The Trouble

Having Celiac disease and food allergies pose special challenges to all of us who have to navigate our way through life in public spaces. It also poses special challenges to those who are our friends, family, and new acquaintances. Having celiac disease and allergies has sensitized me so that whenever I have someone new who I am going to be responsible for feeding, the first thing I do is ask - is there anything you cannot - or will not - eat. I wish people would ask me this simple question before they make plans to feed me.

My first week as a master's student in sociology was spent recovering from well meaning peoples attempt to provide fare that would meet various needs for the new incoming graduate students - there was vegetarian offerings, non-vegetarian offerings, items for those who couldn't have sugar - but nothing that was sure to be gluten free. Asking one of the professors who has a gluten intolerance if she thought that anything was safe for me to eat, she pointed me in the direction of some risotto cakes from the local whole foods market. I looked at them, and could see nothing that would indicate gluten. Steered far away from the potstickers and cookies, grabbed one risotto cake and some raw veggies and tried to look like I was enjoying the party. No one had asked anyone if they had any special dietary needs prior to the occasion, so no special note was made to the caterers that they have anything safe for someone who could have no wheat.
I woke up the next morning with a horrible migraine and terrible stomach pain. It had been some months since the last time I got glutened, but I knew that the rice cakes were now suspect. I called the store to ask if they were indeed gluten free - and the chef looked the recipe up for me. She said that thier recipe in the computer did not have any ingredients that contained gluten, but she knew for a fact that the cooks liked to dust them with bread crumbs before cooking them.

It is not that anyone here did anything particularly bad - there were three small mistakes that were made that led to me being sick. First and foremost - I should know better than to eat anything that cannot be guaranteed clean, however in social settings it is really hard to just stand there and watch everyone else eat - so am I really ultimately to blame? Another mistake that was made was that the cook strayed from the accepted recipe that was in the computer. Perhaps the last time that they purchased these rice cakes they were actually gluten free so the professor asked was responding from previous knowlege that they were safe. The person planning the event neglected to ask if anyone who was coming had special dietary needs. You would think that since some food allergies can be rapidly fatal that it would be at least on the list of questions asked before feeding someone.
This event and all those normal everyday events where there was a chance to change the outcome - me sick for my first week of classes - gave me pause for thought. There are many, small, easy changes that could occur in our society that would make it not only safer, but more inviting for people with celiac disease and/or food allergies - it just doesn't occur to most people that it is neccessary. Or they just don't know anyone with an allergy or celiac disease so it never even occurs to them that maybe they should ask, or not deviate from a set recipe. That girl in the back who stands around eating nothing but the plain raw veggies and fruit, doesn't touch the cookies or the dressings or anything else - shes just picky, or crazy - its just food, it can't hurt you. But in the words of Lucretius - "What is food to one man, may be fierce poison to others".