if possible, inform your host that you have a gluten sensitivity and would they mind setting aside a few tea sandwiches without the bread. The smoked chicken and smoked salmon, wild herb cucumber, rocket and watercress sounds positively delightful to me! Frankly sounds too delightful to pass up. And clotted cream? The best fat of the milk? Yup. I will eat that.

if you don't want to mention a food sensitivity just pick the innards out of the bread and enjoy what sounds like some very well chosen tea. Maybe it's me but this sounds like a VERY do-able menu to me.

edit : given organic jams, wild herbs and wonderful greens like rocket and cress, i'm nit sure why you'd think the meat would be processed. Certainly the salmon should be fine, possibly a touch of sugar.

Ha! I usually fill my plate half full, nibble on something (typically a sandwich pulled apart), and spend most of my time consuming a safe beverage. When folks ask why I'm not eating well I typically make an excuse about having had a big breakfast or feeling a bit under the weather. As long as I am bringing something to my mouth regularly (such as the tea), folks don't seem to pay much attention.

Maybe if you're lucky the garnishes will be edible and paleo.

You must be joking. I am assuming this is an exclusive, upscale event? A healthy life is the sum of many many healthy meals, along with many other factors. One "unpaleo" meal is a drop in a very large bucket. Don't be a food elitist. Enjoy the honor of attending this fancy meal, enjoy the time with friends, and get back to paleo the next day. Life is for living and sometimes you just need to enjoy it.

Just drink some very nice tea.

my experience with these big-deal-social-things is that you worry a lot, and then nobody really pays attention to what you're eating anyway. just have fun and be nice, enjoy the event and make a memory out of it.

That menu sounds amazing.

You know what isn't Paleo? Turning that food down. Seriously, Paleolithic people did gorge from time to time on stuff that wasn't optimal--like honey. Like a bounty of ripe fruit that hadn't been picked over by monkey or birds.

In the absence of a true, full blown food allergy (i.e. clinically identified Celiac's, or, oh, some allergy that leads to anaphylaxis), nothing will happen if you eat that food and enjoy it. Except, you know, you'll feel good and won't seem like a weirdo.

Seriously, I don't get the orthorexia. If 80%-90% of your diet is "clean," your body fat set point is where you want it, you don't have major food allergies, you can deal with some cheat meals. The reason you have insulin is to deal with occasional influxes of sugar. You come equipped with mechanisms to deal with carbs (excessive amounts even), PUFAs (ditto), and everything in between. We are omnivores. We can sit down and enjoy every part of a good meal. You just can't eat like that every day. But as a splurge? Enjoy yourself. Living paranoid of food just induces production of cortisol and stresses you out and has more negative consequences than enjoying a cheat meal without guilt.

Say it would just come out the other end in 5 minutes.

No questions will be asked.

Definitely eat before you go to the lunch! Will help you not be tempted.

You could eat a little bit of it. I'm not sure if other people on here break paleo for special occasions, but for some things (Christmas, birthday, Royal Wedding lunch invite), it might not be so bad to be flexible.

That being said, if it would disrupt your usual eating habits, time for some fasting! I know that small "cheat" is sometimes okay with me, and sometimes ramps my desire for sweets up to unbearable limits.

Also, you could drink a bunch of tea. Turn a lemon into lemonade (if you like drinking lots of tea, that is).

Do the old "nonchalantly spit the food into a napkin" trick, or slip the food to the royal dog under the table.

I concur with the "cheat" comments, unless those foods absolutely upset your stomach. After eating paleo for three years, I actually feel a little sick if I eat too much gluten, even though I ate a lot of it the first 25 years of my life. Another option would be to count that as an intermittent fast day and say you aren't feeling so well. offer the food to another guest.

I'm going with the pre-mentioned gluten allergy. It's polite and socially acceptable. If they give you something with sugar, suck it up and work out after.