Gluten free in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan: a country with an interesting mixture of cultures. It seems to have taken in all the good things from their neighbouring countries. Baku is a modern, clean city with a special atmosphere and many food options. A couple of hours to the north you’ll find a great mountainrange: the high Caucasus. All in all, Azerbaijan was a pleasant surprise and less of a hassle then some other countries I’ve visited. Find out more about the gluten free foods I have found during two weeks of travel through this country. 

General information

Most people in Azerbaijan speak Azerbaijani. It is possible to find people who speak English, but the older generation speaks Russian. I took diet cards in both English and Russian, since I was unable to find one in Azerbaijani. In the end, so I supplemented my Russian map with several words in Azerbaijani:

I am allergic to wheat and milk products: Buğda və süd məhsullarına allergiyam

Wheat: buğda

Barley: arpa

Milk: süd

Yoghurt: qatiq/ioghurt

Cheese: pendir

Do not eat Tendir or Lavash, since these are different kinds of bread. Don’t eat any bread obviously. The Russian word for bread is gleb. 

Azerbaijan might be unknown to most European or American tourists, but they receive their fair share of tourists from the neighbouring countries. Therefore it is possible to find menus with Russian and English translations. If you’re lucky there will be pictures of the food on the menu. Often there is also a description of the main ingredients. In this country you can find quite a lot homestays. We tried this out in Xinaliq ourselves.  

Restaurants Baku

So here are a few restaurants in Baku where I ate and did not get sick: 

• Qurman Kafe, a small local business with inexpensive breakfast options, near Fountain Square. The owner actually understood what I needed after reading my diet card. He only spoke Russian, but still managed to tell me which food I better not eat because there was a tiny bit of gluten inside. He also gave me cutlery wrapped in a napkin.  

• Araz on Fountain Square. A little bit more expensive, but they serve traditional food. Also there are pictures on their menu and an English description of the ingredients.  

• Xerzer Restaurant, again on Fountain Square. There are many options, and the staff speak some English (but don’t necessarily understand the diet). Just try to pick a safe meal and communicate about how they should not serve you bread; you’ll probably be all right. 

• Qaynana, a touristy place in the old city of Baku. There’s so much choice and the place is lavishly decorated. The waiters just accepted my strange wishes. At least one of the waiters pointed out I just ordered something which contain gluten. There is an English description on the menu. 

Breakfast

Actual good news in this department. There are a few breakfast options available in this country. In the supermarkets you can find yoghurt, eggs, fruit and nuts, which might come in handy when you are staying at an hostel with kitchen. 

Pomidor Yumurta is made with egg and tomato, so not much can go wrong. This food is readily available, just like Kuku. It’s quite filling, but normally served with bread. Borscht contains veggies and beet juice I believe. At this place they served it without cream, which is why I could eat it. I also tried to order Lobya (bean soup) but there was some wheat flour mixed through. You can probably find this elsewhere. 

Lunch/Dinner 

Many meals will be served with bread, so beware! Often they serve bread in a separate basket, but for you own safety maybe just tell them you don’t want any on your plate. Sometimes the cutlery also arrives in the bread basket. Very unpleasant. So food might be served on top of bread, like kebabs. Be wise and just tell them before they bring your spoiled food. You do not want to be in a situation where you send your food back, them not understanding what is wrong and in the end getting your food back without the bread (but the crumbs still clinging to your food). Thanks but no thanks.  

There are many different rice meals available as are dishes made with potatoes, meat and vegetables.

Fayton

If you are looking for a dressy occasion (but not to extreme), you could go to Fayton. They were still very friendly when we showed up in threatbare clothes. The staff looked professional, but seemed to have never heard of the diet. They might try to ‘decorate’ your food with uncooked spaghetti and stuff, haha! Just order without any frills and you will still get nice looking food.  

There are many variations of Ovrushta to be found: meat with vegetables (onion is always present). Sometimes they mix in potato, but you are supposed to eat this with bread. I just used my spoon.

