I think you handled it as best as you could. Unless you were being demanding, ignore what Matt said above. Some people like to do whatever they can to control others and/or make them miserable. Food is a huge way of doing that.

Your idea of having canned protein is an excellent one. Pemmican, jerky, nuts, dried fruits, etc., are also good choices. I found EXCELLENT jerky here (I haven't ventured into making my own yet): http://gourmetgrassfedmeat.com/

Good luck and hopefully you won't have to face this situation terribly often!

Here's how I view it. I let people know what I eat and what I don't. I politely eat whatever I can from what they serve. If that's nothing (i.e., a pasta dish with no meat), then I eat nothing, but am totally gracious about it. I just say that I can't have what they're serving because I would make me sick; BUT, I never demand or ask for anything different. In the worst case, I'd go out (after dinner) and get something that I could eat, but I have no problems skipping a meal or two or three (that's IF after all).

My goals are 1) to never eat anything that will make me sick, 2) never make anyone else go out of their way to accommodate my diet.

Why is everyone grilling this kid?? As far as I understand, no one else was there to observe the situation the original poster was in, so why are people up in arms about the use of the word "hostile" to describe it? There is no evidence that "demands" were made, nor should anyone assume there were. The OP never used the word, and the original post doesn't make it sound like to OP was being a jerk to the hosts.

Yes, being paleo means being flexible sometimes. BUT THIS PERSON WANTS TO FOLLOW A PALEO DIET. This visit lasted only a couple days, but if it had been a week-long visit, would everyone advise just going with the flow and eating grains and fast food for every meal? NO. So why would it be acceptable to tell the OP to just give in and not attempt to follow their dietary choices??

I typically avoid being a nuisance, but if they really were being "hostile" towards completely reasonable requests such as more vegetables/protein instead of grains, holding the soy sauce, etc., I wouldn't be spending much time with them.

If you didn't have a choice in the matter, I'd say that, assuming what they're feeding you doesn't hurt you, it isn't worth the stress to worry about it. Make your requests (not, as Matt said, demands), and if they don't listen, eat and move on.

I'd like to share my thoughts on this "hostile" environment that the poster is talking about. I currently don't feel like going into nutritional aspect of this post but something a little different.

Many times individuals on the paleo diet are put in situations (practically every time we don't prepare our own meals) where we are forced to eat non-paleo or settle with something, though paleo, not very satisfying. What I'm saying here is there are a lot of times where we at a relative’s house, out to dinner, or at a friend’s BBQ and our paleo options are limited or non-existant. There are times, that with a little creativity, we can figure out something paleo by picking here and there from this dish and that dish but more often than not we are subject to criticism in return.

I hate to break it to you, but paleo isn’t main stream enough (ugh, yes main stream, some of you might dread that day) yet. At this point, we aren't going to receive the same "sympathy" as vegans or vegetarians because paleo isn’t a household word like vegan or vegetarian.

What we need to do is – start adapting. We need to start adapting and be generous to the hosts that we have. If we can't eat paleo, we need to suck it up. Many times I've see fellow paleos offending hosts or coming across as elitists by not eating what is served by their host. Yes we don’t eat grains, dairy, etc., but a little bit of it won’t kill you. Most if not all of us on this site have lived the majority of our lives eating those foods that we now swear off…

If we ever want to be looked at and not criticized by non-paleo people we need to meet them halfway and in return they will become more sympathetic when they see we are trying as well.

--Dan

My brother and his wife are mostly Vegan. When we visit them, they are gracious hosts and offer to accommodate me, but I don't want to ask them to go out of their way to buy and prepare special food. Instead, last time, I just bought a bunch of eggs and sweet potatoes. Boiled a big batch of eggs and threw a bunch of sweet potatoes in the oven. Cheap, quick, easy and gave me plenty of protein, fat and carbs. I do agree with what many have said that it won't kill most of us to stray from the diet occassionally, but I also don't think it's wrong to try to stick to it if possible. Just try to do it in a gracious and unobtrusive way. Don't leave a mess in the kitchen and offer to share your food with others.

