TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Gluten free

I know this has been asked before, but I have only recently been restricted in my diet to eating GF foods. Are these readily available in the islands? Breads especially, although I can tolerate sour dough or those made with old fashioned wheat flour. Not planning on doing much cooking, and am very happy eating salads and grilled meats so hoping to get by.

People with political agendas should find another board to frequent, other than a TRAVEL bulletin board.

Hopefully someone can answer the question posed.

Thank you Carol....and now on to the answer!

This is from a previous forum that went down a political road as well.....I only copied and pasted part of the forum that seemed helpful.

There are two Nature’s Way stores on Tortola (in Road Town and in East End), but they have a store on Virgin Gorda as well. Check out their web site at http://www.naturesway.vg . There’s a product finder that allows you to “Choose Category”, one of which is “Gluten Free”. You’ll be amazed at the listings. I noticed they have xanthan gum under “Baking Ingredients”, which would be a major problem for you to find in the BVI, and useful if you are staying in a villa where you can bake. The other interesting thing is that you can order from them online. By the way, they also have a deli - there’s a menu on the site (available at least on Tortola - not sure about VG). We didn’t stop to investigate the store on VG (284-495-5099) but it’s at the corner of Crab Hill and Millionaire Street (across from the church).

Good boy Stoney!!

Carol, I didn't want it to be political, but just a caution to TTOL members.

Carol. I really cannotsee how you can interpret my question as political and am deeply offended by that. If you found it so, then the correct manner of dealing with it would have been to remove the question and send me a PM.
I have been a visitor to the Caribbean and this board in particular for very many years now, and deeply dislike some of the comments that have recently started to plague this board, but am very troubled by your reply to me. I simply want to know where I can find GF products and by explaining a little of my personal situation hoped to escape some of the more far fetched comments that I know all too well can occur.

Stoney. Thank you for your very helpful response to a genuine question,

no.....SALICA....Carol wasn't talking to (or about) you...the response she was writing about was about another member ...and she removed that response...it had NOTHING to do with you....but Carol will likely tell you that

Thanks Stoney Then the reply should not have been addressed to me as I have been put all day and only just available to get online. I had no idea of any other response, just a terse response addressed to me. Apologies to all then.

Sorry, no, I removed a response which was political in nature. There were no other responses to your post, other than the one I removed, so it was only possible to reply to you. Sorry you misinterpreted my response.

Salica,
the political comment was by me and was removed before you got back to the board
Sorry for the mix up

OK. Thanks all. I now have the response to my original question, so let's forget it all.

Hi Jim and Sue

Thanks stoney for supplying the copy of my original post. Just a few added remarks - don’t be scared off by the prices on the web site, as they refer to bulk sales (hence the 4x and 6x, etc. next to the shipping weights). The items are available individually at the stores, but it might be a good idea to call the store to see if the item is in stock. In addition to the phone number given above for the store in The Valley on VG, here are the others' numbers: 495-2852 for Fat Hogs Bay in the East End area in Tortola and 494-6393 for the store in Road Town. The one in Road Town requires some tricky driving to find their parking area - best to find a parking spot near the rotary and walk there. The one at Fat Hogs Bay is right on the main drag and on the left side of the road when going in the direction of Trellis Bay.

The GF breads they carry are made by Schar - the only Udi products they have are cookies and the like. One thing we always do is bring down GF crackers and GF bagels from home, plus a loaf of GF bread from home. The usual molds that attack regular bread don’t seem to like GF bread but it’s still a good idea to put it in the fridge as soon as you get there. They carry Red Mill GF mixes and xanthan gum if you want to bake. (Guar gum caused stomach problems for me tho.)

The deli menus don’t list many explicitly GF items but most of what they serve is certainly gluten free. They have one of my favorites dishes - callaloo soup, and plenty of smoothies.

Peace
Dugg & Chris
Our VI pics are at http://picasaweb.google.com/papadugg/ - haven’t started on our ‘14 pics for Picasa. Having trouble getting ‘13 on the site.

Best wishes to you Salica as you work your way along this new path.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Breeze

OMG. I have just been looking at Natures Way site and am just blown away. SOO much choice!! I shall be filling my suitcase on return to UK!! Do any of you have recommendations re brands of flour? I find cake making extremely difficult with Gf flour, and I am a cookery teacher so do know how to bake. As my husband says, GF means "glue free". Things crumble or else stick to the roof of your mouth, or at least UK products do. I am actually looking forward to trying some of these products. Natures Way: here I come. Watch out East End branch!!!