Shock after coeliac suffers apparent flare-up after Gluten Free Food Festival

If there’s one place coeliacs should feel safe to eat, it’s at the Gluten Free Food Festival in Auckland. Photo / Getty Images
THREE KEY FACTS:
Warning: contains descriptions of physical symptoms that may be distressing.
OPINION
A spokesperson for the Gluten Free Food Festival says they’re confident they held a safe event.
In an updated statement to the Herald on Thursday, the event manager said that upon completing an investigation, the organisers were “100% confident in our vendors and that it is extremely unlikely any cross-contamination has occurred”.
She also clarified that the food vendors own their food trucks, saying in the statement: “These vendors do not operate from third-party food trucks – they all own their food trucks and in the cases of the vendors you ate from, are entirely gluten-free (i.e. they have never had gluten in their trucks whatsoever).”
If there’s one place you should feel safe to eat as a coeliac, it’s at the Gluten Free Food Festival.
The annual event, which this year was held on October 18-19 at Auckland’s Due Drop Events Centre, highlights vendors and products for a gaggle of the gluten-averse.
However, my experience after the festival was not a good one.
I was diagnosed with coeliac disease, a permanent intestinal reaction to dietary gluten, in 2012. It’s a serious autoimmune condition where the ingestion of gluten damages the small intestine, which can interfere with nutrient absorption. It’s estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide, while international research indicates up to 100,000 New Zealanders are living with the disease – a large proportion of whom are yet to be diagnosed.
There is currently no cure for coeliac disease: the only option is to maintain a strict gluten-free diet.
While the scale of symptoms varies from person to person, my reaction to ingesting gluten has been the same since I was diagnosed at 14: an overwhelming feeling of discomfort in the proceeding hours, followed by intense vomiting (sometimes so acute, I can barely walk) and after-effects that last for several days, including lethargy, fatigue and severe brain fog.
Full disclosure, I already wasn’t feeling my best when my friend, her toddler – both gluten-intolerant – and I entered the Gluten Free Food Festival on Saturday. I had a throbbing headache that morning but was looking forward to sampling the gluten-free goodies on offer, from Italian delicacies to elaborate doughnuts.
I’m also not someone who is easily defeated by food: at 1.75m tall with a fairly efficient metabolism, I can eat entire pizzas without a second thought and rarely feel full. Four croquettes, a small doughnut and a small sausage roll – yes, all supposedly gluten-free – were no match for my appetite.
That is exactly what I ate at the festival, purchased from three different food trucks. We were only there for about two and a half hours (most of which was spent in queues), yet upon returning home, I immediately retired to bed and napped for more than an hour.
When I woke up, I felt the familiar rush of wooziness and knew what was about to happen. Before long, my four croquettes, small doughnut and small sausage roll were making their way back up my oesophagus and into the sink.
“Did you get ‘glutened’?” my boyfriend asked as he entered the bathroom, to which I nodded weakly.
In my mind, it seemed to be the only explanation – yet it was an answer that felt impossible given the circumstances.
After regurgitating the contents of my stomach, I went back to bed, where I remained for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I was perplexed: how had I seemingly suffered a reaction after attending a festival that only sells coeliac-safe food?
I thought about it and decided it may have been the odd combination of food causing a stir in my stomach, or perhaps a one-off symptom of my earlier headache. “I’ll see what happens tomorrow,” I said, knowing if I had ingested gluten, I’d be suffering for the next several days.
However, on Monday, I left work early, having been unable to concentrate and battling thick brain fog. I took the day off on Tuesday to recover.
Now, as I sit here writing this on Wednesday, I believe I suffered a reaction to gluten – could it have happened at the Gluten Free Food Festival?
I contacted the event manager to share what had happened to me. She was helpful, concerned, and didn’t question my experience. She also confirmed each of the vendors I had eaten from were “coeliac-safe” and “don’t ever sell foods containing gluten”.
“The deep-cleaning of food trucks – that may include gluten meals as part of their offering outside of the festival – is a prerequisite for being a vendor, [including] thoroughly cleaning utensils, surfaces, changing clothes and removing any gluten-containing foods,” the event manager told me.
“While physical evidence of deep-cleaning isn’t required, vendors are required to submit in writing their cleaning and food preparation processes. It is in each vendor’s best interest to ensure the food they are sharing is safe for festivalgoers to enjoy.
“We can confirm all vendors who attended the festival complied with this requirement and met our standards,” she said.