You use a very loaded word here, "hostile." Is it a fair characterization? It carries connotations of antagonism, opposition, intimidation. Hosts and guests usually shouldn't describe their relationships in these terms. Simply not providing a guest with something they desire does not necessarily equal hostility.

You refer to your food "choices," leading me to infer nothing terrible happens when you eat something you ordinarily wouldn't choose. I might consider failing to offer food you would choose as not terribly accommodating, or even thoughtless, but not necessarily hostile. But I might consider it hostile to refuse offering alternatives to foods that, if you eat them, might make you ill, or even kill you (peanut allergy comes to mind)! We don't have quite enough information to assess all that here, but I think it worth considering the language.

Maybe it would help to understand your circumstances better, because what one considers polite or reasonable (or hostile) varies depending on the situation. Why are you there, for how long, and where are you? What kind of relationship do you have with the host? What are the stakes? Does your host have the means (financial or otherwise) to provide what you need? Must they provide meals (and how many meals?) for just a few guests, or dozens? Do they already have a full plate (so to speak) and have to squeeze food prep into a busy schedule? Could you offer to help cook for everyone if you could set aside some "safe" things for yourself? Do you have room to negotiate and participate in the solution, rather than making requests of someone else?

Social graces, perhaps fading in fashion these days, still seem important to me when it comes to the guest/host relationship. I've made it a policy to eat whatever hosts put in front of me because it seems the most polite and respectful thing to do. However, luckily I do not deal with true food sensitivity/allergy issues, and I certainly recognize my choice to "just eat it" doesn't work for a lot of people.

I recognize things work (or should work) the other way too: hosts should tend to guests gracefully as possible. And when a guest has to seek other options, it can set them apart from the other guests. In a friend or family situation, no problem. In a group setting, being forced to forage for your own food while everyone else sits down to eat together can make you the "weirdo," and hosts should help guests avoid feeling this way. Unfortunately, we only have control over what we do, as individuals, and I'd rather be a good guest with a bad host than be a bad guest with a bad host.

Nothing about paleo itself requires absolutely consistent adherence. Many people who insist on paleo (or any dietary framework) fidelity do so because of serious health/medical issues, but many others could likely stray occasionally without damage. Many paleo folks do "80/20;" that is, they follow paleo 80% of the time on average, and feel they derive ~80% of the benefit.

If you felt fine after eating the granola, etc., then I would wonder if fussing about the food ultimately proved worth it? If you can tolerate non-paleo, at least for a short period, it seems an easier (and less stressful) option. Any animal unable to obtain its preferred food will quickly turn to other options for sustenance. You could even shrug it off as a hormesis*** challenge or something, if it helps to make peace with the situation so you can devote your time and energy to other matters. It can seem difficult to focus on almost anything else but food when you feel very hungry, causing a lot of stress. And many consider stress management/reduction an important part of a paleo lifestyle!

**Hormesis

All I can say, is good for you for sticking up for your health and principles.

You dont have to eat something because someone serves it, and you dont have to pander to other people with what goes into your body. So long as your polite about it, its your body after all!

Sometimes its hard when u want to stick to it, for your health and there isnt proper food around. It those cases you do the best you can. Sometimes its not ideal, but u gotta eat..

I dont mind being the person who says "I really dont mean to be rude, but I really dont eat that on my diet. I am sorry!". I think thats just being principled (and speaking up about it) and its fine.

Id rather be that guy, that the one thats always saying "Hey, dont eat that, its bad for you. Look at all the gluten and carbs" and forcing my veiws on everyone else and constantly telling people unprompted about my diet and how its the best in the world.

I dont judge you, you dont judge me = perfect world.

1. you are grossly misusing the word hostile- it sounds like the host is trying to provide for you and probably doesn't want to go out and spend all this extra money fresh produce, almonds, and more meat to cater to your diet when you are only staying 2 days. It is 2 days...get over it!
2. Aren't you underweight and had (have) an eating disorder? Why are you eatnig VLC then? You obviously do not have weight to lose.
3. Get a grip

Maybe they were too inflexible, or maybe you were too inflexible. I don't know -- I'll let you sort that out. But I can say that generally you can stick to your principles while not being a pain. You do that by eating less (and being excited by the opportunity to experiment with intermittent fasting). You can have the sauce but not the pasta -- "no thanks, I don't eat grains". If you just eat available real foods as best you can, that's fine. If for a week you don't get any protein, so what? Your coconut cream and almond day was paleo and perfect! Maybe not day-in day-out, but in a difficult environment, what's the problem? Maybe nuts are not the optimal paleo food, but they were way better than the alternatives and a few days of nuts won't hurt.

