Food allergy questions....

[Aurocard]

Hokay, firstly, the food orginazation and all that was amazing for the amount of people that did go to the con! So I just wanted to say I'm not going to knock that or anything....

The only thing that did kinda get my goat was the hotel's reaction to people's food allergies/intolerances.

I have Coeliac disease, which is essentially an autoimmune disease....gluten goes into my body, and my body says "OH CRAP YOU'RE A HORRIBLE SICKNESS OUT YOU GO!" and I'm basically bedridden for a day or two depending on the intake...due to this I can't really trust hotel food or any resturant food unless I specifically talk to the chef or have the waiter talk to the chef for me to be sure that there is no cross contamination.

In this case, I was given the information to contact the hotel to see if they catered to anyone who has a specific ailment such as this, and the response was pretty much a polite worded "Due to the volume of people....uh...no." So I asked if I was able to bring in any outside food from Tesco or anything of the like from the Gluten free range...in return, another polite worded "No" followed by "unless it's in the dealers den/your hotel room or any other areas that allow it". I got this back from the hotel as well despite me presenting my case. So, I ended up having to leave the con on several occasions to go to resturants/shops/the hotel we were staying at just to be able to eat. I was able to eat once in the Dealers den (as I was a helper), but other than that, I couldn't really sit with friends at the con while they ate what was at the hotel.

Now, I know I'm one person in a sea of people, so I'm asking on behalf of us who actually HAVE allergies/intolerances etc etc....what is it going to be like this year? Will the hotel be a little more lenient? Can there be exceptions for those of us who absolutely cannot eat food at the hotel but can buy food from an outside source for themselves so they can actually get the proper nourishment WHILE enjoying the con as opposed to having to leave and waste fuel/cab money and the like?

Don't get me wrong, I won't kick up a fuss if there's no way for this too happen, I just want to know what I'm going to need to do for next year. And who knows, maybe help out anyone who does have allergies/intolerances what what not to prepare as well

Thanks for your time!

-Auro

[yagfox]

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186402-d211158-r118385321-Hilton_Birmingham_Metropole-Birmingham_West_Midlands_England.html

Looks pretty hopeful!

[Aurocard]

Holy moses on a stick! First thing I see is gluten free menus! *choir*

Now I feel so silly, I do apologize! Thank you so much for the info!

-Auro

[ferret]

Hi Auro,

Hopefully that means this situation will be better next year, but still be aware we will be asking the hotel to customise their food offering a lot to suit our needs, so don't celebrate yet.

So please still do mention your requirements when you register, do talk to the hotel staff if your requirements are not met, and please do also take the extra step of contacting the ConFuzzled staff if you still have problems having meals as a result.  We will do what we can while planning the convention but, as you said, it's easy to cater for 99% and forget the 1%, but that doesn't mean we should ignore the 1%.