So, I’m just back from a two week camping holiday in the Vendee. Food-wise, it was a tragic shame to miss out on the French bread and patisserie but the holiday was saved by two wonderful surprises.

The first was at a creperie in Bretignolles-sur-Mer called Mille Sabords. My two boys were keen on the idea of a crepe for lunch, so we sat down at a sunny outdoor table and ordered them some food. As a preface to getting the patron to allow my mum and I to discreetly eat our own picnic at the cafe table, we asked if they happened to serve any gluten free food, knowing full well that the answer would be no. But to our shock and delight, the patron responded that all their galettes (as opposed to the sweeter, pancake-like crepes) are gluten free, as they are made with ble noir or sarrasin (which later transpired to be buckwheat flour). She was completely familiar with gluten free dining and 10 minutes later I found myself unexpectedly tucking into a delicious French galette with coquilles de saint Jacques (scallops) et crevettes (prawns). And it tasted all the better for being completely out of the blue. I wish I’d taken a picture of it, but in the excitement, I forgot to.

And the lovely lady even gave me a bag of sarrasin flour to take away with me, explaining that you can mix it with just water and a bit of salt to make a simple galette. So we had not only a stress-free eating out option (creperies were very easy to find) but we also had a nice, cheap breakfast alternative. It’s fair to say, I definitely need to fine-tune the recipe and technique before I share it. Watch this space…

The second surprise was that we were also able to tuck into les moules whilst out and about, as many of the recipes for mussels are naturally gluten free: moules mariniere or moules a la creme – without the bread or the frites, of course. We even bought a moules pan and cooked our own at the campsite, with just onions, herbs, vin blanc and cream. Delicious!

Bonnes vacances!