflower seed oil have increased.

Basic necessities such as bread, fruits and vegetables usually carry a reduced VAT rate of 4.0 percent but during times of high inflation as is currently the case the rate is reduced to zero.

The government already lowered the VAT rate slapped on olive oil to 5.0 percent from 10 percent in 2023 to help fight rising food prices but that has not stopped its price from continuing to rise.

Spain, which supplies almost half of the world’s olive oil, is along with Greece the globe’s leading consumer of the product, with each person consuming nearly 14 litres per year, according to the International Olive Oil Council.

The cost of olive oil in Spain in May was 63 percent higher than during the same month last year, and three times more expensive than in January 2021.

The sharp rise is due to a drop in production in Spain during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons as a result of a series of extreme heat waves and a lack of rainfall in the country, especially in the southern region of Andalusia, the main olive producing region.

During the 2022-23 season, Spain produced 660,000 tonnes of olives, down from 1.48 million tonnes during the 2021-22 season. The agriculture ministry predicts production will not exceed 850,000 tonnes in 2023-24.

SHOW COMMENTS