In an updated statement on Thursday, she clarified the vendors I had eaten from owned their food trucks and “have never had gluten in their trucks whatsoever”.
The event manager also confirmed all vendors must submit a detailed application process before being accepted by the festival, and most are required to complete Gluten Free Food Safety training through the non-profit Coeliac New Zealand.
“The only exception to this is those vendors who have current ‘Crossed Grain’ logo accreditation, which means they have been recently reviewed and accredited by Coeliac New Zealand, or in very few cases, if the food business is coeliac-owned or never has gluten-containing foods anywhere.”
While the “intention” is that all food products sold at the event “are not only gluten-free, but safe for coeliacs”, she conceded accidents can happen.
“Despite the rigorous processes and protocols that vendors must adhere to in order to attend the event, although unlikely, there unfortunately is a possibility that there may have been an occurrence of cross-contamination,” she said.
I still don’t know what was the culprit – what vendor, what food, what actually happened. But I do know that coeliacs, or anyone with an autoimmune condition for that matter, must advocate for themselves and their experiences. Even immediately after emptying my stomach into the sink, I found myself dismissing the possibility of a reaction to gluten.
“It can’t be,” I said to myself, although the scene before me said otherwise.
A Coeliac New Zealand spokesperson confirmed that as of Monday, they hadn’t received any other complaints of a similar nature. Again, I felt a wave of self-doubt: was I pointing the blame at an innocent party?
Yet the fact of the matter is, even a Gluten Free Food Festival isn’t immune to the odd slip-up. I may be the sole attendee to experience such a reaction, but I still believe I experienced one.
While I’m sure I was far from the only coeliac at the event, I’m also sure there were plenty of attendees who may only dabble in a gluten-free diet – believing “gluten-free” is tantamount to a five-star health rating, which it isn’t. I write this not to detract from their personal experience, but to highlight that unless you are a diagnosed coeliac, there is no compelling evidence to suggest adhering to a gluten-free diet offers any health benefit.
Additionally, many people seem to forget that “coeliac” and “gluten-intolerant” are not interchangeable: coeliac is a diagnosed disease that can have devastating long-term health impacts. Being intolerant or sensitive to gluten is not.
Even on the day of publication, I learned that referring to coeliac disease as an allergy is technically incorrect. While I have gone through life referring to my condition as a “gluten allergy” colloquially, as it transpires, this is not the case. A coeliac’s reaction to gluten is an immune response, rather than an allergic one. The more you know.
There may not be any other reported reactions from the festival, but if many of the attendees on Saturday weren’t coeliacs, I doubt there would be. Of course, it’s also easy to dismiss bloating or other gastrointestinal irritation as a side-effect of simply eating too much.
It’s not the first time I’ve suffered an unexpected flare-up, and it certainly won’t be the last. Last year, I almost ruined a friend’s birthday after being accidentally served a glutenous burger at a Kingsland venue, which caused the worst reaction I’ve had to date. One minute I was playing beer pong – the next, my head was in her toilet.
I could barely walk, and my friend, a doctor who has seen all manner of bodily fluids, suggested I may need medical attention. I refused.
Did I call the Kingsland venue and inform them of their mistake? No.
Do I wish I had? Absolutely.
This time around, the least I could do was write about my experience. Not to call out the event or its vendors for being irresponsible, but to highlight that for fellow coeliacs, reactions to gluten can happen anywhere, anytime. All we can do is wipe up the vomit and move on, but at least, this time, I’ve advocated for myself – and hopefully, for others who may be suffering in silence.
Despite assurances from both the event manager and Coeliac New Zealand that the festival solely sells gluten-free food products, the event’s website does state the following under the frequently asked question, “Will all the vendors be coeliac-safe?”
“Yes! This is our intent,” the website reads.
“However, Sapphire Events cannot accept liability for individual vendors’ processes.
“Whilst we are doing extensive due diligence with all vendors, we are not responsible for their manufacturing processes.”
It’s a disclaimer that essentially says, “There is always a risk”.
For coeliacs, it truly does feel that risk is everywhere – even at the Gluten Free Food Festival.
This article was updated on October 24, 2025 to clarify that coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease and not considered a food allergy. This article was also updated with an amended statement from the festival.
Lana Andelane is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist who joined the Herald in 2024. She was previously lifestyle editor at Newshub, where she began her career as a news producer in 2019. She enjoys writing about music, pop culture, fashion and beauty.