On the other hand, I disagree that you should be eating granola! It's not part of your diet. Even if were "high protein" granola and you "needed your protein", I just wouldn't eat it. "Eat real foods" is a more important rule than "eat lots of protein every day".

I'm quite low carb paleo, but if I had to spend a week in a vegetarian household, I'd probably end up eating tons of veggies and coconut and sweet potato and everybody would be happy, including me.

You asked what you could do differently next time.

My main answer to that is: ASK IN ADVANCE what kind of food will be available so you can arrive prepared!!

Even if that means living off of nothing but canned food for a couple days, like it sounds like you'd be willing to do. (And which I think is absolutely no problem for a short period of time.)

What this situation sounds like to me is, there were a lot of people that these hosts were trying to feed, and probably in a short amount of time, too -- after all, time is money, and you were there to harvest grapes, not lollygag around the breakfast table. Accommodating a lot of individual requests would have been darn near impossible, even if everyone paid for their own and cooked their own. When you're feeding a lot of people, time and cost are key. Get 'em in and get 'em out.

I wish healthier foods were more standard. (Think about hotel "breakfast buffets" - yes, there's usually eggs and bacon or sausage, but also cereal, biscuits, pastries, donuts, pancakes, waffles, juice, etc.) But since they aren't, WE, as the "minority," have to take care of our own dietary needs because society is just not there yet.

I have a good friend who's a placement officer with the Peace Corps. She has had to reject a lot of vegetarians and vegans who refuse to compromise their beliefs. If you're in a third world country, and someone in the village offers you meat, you damn well better eat it, b/c they are likely dirt poor and that meat might be a true luxury for them, and they're offering you some as an enormous gesture of friendship and welcome. In that kind of situation, the vegans are definitely the oddballs, and they could either compromise their beliefs or find some way to accommodate their dietary needs in whatever teeny tiny place they end up in -- and that is not likely to happen. Not sure there's much "soy General Tso's chicken" or raw, agave-sweetened cacao nib bars lurking in towns where they're lucky if they have clean water and a bus that goes to the capital once a week.

Sorry...don't mean to sound harsh. Obviously, what I just described was a far cry from the OP's situation. I stand by my main answer -- you gotta look out for #1 (yourself). So that either means showing up with your own food and taking the guessing game out of the equation, OR decide that for however long the job would be, you're gonna just make do with whatever's there. And of course, this assumes you don't have any major health reasons that you must follow a strict diet. But in my opinion, if you are under that sort of restriction, you would not have signed on for an opportunity like the grape harvest in the first place.

Also, this is a little off-topic, but I worked on a small organic farm for a few weeks a couple years ago, and I found that I could "tolerate" a lot more dietary leeway than usual b/c of the intense physical labor I wasn't used to.

I eat paleo because I believe it's a better way of eating. If I cheat "a bit" (inclusion of non-paleo foods), I feel fine. If I cheat "a lot" (subsistance solely on the worst of SAD - a meal consisting of a bread sandwich and a whole $4 bag of chips followed by cheese puffs - a crappy carb fest), I feel crappy thereafter. For me, it's a volume game so I don't worry about what to eat when I'm out as long as I eat well at home and work.

Also, if we truly consider the actions of our palelithic ancestors, they spiced things up by eating all sorts of items that would cause issues (rotted meat, in times of famine whatever they could find, dirt, bad water, etc.). If I am healthy, is a little bit of neolythic food truly going to harm me? While there are foods we aren't adapted to eat, I'd think we are adapted to eat things we shouldn't be eating.

Why didn't you just buy your own food? It is rude to expect someone to bend over backwards for your diet. You should be more gracious to your host and not call them hostile.