MrsVJW

One reason they may not understand... wheat is not as big of a part of the Indian diet.  Yes, they use it for some things, but it's also not a cooking culture that uses wheat flour as a thickener in sauces, etc.  Usually the only time I *can* participate in work functions is when we are doing Indian food.

That said, wheat flour can sometimes sneak in due to processing cross-contamination.  I recently got glutened by rice from an catered Indian buffet (I should have known - pilaf contains more stuff, therefor a bigger chance for a problem, and I am SUPER sensative).  I usually try to avoid anything with lentils (again, cross-contamination personal issue), but that leaves lots of things (chicken dishes are usually fine, veggie curries, etc.).  You may want to actually stop by the restaurant and speak to someone on site before the function, they may be more helpful in-person.

It's not at all odd to carry a toothbrush and toothpaste around with you. It doesn't happen so much with teenagers, but as you get older you'll find that there are a lot of people who carry around those and brush their teeth every time after they eat.

It's not a bad habit to start brushing your teeth after you eat, even if you don't think you've had gluten, since there is a lot of cross-contamination you don't know about until after the fact.  Also makes being "spontaneous" a little easier since you don't have to go suddenly brush your teeth, or be asked to.

I'm an old married lady who has a husband who still eats his gluten, and usually things are fine as long as he brushes his own teeth after eating or drinking something with gluten in it, and I usually also brush my own teeth too.

If you're interested in getting started in learning about cooking, I highly recommend the Joy of Cooking "All About Vegetarian" cookbook.  A lot of the recipes in there are naturally gluten-free, and very, very tasty.