Self-catering in Switzerland?? What you need to know about shopping Free From...

Sometimes those of us in the Free From community in the UK have been known to have a little grumble, from time to time, about how supermarkets define and cater for our needs. Me? Yes, me too! However, shopping in Switzerland has certainly made me a little more appreciative of what we do have - although that said, I also acknowledge that shopping for Free From in the UK can still be a post code lottery! 

Migros supermarket in Zermatt

Supermarkets

Basically, in Switzerland, 'Free From' (which seems to be labelled 'Reform' in so-called 'Bio' or health food shops) seems only to refer to foods that are 'gluten frei' (gluten free) or 'lactose frei' (lactose free). The main supermarkets certainly seem to think so, anyway! Although they do stock a few dairy free milks, the only ones I've been able to spot are only soya or rice-based - even the almond milk was blended with rice! 

You can find soja/soya milk in most supermarkets

You can, to be fair, find dairy free margarine, if you look carefully, and other 'normal' products made without milk - but there may be no guarantee that these products are actually dairy free (Original Pom Bears was a case in point)! The term 'lactose frei' is the only term used. Some of these products are in fact made without dairy, but some i.e. 'lactosefrei' ice cream, cheese, yoghurt, milk etc. definitely is NOT!

This one is dairy free!

Co-op on the whole, was a better source of Free From products than Migros (these are the two major supermarkets in Switzerland). Co-op was where (following a panicked tweet to Heddi, aka Dairy Free Switzerland), we finally found a loaf of bread suitable for 'Baby.' 

This loaf was dairy free!

All the Migros loaves had 'may contain milk' warnings. 

One of the things I found was that the size of the store usually seemed to correlate to the amount of Free From food that they were likely to sell. Moreover, there's no Free From section, so you literally need to comb the WHOLE store in order to find your Free From products. 

Normal and Free From foods are stacked together

Gluten free bread is found next to the bread, gluten free biscuits next to the other biscuits, gluten free flour next to the other flours etc. etc. Some allergy friendly foods are marked with the 'AHA' logo to help inform those with allergies (see this blog post, for an explanation), but none of the products marked in this way, that I saw in the stores were suitable for me!

The gluten free flour is a bit pricey!

In general the supermarkets seem to be able to cater for those with gluten issues - Schar products are stocked in most, but if this is combined with milk, soya or lupin (which is used in a lot of gluten free products) or if you have a problem with cow's milk protein, then you're better off looking for some of those 'Bio' or health-food-cum-pharmacy shops, which often sell a wider range of Free From goods, along with some Vegan products. 


Health Food Shops

Thankfully, as we had relatives who live in Switzerland, they were able to be point us, fairly early on in the trip, in the direction of Egli - which I think are a chain, of health food stores - somewhat like Holland and Barrett, but a lot smaller. The store which we visited was at Zurich station, on the floor under the main concourse. See here, for a link to a list of their other shops.

Behold! Egli!

Egli had a superb range - including Schar gluten free. Schar products are a Godsend for the gluten free, however, most of them were useless to me, as although some are also dairy free, a lot of these contain/may contain soya in some form or another. Soya is a 'no-go' for me, unless it's just the soya lecithin. However, the range available at Egli was sufficient for me to be able to locate a few products that were suitable for me!

Just look at the size of this gluten free section!

They also sold a number of vegan (soya-based) dessert products such as Provamel and Bio Vegan, that would do for 'Baby', but also some rice-based desserts that were suitable for Me!

It was thick and gloopy but tasted alright!

Check out these desserts on the bottom shelves!

Egli also stocked a fabulous range of dairy free milks and even cream! 

Check out Isola Bio - met them at the London Allergy Show last summer!

They also sold a whole range of other Vegan products, which were no good for me (intolerant to soya) or 'Baby' (as she's such a picky eater) but would be ideal for a travelling Vegan!

The top row here is great, if you're okay with soya!

Not only that, but Egli also sold dairy free Booja Booja ice cream and chocolates - although at an eye-watering price! Unfortunately for us, we were facing a train journey of three to four hours, so I couldn't risk taking the ice cream (for 'Baby', not me, as I can't eat cashews). And I already had some choccies stashed in the luggage, so I passed on those also. 

Dairy free but pricey!

They also sold raw chocolate, which of course is also dairy free. I've had raw chocolate before and it was fine, but I think this one requires a more educated palate! It was too raw for me!

