Joetography

Good afternoon,
How are you guys/girls handling food intolerances/allergies in Hungary. I have coeliac disease and have to live on a gluten free (gluténmentes) diet. When I visited Budapest a few years ago, I walked into GF heaven. Nyugati Cöli Bisztró, near to Nyugati train station was fantastic. A place where I didn't have to consciously think about what I could and couldn't eat. Damn I miss those burgers!

Debrecen has recently opened a GF restaurant/take away service but I haven't experienced that one yet.

Do you find the grocery shops are well catered for allergies?

Thanks

Joseph

wolfi

There are "gluténmentes" foodstuffs in Hungary, you have to look for them - here's an example from Lidl:
https://www.lidl.hu/termekkinalatunk...tes-termekeink

FenTiger

As for myself anything made with cows milk is out of the question. Goat milk is fine. I only discovered I have an intolerance to cows milk about eight years ago. Strangely, all my life I thought something didn't seem right as I had side effects whenever I ate something made from cows milk, that includes Kit Kat, Mars bars, etc. You can imagine how gutted I was when my GP told me I may have an intolerance to cows milk and I'd have to stop having a Kit Kat with my cup of tea on arriving at work. Goat milk is slightly lower in lactose and even my wife has been converted. Both my wife and I think goat milk and cheese has a better flavour than cows milk.

I am not sure what to expect once we are in Hungary. I will probably have to go for lactose free milk and cheese!

wolfi

@Fentiger:
Don't worry, you can get very good goat milk here, just have to look around.
One of our neighbours at our old address had it and when there was "too much" he produced lovely cheese.
The "hard" goat cheese at the Aldi is also very nice - my wife likes it very much.
And btw Emmentail cheese is also lactose free, have you tried that?
Nowadays with all those foodstores the variety of foodstuff in Hungary is wonderful, you can get almost everything - and often not too expensive.

FenTiger

Thanks for assuring me. I have never tried Emmentail cheese. Will look out for this in the local Coop supermarket if I don't have to self isolate once we are in Hungary.

jetsam1

My daughter is coeliac and lactose intolerant. We have found ALDI is pretty good for gluten and lactose free products, plenty of choice and not bad on price. Plenty of options online for ordering specialist flours and suchlike. Even the local COOP is getting better. In Budapest at least there are specialist cukraszdas and restaurants that cater for special dietary needs. Sadly the traditional side won't understand! Took a while to get the in laws to really get their heads around it.

Just be careful with any readymix gluten free flour. That can be expensive. One shortcut we do like is using cornflour as a substitute for breadcrumbs when doing rantott hus.

FenTiger

I nodded my head at the bit where you say 'Took a while to get the in laws to really get their heads around it.'. My sister-in-law got her head round it but went a bit overboard buying lactose free hams, etc. I am okay with ham but it's milk or cheese that I have a problem with. The mother-in-law frequently forgets! There's a Lidl or Aldi near Auchan in Miskolc South so will pop in there to see what they have.

Joetography

Yup, went to Emese's sisters house to meet them for the first time. Her husband was making something 100% flour based and when he offered me some, obviously I politely declined. He said to Emese it was gluten free. hahaha. I don't think they are aware of allergies in that house.

Peter_in_Hungary

Both my kids had an allergy to cows milk..........well not quite, we lived next door to a dairy farm where we got our milk and we could see what the cows were up to. In the summer when the cows were on grass there was no problem, as soon as the cows went into the yard for the winter and were fed concentrate and silage both of my children got a raging allergy. A couple of weeks after the cows went back on the grass in the spring every thing was OK - until the cows were on silage again.
So - was the allergy to cows milk or to what the cows were being fed?
Oh and my daughter was allergic to chocolate - unless it was an expensive Swiss type. Again, was it chocolate or the add ins put in the cheap varieties?

There seem to be a lot more people with food allergies, especially children, I wonder how often it is an allergy to the particular food or rather an allergy to the chemicals that industry sees fit to put into our food.

BTW on the back of our experience with our children SWMBO expanded her small business to include goats milk ice cream for people with an allergy to cows milk. Whilst goats milk is a different composition to cows milk perhaps more importantly goats tend to be kept on small holdings and are typically kept with a minimum or no bought in feed (too expensive) and definitely no silage so goats milk will not have the chemicals that cows milk gets as a result of the feed.

FenTiger

Peter_In_Hungary - Very interesting what you posted above about what the cows were eating and causing allergies for your children. Maybe the cows milk cartons or bottles should be labelled as to what they have been fed with.

Thairetired2016

I

Thairetired2016

I have a lactose problem. However, I can still eat a Kitkat now and then. Even with cheese made from cows milk the older the cheese, the loser the lactose. Try Parmesan or similar old cheeses for a change to goat cheese. Btw, I cannot eat Emmental. Why would Emmental not have lactose? Most Emmental which is sold outside Switzerland is not the real stuff as it rarely comes from Emmental. Just looks similar.

wolfi

I'm in Germany right now and my wife sent me shopping for stuff which is better and often cheaper than in Hungary (she should know as a Hungarian ...) - cheese is an example.
So I looked at the Emmental cheese - it says less than 1g lactose per kilo.
Btw the name Emmental cheese is not region- protected so anyone can produce it, you just have to follow some rules.
My favourite Swiss cheese is Greyerzer aka Gruyere, very intensive taste.

Peter_in_Hungary

SWMBO who was a dairy technician then an ice cream maker/consultant tells me that aged hard cheese contains little to no lactose as the lactose comes out in the whey during the cheese making process. Quick made (rushed!) hard cheese will contain more lactose and will be a bit more rubbery in texture because of the (slightly) differing process.
BTW I usually get cheddar aged 52 weeks from Aldi (the one with the black label), they also do a 52 week gouda. Both have a good flavour (IMO). Both are labelled lactose free

Oh - Wolfi, the cheddar above is labeled original British cheddar and is imported from Germany and is in a German packaging.

Thairetired2016

The name "Emmental Switzerland" is protected. It is a bit different to German made one. Usually longer maturity, less rubbery.
I can't eat much cheese regrettably. Lactose is one problem, high histamine is another in older cheeses. I'm predently in Austria which has excellent cheeses for sale at our wery market.