Dairy Free in Paris?

I have a gluten intolerance and also lactose so I sympathise, but from my experience, I found many restaurants willing to advise on which foods to avoid.

Sara,

I empathize with you. I'm not sure how severe your allergy is, it it something that small amounts can be tolerated with lactaid?

I usually pack my own soy milk when I travel or find dried alternatives that can be made by adding water.

Since you'll have an apartment, I suggest eating in for breakfast and packing a picnic lunch to avoid difficulties during the day.

For dinner, consider a meal made without cream and lactaid to compensate for the butter if you can. Otherwise, be prepared to spend a bit of time communicating to your server what you can't eat. I've found for the most part that if you explain you have an allergy, many times the chef will make something special for you.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I'm glad to hear that some restaurants are willing to work with allergies.

I'm allergic to the milk protein, not lactose intolerant, so even a little bit of butter is a problem.

I'm mostly interested in trying new, local foods while in France, rather than relying on vegan restaurants (though I do plan to check those out too!) so if you have any suggestions on how to do so while eating in or out let me know.

I have a similar problem - not lactose intolerant but I do have to watch how much I eat when it comes to dairy products. I don't know if you speak French, but, if you don't, Rick Steve's French Phrases book includes phrases that will help you communicate your problem to your waiter, if you want to check it out. I remember a sentence in there about being allergic to milk.

Do a search on this site regarding food allergies. I remember a post about cards in various languages that explain your problem to servers/chefs. If you don't want to do that, write out an explanation and go to a site like bablefish to get it translated. Can you tolerate bread made with milk or butter? If not, be very careful as I think much of the bread there contains one or both.

I would not use babelfish, some of the translations are really not very good. I laugh at them all the time when I come across a menu where they have used this to translate. When it comes to allergies, you need to get a good and abslolutely correct translation.

If I may suggest, unless there is a French speaker here on this forum, to try going over to Trip Advisor and asking one of the French speakers to translate that for you. Though probably if you do a search there, you will find a post that already has that translation.

Better safe than sorry.

Not sure about bread, but much of the other bakery goods have butter or milk in them.

Check out the kosher possibilities. Because of the dietary restrictions, all kosher foods are clearly labelled as either dairy (no meat products included), meat (no dairy included) or Pareve (no meat, no dairy). While I'm not recommending any kosher restaurants, there are several kosher bakeries and groceries in the Marais quarter (and elsewhere in Paris) where you could get bread and rolls that are certified as dairy-free - for breakfasts and picnic lunches if nothing else.

Overall, kosher restaurants are more expensive than their non-kosher equivalents, and sometimes (often?) not as good. However, if the restaurant serves meat you can be assured there is absolutely nothing in their kitchen that's derived from dairy products (cow, goat, sheep, etc.).

NOt that I want to turn you into a vegetarian, you may want to look at the Happy Cow website and see what vegan restaurants are around. You may encounter authentic french cuisine that is dairy free (and yes, meat free). It is kinda fun to eat foreign authentic foods, guilt free from cruelty, but in your case, free from alergy.

www.happycow.com

My friend carries a small laminated card explaining his gluten intolerance in the language(s) necessary. He finds it very simple to show this to the waiter prior to ordering anything.