Pretty pricey!

Egli even sold Kettle Chips! Nope I didn't see those anywhere else in Switzerland!

A taste of home!

It was from Egli we obtained these Schar rolls for the rail journey from Zurich to Zermatt (three hours, more or less). Not sure quite what 'Baby' or Me would have eaten otherwise, as the rest of our food was already en route!

Dairy and gluten free lunch!

Had I but known it, although I found some Health Food shops/pharmacies that also sold some 'Reform' products in Zermatt, Egli's was the best range of Free From products I was to see during our entire Swiss adventure! However, that said, Muller and some Apothekes were also not too bad, but they didn't have any chilled or frozen section!

This pharmacy/Apotheke in Zermatt had a decent Reform section

However, that said, I was mostly based in Zurich and Zermatt - so I've no idea how you'd fare elsewhere in Switzerland. I would be interested to hear from others, who've travelled that way, so we can compare notes... for next time, of course!! For although it was harder for to find what I wanted there, it certainly wasn't impossible and I would definitely go again!


Seven Top Tips:

1. Take some essential supplies!! Obviously you can buy meat, veg etc in the supermarkets, but if, like me, you are avoiding a combination of products, like gluten, dairy and soya, then I'd strongly suggest that you take your own bread, cakes, and croissants (if required) etc. It's just so tricky finding bread/cakes that are free from ALL of these - it's definitely much easier in the UK. I would also add bring your own sausages, if you can! I didn't find any that I could eat in Switzerland, although The Hub did find some that were dairy free. You may also want to take your own milk, unless you're okay with rice or soya milk and you'll definitely need to take your own dairy free cakes and chocolate!!!

2. If you're taking gluten free bread, buy it as close to the date you travel as you can and freeze any excess rolls/loaves, once you get there, to make sure it lasts for the duration of your trip!

3. Pack your gluten free bread biscuits in a box, that will protect them from being squished, before packing it in your suitcase - you'll thank me for that!! Think about the baggage handlers!!

4. Tightly seal your dairy free milk cartons in plastic bags, prior to packing and make sure you pack them in a suitcase with hard sides - there's no knowing what will happen to your gear when the baggage handlers toss it around!

5. Either arrange with your airline for extra baggage allowance or travel Business class on the outward bound trip, so you get extra baggage allowance. You'll need it for the purpose of carrying your own supplies.

6. Do your homework! Learn to recognise common words associated with milk - in German at the very least - to help you decipher food labels! I found my schoolgirl French and Spanish also came in quite handy. Some Schar products also carried ingredient lists written in English, but not all! This list, compiled by Dairy Free Switzerland is a great place to start!

This mayo was dairy free but I missed the hydrolysed soya protein when I read the label - cue bad tummy!

7. Another piece of homework: research which shops are available in the area to which you're travelling. Migros and Co-op are the two major supermarkets, but look out for shops like Egli (as mentioned) and Muller and even, believe it or not ALDI!

Aldi sells organic soja/soya milk and Vegan hot chocolate

If you have any more top tips, for us, please add them in the comments section below!

Postscript:

If you're travelling within the EU, reading food labels should be fairly standardised, by now, thanks to recent EU legislation (see here for clarification by the Food Standards Agency). Switzerland is not part of the EU, however they do comply with some EU regulations. For the Swiss take on food labelling, here's another post by Heddi, explaining it all.

And... one last thing, before going, check out this website here - it sells British food products in Switzerland, so it may well have something you need!


Related Posts:


Travelling with the Dairy Free 'Baby'



Flying Swiss Air with the Dairy Free 'Baby' (Part One)



Flying Swiss Air (Part Two)... Or thank God for Burger King!

Flying Swiss Air with the Dairy Free 'Baby' (Part Two)... Or Thank God for Burger King!!

Having travelled Business class en route to Switzerland, The Hub (in his wisdom), decided we should return via Economy. The reasoning behind this was that we'd need less luggage allowance on the way home (you get more in Business), 'cos we'd have consumed our stocks of Free From food, and also because, for some reason, it was more expensive to upgrade to Business, for the return journey. 

The only issue I had with this arrangement was food. Apparently, there wasn't any provision provision for special diets in Economy - when travelling  short-haul, within Europe! Grr! 

