I'm going to a business conferernce in a few weeks and I need to speak with both the hotel restaurant manager and the conference caterer. Can anyone give me advice on what questions to ask them? Maybe explain an experience where you wish you had told them something that could have prevented you from getting glutened?

Things I currently plan to tell them:

1. I cannot have any form of Wheat, Rye, Barley and Oats or anything made from these grains (Salad dressings, Soy Sauce, Pasta, etc). I will give them a list of the other names (Malt Barley, Modified Food Starch, Triticum Vulgare, etc.)
2. Please use freshly cleaned pots and utensils when handling my food.
3. Even trace amounts can make me sick.
4. Even some brands of pure corn starch can have gluten in it, they need to say gluten free.

That's all I can think of right now. Any advice on what to say or question would be wonderful! I don't want to sound like a crazy person, but I also don't want to be sick while I'm there. I think I'll see how they respond and if they don't seem to get it I'll just bring all my own food. What a pain!

Where did you get that information about cornstarch? If a box of cornstarch simply said "cornstarch" as the ingredient, where would the gluten from wrbo be?

That's a good question. I don't know if this is creative recall or if I read it somewhere, but I thought I remembered someone telling me to be sure to buy cornstarch that says gluten free on it because it is prone to cross contamination. I do know that most places that produce corn meal or polenta cannot put gluten free on their products due to cross contamination (ie Bob's Red Mill).

I spoke with the caterer and she assured me that everything would be okay. After the first meal I was mildly glutened. I just went to the local grocery store for the rest of my meals. In the future I will get a room with a kitchen. It will definitely be worth it. Traveling was not fun on this occasion.