Dolma! This can be made in different ways. There will be minced meat with herbs often from lamb, rolled in grape leaves or cabbage. Sometimes there is chickpea mixed in.

They can be presented as little scoops made with grapeleaves, minced meat and rice. The taste is a little sour, like there is some vinegar mixed in. Another variation consists of three veggies: tomato, paprika and eggplant. Also filled with minced lamb meat. 

Plov/Pilaf

Watch your back, ordering this innocent looking food. Why would one ask? Why indeed. In some restaurants the will serve plof in this beautiful, crunchy crust made from Lavash. And Lavash = bread. Serving it this way has a special name, I obviously forgot. There is no way you can eat you food if it’s served like this. Now lucky for us, not every place ‘ruins’ their food this way. But they do not always state this clearly on the menu. So to make sure this unpleasant surprise will never happen to you: ask.  

A little bit unsavory looking sause, but blissful taste: Fishinjan. Served with rice (wheter or not served in bread is totally unclear). Chicken (or other meat) is mixed with a sauce of nuts and pomegranate-paste and onions and herbs. Ingredients may change depending on the cook. The pomegranate gives the delicious fresh bite to the dish! 

Unpractical

I was not very pleaded with Fisincan Restoran, because they still served my food on Lavash, despite my best efforts to make them understand. My shocked face told them enough, so the food was quickly taken; to reappear two minutes later: breadcrumbs all over. Nice. They do not understand why this is a problem of course, but very unpractical.

Piti

Piti is actually eaten with bread, as usual, but you can order without. In this restaurant the waiter brought a pot with soup. With a pestle he mashed everything and poured it in my pot. Normally you put pieces of bread at the bottom and then eat all of this with other pieces of bread. I just used my spoon.  

At Araz you’ll find pictures on the menu. Normally they also put pieces of Lavash on the edge. I asked them to put it in a breadbasket, so Marnix could still eat it. In this place they served the Sadj on a cast iron plate, kept warm with hot coals. 

Dessert

It is often possible to order nuts, but admittedly I have not been paying much attention to the dessert section. So it can very well be there is more to be found. Close to our hostel in Baku was this small supermarket where they sold a tiny vegan cake, made by the company Smart Sweets.There are different flavours in the Fresco Supermarket (at Dilara Aliyeva, Baku, Azerbeidzjan), maybe also at other locations. This cake was made without gluten, milk or egg. I did try to contact the owner, but never got any reaction. 

More information at: : https://doctorsmartsweets.com/ (Only Russian en Azari, but this is why Google Translate exists). 

From what I can see, Azerbaijanis love their sweets. Food often has a sweet flavour. In the supermarkets you find large amounts of candy, cookies, chocolate and snacks; both traditional and modern. Many where inedible because of lactose but Rahat Lokum (made of cornmeal and nuts) was a good try for me! 

Don’t like

The lactose-free diet is known to some. The gluten free diet is just unknown. Sadly, I was unable to find a diet card in Azerbaijani. This does not make things easier. Not everybody speaks or reads English or Russian, which makes communication very tricky at times. The list of ingredients in the supermarkets is often not in English, so knowing some Russian will not come amiss. This way you might spot the scary gluten containing ingredients. There will be enough to get through the day, but this will be the ‘normal’ things like fruit and nuts, maybe not sweets or chocolate. 

Like

There are a couple of stores in Baku where they sell gluten free products! I nosed around on the website of Schär. Compared to other countries, it was quite all right to buy diet food in Azerbaijan. 

There are many local meals which are good for celiacs! Food is mostly affordable and there is much choice, certainly in Baku. Restaurant owners like to decorate their place and hygiene is important. The ingredients are very different than used in the Dutch kitchen, think pomegranate, cherry, plums, chestnuts, walnuts and apricots. People eat lamb. For me personally this is exotic food and I enjoy trying new tastes very much. And the very best: this list is not even close to being complete! There was much more to be found but I just did not have the time to try everything! Just crazy!  

Gluten: 0

Lactose: 2x