This may sound very bizarre, but I am recently allergic to wheat flour; if I eat it, I get a terrible headache that lasts up to a week! At home it is easier to avoid wheat because I can read ingredients on packages and am familiar with the foods. But I don't know about this in Spain. For some reason I have no problem with plain or bleached flour. Is most flour in Spain wheat or bleached?

I think of all the pastry shops I saw in Spain ... all the cookies and croissants and rolls. I ate so many of them when I was there before, and now .... maybe never again.

Not sure I quite understand but you have my empathy with food allergies - I have several friends with them and when I entertain I have to pull out my list of who is allergic to what.

Clarification: when you say "wheat" flour, do you mean "whole wheat?" I believe that in Spain most of what is usde is the refined or bleached type of flour. I don't think they use as much "whole wheat" flour as we do here in the States.

Tomas

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"Salud, amor y pesetas - y tiempo para gozarlos" http://home.att.net/~t.macentee

Yes, Tomas, I mean "whole wheat" flour. If the bread is brown I am better off not eating it; but if it is very light tan or white, I am okay with it. I think pastries are usually not wheat flour?

I'll tell you a strange thing: I'm also allergic to milk. It gives me terrible stomach pains and makes me sneeze. But when I was in Spain, I drank cafe con leche every day, and ice cream many times, and I had no stomach pains and no congestion in my head. I wonder why? Someone suggested that maybe there are more chemicals in American milk.

Sounds like you can stick with the "lighter" breads and pastries while you are there. Also, I believe that churros, the wonderful breakfast pastry, is made with bleached flour. The Spanish word for wheat is "trigo" and wheat germ is germen de trigo. Perhaps you'll need to ask if you aren't sure.

As for milk & ice cream - I think the foods here in the states are over processed for the most part and perhaps that is why you have the reaction you do. Enjoy the foods you can while you are there! Also report back and let me know how it went in terms of food.

Tomas

In Spanish cooking you will find refined wheat flour that is "harina de trigo" either in pastries and fried stuff specially fish.Nevertheless I think that it always white flour waht is used. Whole wheat derivatives are generically named "integral" specifically the wheat extract obtained when refining wheat flour is called "salvado" I guess that is the ingredient you need to be more aware of.