Having left the travel arrangements in The Hub's usually quite capable hands, I was horrified to discover only the night before our return to the UK that The Hub had somehow omitted to work out what we were going to do for 'Baby' and me. In truth, I think he had mentioned to me something about it before, but in the maelstrom of all that happened in the last two months before Christmas, I don't think I took too much notice!!

So the questions was, what were we going to do?? 

Me? I could cope for a few extra hours without food but 'Baby'?? Well, you just don't want to KNOW what she's like when she is tired and hungry... our flight was scheduled for around her evening mealtime - just exactly when she WOULD be tired and hungry!! No panic there, then! 

Somehow I resisted the urge to scream!!

Instead, cue frantic searching of Zurich airport's website - for suitable restaurants!

There was just one that stood out - no not McDonald's this time but Burger King. Quelle horror! Okay, so not exactly ideal, but looking at their menus online, it seemed we might find something there to keep the proverbial wolf from the door! We had, by the way, visited Burger King in the past (when all else failed), but in the UK, so we needed to check, as restaurant chains sometimes have variations in the menu, and we needed to make sure!

Not quite Leon, but never knew I'd be so glad to see a Burger King!

As it happened, we didn't hang around for long in Burger King - partly because we wanted to head on down to Departures, but also because the grill-type restaurant next door was emitting a strong smell of cooked cheese. 

Delicious as it smelled, we are pretty sure that 'Baby' has had tummy aches as a result of spending too long in cafes where milk is being steamed and once her cheeks came up when The Hub made cheese toasties at home, so we thought best not to linger - just in case!!

Down in Departures, we tucked into our food. 'Baby's' offering was a chicken burger with fries:

'Baby's' Burger

It contained green stuff and a sauce, which wasn't to 'Baby's' taste, but The Hub was able to scrape enough away, with the edge of my knife, to persuade her to eat it.

Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much for me - salad and fries it was!! BUT, actually, the salad was quite big - bigger than the McDonald's salad I'd had in Zermatt!! Although perhaps not quite so fresh, however, time of day may have had something to do with that!

Better variety than the McDonald's salad too!

It was just as well that we had eaten before boarding the plane - for a start there was some delay, but also, because unsurprisingly, the food on board, needless to say, was unsuitable for both 'Baby' and Me.

The Hub's Swiss Air refreshment came in the shape of this sandwich-type thing - loaded with Swiss cheese!

Oo! If only!

As my fellow passengers enjoyed their gluten and dairy filled rolls, I glumly reflected that in in times past, I would have enjoyed them too. Unable to do a thing about it, I resolved to make the most of the liquid refreshment...

Examining the bottle for allergen information, I finally discovered that it contained Sulphites - I can cope with that!

... along with some Schar gluten free crackers, that I'd bought from the Co-op in Zermatt!

'Baby's' liquid lunch, well, dinner, was apple juice, accompanied by the remainder of  her Burger King fries and a few Waitrose Essential Bourbon biscuits, that we'd brought from England.

Anyone for a liquid lunch/tea?

Mind you, remembering how little we actually ate of our meals on the outward bound flight, had we travelled Business class a second time, would we actually have fared any better??


Other travelling issues aside, I must say, I was impressed with Zurich airport children's facilities! It has two rooms for families/children!!

The Nursery/Playroom, that we visited was amazing! It had toys, books, table football, toilets, nappy changing facilities, food preparation facilities, dining table and chairs - even a sleep room, for little ones (although, actually, I can imagine a few parents might find this a useful place to crash too)!!

It was attended by a welcoming lady and was kept very clean. This was obviously due, in part, to notices emphasizing that parents should clean up after using the nappy changing facilities and other bits and pieces. This is exactly how the Swiss operate in everyday life - everyone is expected to play their part and take responsibility for themselves, their homes, their pets etc. etc. - it governs every part of their lives. 

From a food allergy perspective, I was particularly impressed by this notice on the wall:

Look how spotless it all is!

How reassuring for parents of children with food allergies! You've just gotta love the Swiss' love of cleanliness and insistence on everyone taking responsibility for themselves!!

If we pass this way with 'Baby' again, I know exactly where I'll be heading!!

Related Posts:

Travelling with the Dairy Free 'Baby'

Leon at Heathrow Terminal Two



Flying Swiss Air with the Dairy Free 'Baby' (Part One)



Why we're lovin' McDonald's

On how to throw a Dairy Free Frozen Birthday Party...

