Caterers

[Emilushka]

Here's the thing. My school has a fancy dance with a catered dinner once a year. I contacted the organizers to ask for the caterer's contact info so that I could request a gluten- and dairy-free meal. The organizers did not give me the caterer's info but said there was another Celiac guest who was getting a gluten-free dinner, and the caterer had already said it'd be no problem to accommodate special dietary needs.

So now the caterer is going to make me a gluten- and dairy-free meal. Supposedly. I have no idea how much to trust this person with whom I've never spoken, knowing that I'm going through at least two intermediaries.

My symptoms usually start about 30 minutes after eating, so I could potentially eat a couple bites of my food and then wait and see if I feel abnormally full or get stomach pains. If I only eat a couple bites I'll have some symptoms for a week but not much pain. If I eat the full plate and it's contaminated with only a shared pan, I'll get stomach pain but symptoms for only a couple hours. If I eat the full plate and it's badly contaminated, I will be MISERABLE for some hours that night and then have continued symptoms for a week, maybe longer.

So here I stand with a dilemma! I guess it's only a dilemma because I feel bad for the chef having gone out of his way (maybe) to make my food and I hate to waste food. But I also hate to get sick.

I think right now I'm leaning toward being happier to stay safe and not sick and not in pain and not having symptoms. Please share your wisdom!

[notme]

i have eaten away from home (food prepared by restaurant/caterers) a total of 3 times since i was dx'd in july. at a wedding reception where mostly everything was gluten-free naturally (my friends' daughter's wedding) and my friend quizzed the chef extensively about ingredients. they even ordered a tray of smoked salmon just so i would be sure to have something. i didn't get sick the second time, i bought a chicken salad sandwich from jason's deli (and brought it home lol too afraid to eat it out!) and i didn't get sick the third time was at ruby tuesdays in my town (ten minutes from house) MY DAUGHTER was our waitress. HER BOYFRIEND was the cook. the manager made the cole slaw that i ordered in a brand new batch. i had a burger (no bun) and josh cooked it special (he's been around the house and knows the routine) i mean, they pulled out all the stops. so much so that they washed out my wine glass and little carafe that the wine came in. and i got sick. at first i couldn't figure it out. my daughter went over step by step how everything that i ate/drank was prepared. they were so very careful but i got sick anyway. FRUSTRATING!!! then she told me the girl washed out my glass in the bar sink - i would've been better off with the dishwasher ones..... (figured this out when i brought home my leftovers and ate them with no problem!) oh well - next time i'll get my wine in a to-go cup? my point is: the *littlest* thing after alllll that effort got me. i felt terrible telling my daughter! but she needed to know for next time (sorry this is so long!)

[seashele2]

How is the other celiac guest getting a gluten-free meal? Did they let that person talk to the caterer? If so, why did he/she get to, but you don't? I would keep pushing. Unless organizers let me speak to the person cooking, I won't eat at an event.

~Michelle~

[Emilushka]

So here's the update. The dance was last night. The other Celiac didn't even go, so I don't think she got to talk to the caterers either.

The plate they gave me was a piece of chicken. Then they told me to get in line to get vegetables. That was it. It was a buffet line, so NO THANK YOU. I got my husband some extra food and just ate the food I'd brought from home. I was so glad I'd brought a full meal of my own food!

The coordinator of the event actually paged me overhead to find out how my meal had been and when she heard what the caterers had done, she actually went back and talked to them. They offered to make me a salad, but I was done with trusting the caterers and I'd already eaten anyway.

The DJ also was terrible. I requested a slow song so I could dance with my husband and we waited for 45 minutes, but he played NO SLOW SONGS. The night was a pretty solid failure.

I did get everyone going on the electric slide, though. I was the first on the dance floor. So there's one point in the positive column!