Gluten Free in Kenya 🦒

Traveling to Kenya, Africa with Celiac Disease- everything you need to know.

I just got back from a 10 day trip to Kenya and here is everything that you need to know about what gluten free eating is like there. If you want the short answer - it was WAY easier than I expected and I had tons of delicious and nutritious meals. If you want the long answer - let's get started.

We all know gluten free traveling can be quite challenging, especially when you are going to a foreign country. I brought bags of snacks just in case meals were hard to find. I always try to bring substantial snacks that will hold me - nuts, protein bars, oatmeal packs, turkey sticks, and of course a few sweets. Luckily, I didn't eat nearly as many snacks as I was expecting!

Flights

We had roughly 35 hours of travel time to get from Denver to Malindi and about 42 hours on the return end (I know, talk about rough). I have had hit or miss experiences with gluten free airplane meals so I was a little nervous. We flew Emirates and I was super impressed with the whole process. It was fast and easy to request gluten free meals ahead of time for all of my flights via their mobile app. That experience already made me feel a little more comfortable and have more confidence.

Now for the actual meals - also super impressed! The flight attendants delivered the "special" requested meals out first (thank god, because I was hungry). Each one of my meals came with a "gluten free meal" sticker which I LOVE! The meals tasted pretty good for being airplane food, too!

There was only one time out of all of the meals that I was iffy about something. One of the dinners, there was a dinner roll in a clear plastic bag (no label or gluten free marking) that looked somewhat similar to the gluten-eater meals. Yes, I totally did the thing where you scan everyone else's meal to make sure yours looks different. Anyways, it could have been fine, but while traveling, I don't take many chances or risks.

Here are a few pictures of the meals:

Malindi

Our first stop on the trip was Malindi, Kenya. My friend's mom lives in Kenya so we stayed at her house and enjoyed home cooked meals! She was so accommodating and actually purchased a new pot to cook meals while I was there so we didn't have to worry about cross contamination. I am so thankful for that.

We also wanted to go out and experience the area so we went out to eat quite a few times. Malindi has a strong Italian influence so there was a lot of (glutenous) pasta and pizza. I obviously stayed clear of that so most of my meals were fresh fish, rice, and vegetables. I definitely satisfied my seafood craving after living in land-locked Denver. And don't even get me started on their fresh fruit... the passion fruit and mango were both to die for.

I will be honest and say I did keep my meals pretty simple. At times I felt like there were things that could potentially be gluten free, but I didn't feel like asking (I picked my battles). They run on Africa time, which is rather slow - or "polepole" as they say in Swahili, so I just stuck with a safe option. They had so many delicious safe options so I didn't feel the need to ask for more. I ate lots of octopus, tuna, red snapper, lobster.. basically name a seafood and I probably had it! They use various herbs and spices for seasoning so the flavor of all of the meals was incredible. YUM!

Safari

Our 3 day safari was what I was most nervous about - I mean, you're camping in the middle of a park in Africa, are they really going to have gluten free food? The answer is YES and oh my was it amazing!

We stayed at Satao Camp in Tsavo East National Park. Highly recommend! When we arrived, it was time for lunch. I asked our server about gluten free food and he immediately brought out the chef. The chef confirmed that almost all of their food was already gluten free. They don't use flour in any of their sauces, they use corn starch! They did have a few pasta dishes as an option some nights that I knew to stay away from but other than that, it was all safe and I never got sick (a miracle).

We did have a picnic lunch one day that our safari guide packed with us in the morning. The boxes we received weren't totally gluten free, but there were enough options in there that I had enough to eat. The boxes had chicken, yogurt, banana, sandwich, and fruit bread - luckily it was all wrapped & packaged separately. I couldn't eat the sandwich or fruit bread, but I brought my snacks and protein bars in case I was still hungry. Whether you are gluten free or not, I definitely recommend snacks since it is a long day out in the heat!

The hardest part?

Although finding gluten free food was easier than expected, there were a few challenges along the way. The biggest one I noticed that was out of my control was the way they cleaned their dishes. In Kenya, water is scarce, especially this time of year which is considered their dry season. With water being so hard to get a hold of, they tended to "reuse" water when they washed their dishes. Most of the time, they just kept a bucket in the sink so it was the same water for all of the dishes and replaced after each meal. Don't get me wrong, they were still clean and I never got sick from this part, but if you are super sensitive to the smallest levels of cross contamination, it is something to take into account.

General Tips

I highly recommend traveling with the gluten free cards that are available in many different languages. These cards describe what you can and cannot eat with Celiac Disease. You can find those here. I brought the Swahili version with me and showed this to the chef at the safari. I wish I brought an Italian version with me, but luckily I was able to get by with English. These cards make me feel a lot more confident that the chef or server is actually understanding the severity of what I am saying.

Another tip is being open to try new food! In the United States, I sometimes rely on salads if I can't find anything else, but in places like Africa it is recommended to stay clear from raw vegetables that might be washed with tap water (not bottled). So be open to new foods and try the local favorite! In this case, that was the octopus salad (octopus, potatoes, cooked vegetables) and wow was it delicious!

This is not gluten free related, but I recommend bringing electrolyte tablets! I brought Nuun tablets, but there are several similar brands. The days are hot and sweaty, so it is important to stay hydrated - and it tastes fantastic after a day in the sun.

📸 The leopard in the tree is one of my favorite pictures from our tour guide, Malik! They were so hard to spot.

I am here for you!

If anyone has upcoming trips or general questions about gluten free traveling, I am here to help you! Either message me on Instagram @kileydeckerwellness or email me at kileydeckerwellness@gmail.com.

That is all! Now please enjoy this 1 week old baby elephant learning how to walk.