After spending two weeks in Japan and one week in Taiwan, we finally moved to our last destination — two weeks in South Korea. Which meant it was time for another new challenge, of finding out what it was like to be gluten free in South Korea.

Even after learning a lot about being gluten free in Japan and gluten free in Taiwan throughout the course of this trip, South Korea was still quite a challenge. Especially taking into consideration that I only got diagnosed as celiac a few months ago.

Of course, I tried to do as much research about being gluten free in these countries as I could before the trip. There was a ton of information about Japan, not very much about Taiwan, and I would say that South Korea was somewhere in the middle. I’m thankful for the gluten-free community of travelers who have shared their stories and tips, but I still feel like there’s a long way to go.

In particular, these were a few things I wanted to help me plan my visit as a gluten-free traveler in South Korea, that seemed to be missing: a comprehensive Google Map of safe restaurants with a clear key/guide, photos of what kinds of snacks I could look for in convenience stores, and a list of the restaurants you absolutely could not miss.

So, since I didn’t have those things, I set out to create them myself. And now I’m happy to share them with you. 🙂 [Read more…]