Gluten-free in Bolivia

South America in general is by far my favourite continent for gluten-free travel! Tapioca, corn, potatoes and rice being the staple carbs make the life of a celiac traveller much easier than other parts of the world. Bolivia surprised me with a lot of naturally gluten-free and delicious food as well as gluten-free health foods and products easily available in La Paz- gluten-free paradise!

Markets

Most of the daily menu dishes are gluten-free, unless they are deep-fried (empanizado) or served with pasta (fideos). Also watch out for milanesa (schnitzel). The entre is usually a soup and it can be made with potatoes, corn-based (choclo), rice-based (arroz), or sopa de mani (peanut and potato soup)- all of these are naturally GF, just watch out for a soup with fideos (noodles).

Here are some of the typical Bolivian dishes I had at local markets and restaurants:

Sajta de Pollo- chicken, rice & potatoes

Sajta de Pollo at Mercado Lanza

Gluten-free carrot cake at Coca Museum (they had a large selection of coca sweets, all GF :)

Coca Museum

A quinoa salad a Manq'a

Manq'a fusion restaurant

Apart from the naturally gluten-free dishes available everywhere, I was surprised to find a large number of health food stores in the hip neighbourhood of Sopocachi in La Paz, with all kinds of GF products,.