OK, so... before we start this post, I'd like to point out that the theme to 'Baby's' party was chosen by her not me. 

Clue here:

She's obsessed!

Yes, you've guessed it - Frozen! 

BUT don't just sigh and switch off - let it go!! (ha! ha! OK, very, very bad joke!!)

If your little one is dairy free, like 'Baby' you might get some ideas for your little one's party - whether it's Frozen inspired or not! And, if you're NOT dairy free but just looking for some Frozen birthday ideas, well hopefully you'll find this post helpful too!

In a way that was quite good that 'Baby' wanted a Frozen party - it made things easier, to some extent - 'cos everyone seems to have done one already - there were loads of ideas on Pinterest.

The thing I've discovered with Pinterest though, is that some people seem to go overboard with the whole perfect party thing, so you really have to don your reality specs and view everything you see through those... that is unless you want to start becoming: 

a) despondent 

or 

b) Partyzilla (think 'Bridezilla' only with a birthday party to plan, rather than a wedding)!

I seemed to keep switching between the two, but ended up as mainly 'b'!

However, eventually, after losing hours of my life to Pinterest, I came up with a cunning plan - the whole party would retell the story behind the film, activities, games, food, everything!

So we started at the beginning with...

Do you wanna build a snowman??

Well we certainly built snowmen alright! 

I like to begin children's parties with a 'settling-in' activity, usually craft-based, so we built snowmen...

as party bags:

OK not perfect, like some you see on Pinterest, but all a child's own work - apart from the nose!

(These came from Hobbycraft. Of course a little cutting out of noses was required in advance - I pinned the sheet for this on my Frozen section on Pinterest.)


with marshmallows:

The kids loved making these!

(The bodies held together with the aid of cocktail sticks!)


we also played 'Pin the nose on Olaf'...

The second face (in case you're wondering) was the acetate for judging the winner!

and we built snowmen out of loo roll too!

We (well the children) wrapped willing adults (parents who'd stayed for the party).

I split the children into four teams, gave them an adult, some toilet roll, an Olaf mask and some time. I only wish I'd had time to take some pics!! 

As all the craft and snowman wrapping took longer than I anticipated, some of the rest of my theme went flying out the window!

We did still play:

Frozen Corners

I had four willing helpers wearing masks of the four main characters - one in each corner of the room. Children had to decide which character to stand by before I cut a deck of cards. Depending which card was shown eliminated a group of children each time, until one player was left.

Frozen statues! 

Y'know the good old party favourite of Musical Statues, only this time set to music from the Frozen film. S'ppose it goes without saying, but this game was to represent the part of the film, where Elsa lets loose her powers!

Pass the Iceblock

Good old Pass the Parcel - all dressed up! This was to represent the role of the ice cutter in the story!

The prize was this snowman kit from WHSmith, wrapped in layers and layers of silvery wrapping paper - each layer opening rewarded with a dairy free Chocolate coin!

I interspersed silver tissue paper and silver Christmas wrap, to distinguish easily between layers!

And we also played:

Frozen Tag

This was to tell the story of Anna rescuing Elsa. The idea was that a child would race around being Elsa and 'tag' other children, who would then be 'frozen' into 'statues'. Another child would be 'Anna' and rush around 'melting' the 'frozen' children with a hug!

They seemed to enjoy this game, but to avoid it going on for ever, I had to enlist another 'Elsa' and curtail 'Anna' - to bring everyone to an eventual standstill!! 

Other games I had up my sleeve, as 'possibles' were: 

• The Hot and Cold game - someone goes out of the room during which time some item is hidden. On returning to the room the person has to find the item with the help of everyone else yelling 'hot' if they're close to its hiding place, or 'cold' if they're not.

• Elsa's Frozen Footsteps - a bit like 'What's the time Mr Wolf'.

• Frozen Kim's game - with items related to the story e.g. carrot

Dairy Free Prizes

included:

• mini Haribo packs (from multipacks)

• Frozen glow wands (from The Entertainer)

• small toys from places like Poundland

I like to include non-food/sweet prizes when/where I can!

Eventually, it was time for our dairy free feast, to celebrate Elsa's homecoming...

We had:

• Sandwiches with either ham, chicken, jam or Plamil's dairy free chocolate spread. The children certainly ate them up!

• Cucumber, carrot and mini bread sticks (Waitrose own brand are dairy free) to dip into Olaf hummus (bowl of hummus with face made of carrot and olives). 

