Potluck Party Grinch

Tis the season for holiday potlucks.
I bear internal conflict about going to potlucks and avoid them when possible. Being on a strict gluten-free diet prohibits me from eating about 95% of potluck foods. Potlucks are a game of Russian roulette anyway -- but for celiacs there’s a bullet in every chamber.

Potlucks can fuel internal conflict for both parties:
• Non-celiacs may think you’re a Grinch for not participating. They may also question adapting their menu for the one celiac in a room of 25 non-celiacs.
• Celiacs may think the opposite of potluckers for not including gluten-free foods. Potluckers’ perceived negligence may reinforce a celiac’s feeling of exclusion. And even when potluckers try to include gluten-free items in the potluck spread, a celiac can’t help but be suspect.

Despite a cook’s best intentions, there’s the danger of cross-contamination: was the cook’s kitchen “gluten-free kosher” when they prepared the supposed gluten-free food?

So what’s the resolution? Both parties can reach compromise if there’s open communication about expectations. But don’t expect your colleagues to change their cultural food traditions because of your disease. You will just be disappointed when they don’t.