A gluten-free education

We had a potluck party, although I did cook some chicken and vegetables.  Several friends brought things I could eat; several brought things I obviously could not eat.  (including all of the desserts, although I ate the frosting from one of the gourmet cupcakes, while my friend ate the rest.)

One of the potluck dishes was rice with beans and chicken.  I had some but then, when they were leaving, and I decided to keep some, I found out that it was a yellow rice packet.  I used to eat those (and really liked them) but stopped due to some objectionable ingredients.  That certainly may have changed but I don't know.  She told me that it might have MSG--that's okay right?  Later, I got a text that it had a "minuscule" amount of soy.  It's not their fault that I can't eat soy and don't eat MSG, but this education is going to be rough!

A friend posted on Facebook that she made Ethopian food for dinner; one of her friends listed a link to her blog post on how to make the bread--gluten-free.  I have been browsing her blog and found this list of tips for the newly gluten-free.  "Don't trust anyone or anything." and "Don't worry about hurting someone's feelings. So many people have the right intentions and will cook what they think is a GF meal for you, only to find out that they added soy sauce (which has wheat as a main ingredient) or used a mix with flour or barley in it. I know you feel badly for this person because they worked so hard to please you, but don't eat it just to make them feel better. You'll get sick and they will feel even worse. Just politely refuse the food and tell them how much you really appreciate their effort and caring. Move on..."  Wow--this is going to be even harder than I thought.