Before writing more about our time spent in Sweden, I feel compelled to write about the wonderful options for gluten-free eating in this great country.  My fiancée was diagnosed with Celiac a number of years ago.  On our travels in non-English speaking countries, this has made for a few difficulties while eating out.  Sometimes we have to simply leave a restaurant, sometimes my love is on the receiving end of a dirty look or an uninspiring meal while I go to town on a delicious dish she can’t have.  Not so in Sweden.  At every eating establishment we visited, there was an immediate understanding of Celiac Disease and the requirement for strict gluten-free food.  Everyone was good enough to warn us about possible cross-contamination if any items were fried in oil used for other non-gluten-free items.  You come to expect that level of service at nicer restaurants, but on this trip, a true sense of the ease of gluten-free eating came from visits to a couple of fast food places and cafes.

Not the kind of place we’d normally visit while traveling, but when your partner hasn’t had a fast food hamburger in more than three years, McDonald’s becomes a bit of a novelty.   So much of a novelty, that on our arrival we dropped our bags at the hotel and made a beeline to the first set of golden arches we saw.  Here are the gluten-free versions of their double cheeseburger and Big Mac.  Taste-wise, they’re authentic to the regular burgers.  The buns are actually pretty good:

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