Celiac disease and Chinese food

[Gudai]

Hello, guys .

 

I have a celiac disease and as a result I have to be on a gluten-free diet, which means no wheat at all. Gluten-free food where I live is not a problem, we can find it in almost every shop but I'm worried how it looks in China. Are there any shops with healthy food in Kunming? And how about Chinese food in general? I assume I can eat all kinds of vegetables, meat and rice but I have to watch out for sauces, they can include wheat, can't they?

 

Thanks in advance for your help .

[ChTTay]

Someone with gluten intolerance should be able to eat the food you mention without a problem - Chinese vegetables, meat, rice dishes etc. I've not heard of problems with the sauces but it probably depends.

You can find some gluten free flour in expat supermarkets here in Beijing but I'm not sure about Kunming. You can definitely buy it on Taobao though.

[roddy]

I think sauces in China are mostly likely to be thickened with cornflour, which is gluten free. Do I have that right?

[abcdefg]

Some soy sauce is made with wheat and contains traces of gluten according to what I saw just now in a quick Google search. Some soy sauce, on the other hand, is gluten free. (I'm not an expert.)

 

Are there any shops with healthy food in Kunming?

 

Of  course there are. No "health food" stores per se like you might find in large US cities. No special shelf that says "lactose free" or "gluten free." The burden of selecting items properly will be squarely on your shoulders. You will need to learn to read the Chinese labels and ask the right questions.

 

Food from the wet markets will be your best bet. Instead of buying processed foods in a tin or box, buy raw meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit.

 

You will need to cook at least some of your meals. It's difficult to be sure of what you're being served in restaurants in China. Most waiters and cooks never heard of gluten intolerance and won't know what you are talking about.

[abcdefg]

I think sauces in China are mostly likely to be thickened with cornflour, which is gluten free. Do I have that right?

 

Not necessarily. 小粉 is used a lot. It's derived from wheat.

[dwq]

Some soy sauce is made with wheat and contains traces of gluten according to what I saw on the internet.

This is true, for example Kikkoman soy sauce is made with wheat. They don't list their ingredients on the Chinese website although they do mention it.

http://www.kikkoman.com.cn/goods/features.php

"将严格选择的大豆进行蒸煮，小麦烘干碾碎，然后同龟甲万公司独有的对发酵起重要作用的微生物混合在一起，制成干糊状的麴料。"

In the US the same brand sells Gluten-Free Soy Sauce but apparaently not in China.

http://www.kikkomanusa.com/homecooks/products/products_hc_details.php?pf=10106&fam=101

[gato]

The term used in mainland China for "celiac disease" is "麦胶性肠病", by the way.

http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=NL6YUHJlL-UjkE3imu_71_Er6sYj_uYqVzPQBx6jje9-kdLtMXSNgKhSTeNQgxyv1v4vMYsk54-fZ8d_pMhyJK

麦胶性肠病

麦胶性肠病又称乳糜泻、非热带性脂肪泻，在北美、北欧、澳大利亚发病率较高，国内很少见。男女之比为1∶1.3～2.0，女性多于男性，发病高峰年龄主要是儿童与青年，但近年来老年人发病率在增高。

[Gudai]

The term used in mainland China for "celiac disease" is "麦胶性肠病", by the way.

 That is very helpful, thank you. I bet I will have to use it a lot when I go there.

 

Do Chinese food have a 'gluten-free' label on boxes? Here, in Poland, it became common to include such information on a product and it's very easy to find, because I don't have to read the ingredients carefully. 

[imron]

I bet I will have to use it a lot when I go there.

And I bet no-one will know what you mean.

 

For better or worse, the reality of the situation is that it's just not something that exists in people's mindset.  It's difficult enough just trying to explain the concept of vegetarianism.

[Xiao Kui]

I translated for a woman who is gluten- intolerant for 2 weeks a few years ago in China. Some things I learned, adjustments we made:

 

-Soy sauce contains wheat so at every meal I emphasized that we couldn't have it..

-Often they could "bread" deep fried dishes in an alternative - one was lotus flour 藕粉 ou3fen3, the other may have been potato flour 土豆粉 tu3dou4fen3  

- We ordered rice noodles 米线 mi2xian4 (regular), 粉丝 fen3si1 (vermicelli)  instead of wheat noodles

-The vinegar they use as a condiment contains sorghum, which is gluten free. You can add this to your rice noodles like the Chinese do. If you are in Kunming you can enjoy a bowl of the local rice noodle favorite 过桥米线 guo4qiao2mi2xian4 this way. 

 

We were able to have great meals, and as someone who can eat gluten I didn't feel like I was cheated by any of the adjustments we made for her

[Xiao Kui]

You probably already know, but there is a downloadable card in Chinese to show at restaurants here:

http://www.celiactravel.com/cards/mandarin/

[889]

Keep in mind that Chinese cooks tend to cook like they want to cook, and special requests -- no salt, no MSG, no whatever -- often get ignored in the kitchen. Plus, they're not experts on what's made with wheat or not. Further, there's a trend in Chinese restaurants to use more and more pre-prepared ingredients, even complete dishes, so no one in the restaurant may know what's actually in the meals they serve. But of course they'll be polite and tell you, "No problem." Especially beware the large chains, which are usually served by a central canteen somewhere in Qinghai.

[abcdefg]

#8 --

Do Chinese food have a 'gluten-free' label on boxes?

 

No, not hardly.

 

You can expect to have at least a little trouble with this issue here.

 

@889's, just above, is absolutely right. 

[Kobo-Daishi]

Double post.

[Kobo-Daishi]

Also note that wheat gluten, as well as other glutens, are used in vegetarian or Buddhist dishes to simulate meats.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_%28food%29

 

Wheat gluten was invented in China, where it has been documented since the 6th century.[2] It was widely consumed by the Chinese as a substitute for meat, especially among adherents of Buddhism.[3] The oldest reference to wheat gluten appears in the Qimin Yaoshu, a Chinese agricultural encyclopedia written by Jia Sixie in 535. The encyclopedia mentions noodles prepared from wheat gluten called bo duo.[2] Wheat gluten was known as mian jin by the Song dynasty (960–1279). Wheat gluten arrived in the West by the 18th century. De Frumento, an Italian treatise on wheat from 1745, describes the process of washing wheat flour dough in order to extract the gluten. John Imison wrote an English-language definition of wheat gluten in his Elements of Science and Art published in 1803. By the 1830s, Western doctors were recommending wheat gluten in diets for diabetics. In the United States, the Seventh-day Adventists promoted the consumption of wheat gluten beginning in the late 19th century. Sanitarium Foods, a company affiliated with John Harvey Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium, advertised wheat gluten in 1882.[2]

 

 

Kobo.