We spent two weeks on a Mediterranean Cruise which had daily stops in ports in France, Italy and Spain, then we spent 3 days in Rome, and then flew to Israel for 2 weeks to visit family.
It was a 13 hour flight from Tel Aviv to Miami so I'm totally jet-lagged and my post shows it. The photos do not match the story.
I promise to organize my photos for the next post!!
We sailed on Celebrity Reflection cruise ship for a Meditteranean cruise and was very pleased with the ship, the food, and the entertainment.
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| Food in Israel - hummus with salsa and grilled eggplant ( Recipe to follow) |
The cruise accommodated my special eating needs which included a strictly gluten-free diet along with my vegan diet (skip if you are not into what I was able to eat gluten-free and vegan)
What did I eat?
Breakfast:
I chose to go to the breakfast buffet most mornings where there was a gluten free section with bread, rolls, and muffins. I usually took the bread, got some sliced tomatoes and cucumbers and capers. I asked for guacamole to spread on my bread and enjoyed the meal with a cup of dcaf cappuccino made with almond milk.
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| Picnic in Israel on the way to Sefat an ancient town in Israel. My cousin packed the meal. |
Lunch:
Most of the time, we were out touring during lunch time and usually skipped lunch.
However, when we would return to the ship around 4:00, there was always salad available and gluten-free pizza, GF bread, fruit, hummus, etc.
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| Vegan stuffed peppers- ( easy recipe to follow) from my sister in law |
Dinner:
We always ate in the dining room and I pre-ordered my meal the evening before. We requested anytime dining and the computer always had my order.
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| On the streets of Jerusalem in the old city. A peddler selling bread! Not gluten free! |
Indian recipes, Italian recipes, and my favorite dinner was dish of tofu, rice, and vegetables all tossed together. It was so good, I ordered it multiple times. There was also gluten free bread at each meal as well as wine and gluten free dessert.
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| My cousin in Israel made these delicious vegan stuffed grape leaves |
This is how it worked for dinner. The night before, I filled out a menu of what I wanted for the next evening from a list of choices. The Italian spaghetti dinners were just ok because I did care for the sauce- it reminded me of Campbell's soup.
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| More pastries on the streets of Jerusalem - not gluten free- The best place for gluten free was in Italy . |
Israel:
In Israel, we mostly ate in the house of relatives. My husband has 50 (maybe more) first cousins in Israel as well as 3 aunts. We stayed with relatives in Tel Aviv / Bat Yam area, Jerusalem, Rishon and visited relatives in Sefat and Haifa. We stayed in a hotel in Tiberias with my husband's sister and her married children and grandchildren.
I was not "gluten-ized" until I ate in a restaurant in Israel. We were on the beach in Bat Yam (near Tel Aviv) and decided to eat in a very charming beach front restaurant.
I asked the waiter if anything was gluten -free.
He went into the kitchen and returned saying that the kitchen said adamantly not to eat anything on the menu because of cross contamination.
But I thought. What could be in a plain salad?
So I ate a salad and the was the first time in all of the travels that I had severe stomach pains and "Shil-Shul" (Hebrew for diarrhea) for about 2 hours- not fun!!! I should have listened!! Europe and Israel take gluten-free very seriously.
