Surely they realise it is semoule de blé? Do people really not know what they choose to eat? A bit silly.
1 Like
Yes there is quite a choice. We use it in the SE for making panisse and socca 
1 Like
I’m a wholefood vegan of 40 years which is going to be a challenge in France - not least because though I prepare all my own food, I literally just chuck veggies and beans in one pot …
On French vegan discussion forums they are massively into reproducing French cuisine…
I have recently by accident also become very nearly gluten-free - because flour products accounted for most of the excess calories that for quite a few years made me the only moderately obese vegan cyclist in the village…
And I’m heading for a country where loss of the boulangerie in a community equates to “ghost town” …
:hmm:
And doctors in France are stuck with an out of date urban myth that you need to balance beans and grains in a vegan diet. (even if they don’t want to put vegans in a strait-jacket)
So it won’t be a challenge here at all, we have vegetables, we have beans, we have pots…
If anything you’ll have more choice of local vegetables.
3 Likes
Ditch those vegan french forums! There"s a lot of interest here now in vegan world cuisine. All from primary products with no fake stuff.
I read some of the UK immigrant groups bemoaning the lack of things like quorn. Fine if you can get it and want yo pay for it. But trad braised vegetables topped with breadcrumb garlic, oil etc are great.
2 Likes
About five years ago, I started to feel ill but randomly. But is was really deliberating. Body shutting down. Feeling dreadful….and all the associated problems.
We thought is was Lyme disease due to a tick bite some years earlier.
Got tested but it was negative. But is was the same symptoms as Lyme disease.
We then worked out that evey time I felt ill, I had eaten gluten the day before.
So that natural conclusion was is was a gluten intolerance.
So I stopped eating gluten and all problems went away.
But I like gluten. So started eating certain gluten products again without feeling ill. Particularly in the UK where I had no problems.
So the problem was not gluten.
We think it is down to certain or more food additives they put in food……certainly in France. Well particularly France.
Google it OP. There is a lot of information on it.
I don’t have anymore problems unless I come into contact with this or more types of additives. I avoid all foods that I know will make me ill. Usually flour based.
Don’t wipe off gluten just yet is what I am saying.
It may not be gluten !
But preservatives, additives……the chemicals they spray on fields.
Don’t expect a doctor to understand.
1 Like
So what additives do they only use only in France and not the UK, can you be more specific.
1 Like
I have no idea.
But I have learnt to avoid certain foods or from certain places. Sometimes you get caught out.
Its a needle in a haystack.
If you can, it would be really worthwhile trying to get some certainty over what the problem is. It might be coeliac disease, in which case (I have it), he’ll need to totally avoid gluten. Not just wheat, barley, spelt, and a few other grains, but also maize, buckwheat and any other gluten free flours that are milled in the same machines as gluten containing grains. You can buy buckwheat flour easily enough in France, but unless it’s labelled gluten free, it may contain gluten.
For me, I have to avoid that. But maybe he just has an intolerance, and can tolerate all that stuff milled in the same machines. That makes life much easier, and cheaper. So I recommend getting a diagnosis first if you can. And to diagnose coeliac disease, he’ll need to continue eating a normal diet containing gluten.
I find most gluten free products way too expensive, and usually full of stuff that isn’t really good to eat (guar gum and all kinds of thickeners in an effort to recreate the texture that gluten gives). So just about all I eat is cooked by myself or my wife, and is cooked from basics. Very little preprocessed stuff.
Feels like a healthy diet, and if my coeliac disease was suddenly cured, I’d mostly stick to that. After I’d stuffed my face with a pile of good wholemeal sandwiches, eaten a whole baguette with cheese tomato and avocado and drunk a few pints of real ale. I’d also love to be able to eat out occasionally without having to be so picky, or eat whatever is served when invited to dinner by friends.
Get diagnosed first. Having to go gluten free is a minor disability as things go, but it’s a pain in the arse for the courier and everyone around them.
1 Like
So there isn’t any science or facts behind this just your seat of your pants assumption, both France and UK were governed by EU regulations regarding additives and nothing has really changed since Brexit, France probably uses less additives than the UK as they have banned some additives the UK and Europe still use.
Reading your post you really haven’t actually got a clue what causes the problems you have, it might be an additive or an intolerance or allergy, wouldn’t you be better to actually get tested rather than guessing in the dark for your own healths sake.
1 Like
DIL can’t eat commercial bread - makes her feel v uncomfortable etc etc as she responds badly to yeasts. But sourdough is completely fine (as long as not got extra commercial yeast added).
We all respond v differently to foods.
1 Like
Often if it is that Chorleywood process (or similar) bread it will have a bad effect - if it is slow bread like pain au levain or traditional yeast bread it’ll often be ok.
2 Likes
And also home made bread in a breadmaking machine where you are adding enzymes to speed up the process (which is the basis of the Chorleywood process). Incomplete fermentation by-products (created at home or in the factory) can cause bloating / tiredness etc. so yes @anon44939055 , not necessarily the gluten as such, but what we have done to the gluten in the manufacture of bread. And the process is as much in France as in the UK, sadly.
Hence some people find they can eat things like couscous because the wheat has not been taken through a fermentation process.
1 Like
Listen…it is a needle in a haystack.
During that period, I would wake up in the morning thinking I had broken a bone in my toe, elbow or whatever. I would have intense pain in a joint.
I would go to the doctor who would send me for a radio to find that everything was normal.
48 hrs later, everything is fine.
Or after eating such foods, the day after my body% would shutdown and I would fall asleep.
Since stopping eating certain flour based foods I have not had a problem again.
I know now what foods I can eat….but it is not all gluten based.
I’m just offering my experience to the OP.
1 Like
Well, indeed. I’ve known several people who have spoken forth on this point, and being very surprised when told the truth. Including one person who was gluten intolerant.
Yes, some regular milk here I am also developing a wariness of.
I think it’s possibly some antibiotics given to non-bio cows.
The administration of prophylactic antibiotics has been illegal in the EU for many years. I very much doubt that this is the case.
You may be right.
For a while now - and for welfare reasons rather than our health - we’ve been bio for dairy, meat and eggs. I wouldn’t go back.
Prophylactic antibiotics are not allowed, but seeing the conditions of some of the intensive dairy herds I imagine it is rarely prophylactic. Instead a regular requirement.
1 Like
If the cows on a dairy farm needed antibiotics (non prophylactically) frequently, then yields would be so low that it would not be worth doing business. Farmers are not stupid.