• Original Pom Bears (dairy and gluten free). I would have liked the Snowmen Pom Bears that I found the other year, but this year Pom Bear didn't make them :(

• Asda Freefrom Shortbread biscuits - I added some pale blue icing and sprinkles to 'Frozen' them!

Dr Oetker products are usually (but not always) dairy and gluten free.

• There were also these fruity royal sceptres (the marshmallows were specifically aimed at encouraging picky eaters like my 'Baby' to eat fruit!!):

Well I had to add some healthy food in somehow!

• and we had some melting Olaf jelly dessert - for when summer returned to Arandelle!

Totally pinched from Pinterest!

• Frozen Cupcakes - good old Hale and Hearty gluten free chocolate muffin mix, made up with dairy free Pure margarine and topped with some printed rice paper cake toppers, that The Hub found on Amazon.

We made them in silver cupcake cases to add to the Frozen effect.

• And Birthday Cake!!

The birthday cake was intended to be this one (which actually we ended up in having for another day, when she had friends to birthday tea): 

By no means perfect, but 'Baby' was pleased!

This took some of the pressure of the party off me - I was so afraid it would go wrong and also that there wouldn't be enough to go around the twenty plus kids invited to her party!!

See how it was made here!

If Elsa is more your little one's thing, or you like a challenge, there's a tutorial here, by a lady who obviously makes these cakes professionally. Definitely lives up to the description!  Stunning Elsa cake

'Baby's' party cake ended up being this ready made cake - bought from the shelves of a Tesco supermarket, but also available from Sainsbury's.

Yes, I know it's cheating, but I never claimed to be Super Mum!

It just about went 'round - being not as big as I expected it to be, when I saw it in its packaging.

When it was time to go home...

The snowman bags the children had made were packed with their marshmallow Olafs and these party bags, which were all dairy free, apart from these chocolate bars, which came from The Works.

Oo look! Same size as a Moo Free choccy bar!

But guess what? Some spare wrapping paper from the outer packet, and a Moo Free Chocolate bar, soon became a dairy free one for 'Baby'. Okay so she was not fooled for long - she soon worked out what I had done, but didn't seem too disappointed! It was the only non- dairy free thing about the whole party, so she didn't have too much to complain about, did she?!

'Baby's' packet

And after the party...

we cleared up the hired hall and went out for a meal at ASK Italian, so we could recover!!

On the actual day of her birthday, I sent 'Baby' into school with this, for her friends:

Yup! More dairy free cake! The Olaf wasn't made by me - it was part of a set!

It went down really well with her teachers and friends!! For the recipe, see here.

A few days later, we encouraged 'Baby' to write some 'Thank You's'. Well, she wrote their name and hers, I wrote the rest - but she is only five!!

The Hub made these

Further Resources:

If you're planning a Frozen party, I strongly recommend this post for links to a whole load of other Frozen inspired ideas. You might just spot where I picked up some of mine! 

Alternatively, check out my Frozen board on Pinterest, 'cos a lot of the ideas I picked up online are pinned there! 

If you're in the UK, I don't know if they still have them, but Asda had a great range of Frozen party plates/tablecovers etc. and so did The Works, who also had sticker books and even huge cut-outs of Frozen figures (like the one we had of Olaf). However, you could use silver paper plates and frosted plastic disposables (to look like ice).

Online, check out Party Delights range. They have loads!!

And more recently, I've caught sight of a fantastic new cake decorating resource which sadly wasn't available when 'Baby' had her party. It can be found at Lakeland, see here! 

P.S.

Apologies for some of the dodgy photography! It's hard acting as the party planner, caterer, hostess and official photographer, you know ;)

Flying Swiss Air with the Dairy Free 'Baby' (Part One)

It's taken a lot for The Hub to persuade me to go skiing this year - up 'till now, nearly all our holidays with 'Baby' have been at Center Parcs - where I know what I'm letting myself in for (see here)!!

It's not that I didn't want to go - it was just the fear of not finding food that was safe enough for us to eat that was holding me back.

Having agreed to go, I can't say my pessimism was lifted when The Hub discovered that Swiss Air could provide either gluten free food or dairy free food, but not both at the same time (see here for more information about their 'Special Diet' meals) and that was travelling Business Class!! Travel Economy, and if you are flying to Zurich, all you are offered is a sandwich. Knowing that Leon Restaurants had opened a branch at Terminal Two at Heathrow (and also Terminal Three), and that the flight would only be an hour or so, placated me somewhat - regarding the outward bound journey, anyway!

