Grocery shopping in Italy with food allergies used to be an entire process, but Google translate is a game changer.
Below I share my life living in Italy. After, I will share what the grocery store is like now (which is basically the same but with a few more options).
Living In Italy
My neighborhood grocery store in Italy and a common chain in this area is called the Coop. I have lived abroad before, so I knew grocery shopping with food allergies in Italy was going to be an event in itself. My first trip to the grocery store, I had no idea what to expect! I was just hoping I wouldn’t spend hours in the store reading every single ingredient. I brought my Italian/English dictionary with me the first few trips. It did take a while to figure out what was okay that was packaged. The labels and warnings on food are different here than in the U.S.
For the first month or so, I stuck to very basic foods. I bought mostly fresh foods, so I was going to the store a few times a week. Now that I have been here for a while and know the Italian ingredients, it takes me much less time to find foods that I haven’t tried and that should be safe to eat. I still have yet to find any candy or ice cream that is safe here though. My poor sweet tooth! ;)
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