This weekend, several celiacs attended two different events at a
synagogue in my area, myself included. In advance, one of the other
celiacs and I informed both the hosting groups and the in-house
caterer of our needs. I became the subject of inappropriate email
banter between the organization and the caterer while the other
person was told they could "wash off" a piece of chicken and serve it
to her (since the necessary accommodations were not made). After the
event, she was told by one of the organizers to stop attending
banquets if forced to live under these restictions. This got me to
thinking about how additionally difficult it is for us who have food
allergies/intolerances as well as keep kosher. I actually thought I
simplified things for myself by just asking for some salad to be made
without croutons after it was made clear that the caterer was
unwilling or unknowledgeable about what to do.

What ended up happening was that all the known celiacs at each event
were served the same off-tasting tuna salad and egg salad. I'm
assuming that the one served Saturday morning was kept cold but worry
that the one served to me had been left out. (I took one bite and
wouldn't eat it for that reason.)

The caterer in question, until recently, was running a well-known
kosher restaurant in the area until the new owners of the property
opted to tear down and build a car wash. He didn't have the funds to
reopen the whole operation in a new location (just his bagel shop,
which I don't go to anyway), so he struck a deal to become a full-
service in house caterer for one of the synagogues. I didn't eat the
food (which in general, looked disgusting anyway) but after observing
some of his food handling practices, now realize that he couldn't
handle my request since it would involve actually using cleaned
equipment. At least at my table, a great deal of food was wasted due
to its inedibility (congealed fettucine alfredo and overcooked, burnt
quiche).