Flying business on the outward bound flight meant we were allowed to carry extra baggage - which we definitely needed for the purpose of carrying extra supplies of food and dairy free milk for our holiday! It turned out that upgrading to Business Class was cheaper from the London end (not that much of an additional cost, according to The Hub) but was somewhat more expensive from the other end. So he didn't book it for the return flight, as by then, our luggage should be that much lighter - assuming we had consumed all our supplies of free from food!! (NB Check out Travelling with the Dairy Free Baby, for more tips for travelling by air, contributed by folks from our FB page.)

Must admit, the idea of the free lounge that comes with travelling Business class, although not strictly necessary, appealed! Free coffee as much as anything else!! But what with an extra check-in for bulky luggage that was going to be transferred straight to our final destination and needing to get food from Leon, access to the lounge went straight out of the window - we simply didn't have enough time. The MIL was horrified that we hadn't used the free lounge. She'd been through the day before and told me that all the food was very good - all organic. Yeeeeeeeeeees! We're still having to educate our families about what it means to be gluten/dairy free! 

Once aboard, strapped in, and mid-air, I discovered that 'Baby's' meal was labelled 'low lactose' - which was enough to set my dairy free alarm bells ringing and make me groan. Later on, when the basket of free chocolate did the rounds (Swiss Air always do this) they kindly offered her lactose free chocolate. 'Uh, no thanks!! She has an allergy to milk,' I replied. Cue total look of confusion on air stewardess's face!

Having since looked at the website (I'd left it to The Hub, who was booking the flight, to look into all this), I have now discovered that they give the option for a 'lactose free' meal, which is free of dairy products. Hmm! One of my pet hates - confusion between lactose free and dairy free!!

However, on inspection, it looked OK - dried fruit some salmon, couscous etc. - although the bread roll wrapper said that it may contain milk - something we'd usually avoid, due to previous experience. 

'Baby's' meal.

Feeling I had little choice but to let 'Baby' have the bread roll, I reluctantly halved it and handed it over to her to spread with the margarine that had been provided.

As it happened, 'Baby' quickly decided that she didn't like it - within one bite - which, it turned out, was just as well. Becel Original (the spread that was provided) is made with whey from milk (see here), which I only discovered by searching online later that evening. Grrrrr!!!

Good job 'Baby' is not anaphylactic, isn't it?? Although to be fair, if she was, I very much doubt that I'd have taken the risk with the bread in the first place - I'd probably have brought along all our own food.

The Becel spread

In fact, 'Baby' very soon decided that nothing on the tray was suitable, '...for a little girl like me!' (Her words, not mine!) She ended up with half of one of the fries I'd purchased from Leon, prior to boarding, and a few chunks of the chicken (once I'd wiped the sauce off)! Under duress, she also ate a few of the black grapes - once I'd halved and de-pipped them!

After that, I gave up trying and handed her a packet of crisps from my bag. I'd never normally let her eat a whole pack by herself, but needs must!!

My meal on board Swiss Air

My gluten free meal was similar to 'Baby's', but with the addition of a slice of Gruyere cheese - which was soon passed to The Hub. I then discovered that the gluten free bread roll was useless for me - it definitely contained milk - no 'may contain' about it!

The gluten free roll

I ate the apricots, couscous, salmon and grapes. I would have gone for 'Baby's' salmon as well, but It looked as though she'd got gluteny crumbs all over hers by the time I thought of it!

Unfortunately, I am intolerant of pineapple and suffer from OAS (oral allergy syndrome - the worst reaction I ever had was to raw pepper), I didn't dare risk the raw pepper, therefore I had to avoid the rest of the food on my tray.

So it was a good job I'd purchased some lunch from Leon, at Terminal Two at Heathrow (see here)!

Lunch from Leon!

Whilst I appreciate Swiss Air can't offer all multiple allergy sufferers choice - it would be an impossible task to provide so many combinations. My OAS, for example, is such a curved ball, that I don't usually mention it - just pick off the bits I can't eat (you can't do this if you are anaphylactic of course). 

