GlutenWatchers

A recent trip to San Juan, PR exposed a new world of gluten free eating. We realized during this trip that warm, sunny San Juan eats a staple of corn, rice, beans, plantains, and assorted meats (lots of meats & sea-foods!)

Being vegetarians, we were focused on the non-meat options, & we were not disappointed. For one, rice & beans are available at most all restaurants as a side and is quite inexpensive at about $3 a plate. Other sides that you could order to go with this are mashed plantains (very filling), & mashed potatoes. During our stay there, we lived in the Condado area, where eating options include the Bebo Cafe ( open 24 hours), La Patisserie Bakery on Ashford Avenue, which serves great breakfasts of egg, breads, fresh orange juice; we also enjoyed a great lunch there called Three Bean Salad.

Another dish you must try is the local signature dish called mofongo- essentially fried, mashed plantains filled with meats or vegetables. It’s a pretty heavy food, but I did enjoy it both times I ate it although each time I managed to eat only half of it; I told you it was filling. Mofongos cost anywhere between $10-15 per plate.

We were quite disappointed that our visions of San Juan being a place where we’d be getting drunk on fresh coconut water right out of the coconut didn’t quite play out that way. We saw only one coconut seller, & he ran out of his supplies before we could get to him.

We didn’t carry any celiac cards with us, but went armed with a couple of Spanish phrases, which served us very well: no trigo ( trigo means wheat in Spanish), no lacteos ( although most waiters better understood ‘no milk’. Since San Juan sees a lot of tourists, most people understand English well.

So if you happen to visit San Juan, try the local foods, experience local living. It’s a small attractive town with very warm, friendly people. I guess eating gluten free is easier in Puerto Rico as wheat is simply not a staple food for them, so chances of cross-contamination are reduced.