I do wish, however, they'd consider that many Coeliacs (suffering from a medically recognised disease requiring complete avoidance of all gluten) are intolerant to dairy - certainly initially and that many others not Coeliac, but perhaps suffering from a less specific intolerance are also now finding that they can't consume gluten and dairy - it's certainly becoming more common.

That said, there are now companies out there who can and do manufacture ready meals completely free from the top fourteen allergens. There's Ilumi, in England, and Natama - the company that supply Disneyland, in Paris. 

Hopefully, one day, companies like Swiss Air will realise the benefits of buying in such meals - they won't then have to stock so many different kinds of meals for allergies but just one that hits the top fourteen.

Until then, if you're from the UK and you are travelling, I'd strongly recommend taking a look at Ilumi's website, if you haven't done so already,  their long life ready meals are tasty and really reasonably priced. As for Natama, well find out what I thought of their meals here.)

Postscript: 

Have since realized the bread roll on the dairy free tray looked like it DIDN'T contain gluten, I wonder if I should have had that instead?! See the 'sans gluten' on the top right of my picture?

Label for the bread roll on the 'low lactose' meal.

Oh well!

Related Posts:

Travelling with the Dairy Free 'Baby'

Leon at Heathrow Terminal Two

Eating Dairy and Gluten Free in Resort Hotels at Disneyland Paris

Travelling with the dairy free 'Baby' - Leon at Heathrow Terminal 2

What a sight for sore eyes!

And the journey was only just about to begin! We were travelling to Zurich with Swiss Air. I already had an idea that Swiss Air couldn't fully accommodate my dietary requirements, and was relieved to locate Leon fairly quickly, on the lower concourse (by the way, Leon also have a restaurant at Terminal Three). 

An added benefit, we soon discovered, was the presence of a free soft play area, just around the corner!! Which gave me time and space to investigate further.

Difficult to miss this one!

I have to say this particular branch of Leon appeared popular - it was certainly busy!

Not living quite so near to London as we used to, it's been a while since I'd visited a Leon restaurant, so I was interested to see what I'd find. 

One thing I was pleased to see was that the boards behind counter indicated certain dietary requirements (i.e. 'gf' for gluten free and 'df' for dairy free) so you could see at a glance which meals might be suitable.

It was also great to see that Leon's almond milk milkshakes are still on the menu.

However there weren't that many food options open to me (both dairy and gluten free) that weren't spicy, and I wanted to avoid anything too exotic to ensure that my sensitive tummy had no reason to complain!

I could perhaps have opted for one of the salads, but so many modern salads stick Edamame beans in, which I can't eat as they're basically immature soya beans, so I didn't want to take that risk.

Look out for 'DF' on the menu displayed behind the counter.

In the end, I selected the gluten free 'Bunless Burger' (chicken burger without a bun - see here) and added a side of fries (see here). 

Dining DF and GF in the air, Leon style!

When I opened the box, it wasn't so much a burger as a juicy chunk of chicken - which was good, in that it was quite definitely chicken and not processed, but there wasn't much salad around it so it really did require the extra side order of fries to bulk it out and make it more filling. 

Personally speaking, I thought £5.95 for the 'chicken burger' was a bit on the pricey side, but The Hub just shrugged and pointed out that it was 'London prices!'

This is it!

As it turned out, the fries were quite spicy. So 'Baby', normally quite the chip monster, decided against them - leaving me to reflect that none of the menu at Terminal Two was particularly suited to children (unless they enjoy spicy food and have a more sophisticated palate). Their normal children's menu looks like this, see here.

The same went for the almond cookie, which I bought to follow (see here). It was the only gluten and dairy free biscuit/cake type thing that I could see available. I quite liked it, but the slight hint of orange was not appealing to my particular little one.

That said, Leon's clientele are perhaps (more usually) hip young professionals, who enjoy food that's a bit different!

The almond cookie came in a candy-stripe bag

In summary, Leon's food was infinitely preferable to the food served by the cabin crew - it was such a relief to find something that was safe for me to eat and it was tasty. However, costing over £10 in total (I also bought a cold drink) I'm not sure that I really felt that I had value for money, and as there was nothing there that appealed to 'Baby', it meant that she had no other option than the food on the plane. 

BUT if it wasn't for Leon I would quite definitely have gone hungry, so I really hope they continue to prove popular at Heathrow, as I'm sure a lot of people like me will benefit greatly from their presence!

Related Posts:

Dinner with Leon

Travelling with the Dairy Free Baby