Not really though, because it led to many places and cooks not taking it that seriously. Becky won't have any idea there's a little gluten on the knife and cutting board, but a person with celiac definitely would.

Sometimes, I have a friend with celiac who often sees "gluten free°" on menus to look down at the bottom of the menu and see "°not for people with gluten sensitivities"

He calls it "Becky gluten free" because Becky doesn't know what gluten is but she doesn't want it in her body.

My dad joined a local celiac group in the early 2000s not long after his sister developed celiac through pregnancy and his doctor suggested he start the diet out of an abundance of caution. At the time there were about 10 people in the group local to a city of ~250k. They'd swap menu hacks to get safe(ish) food while out and about and trade recipes. Then some specialty stores started carrying more safe stuff as the fad was starting to gain traction and it definitely went mainstream when mainstream groceries and restaurants started officially offering safe options. Needless to say, that gluten-free diet support group no longer exists.

Most interestingly, his other sister tested negative on the celiac blood test and neither I nor my dad have ever had that test done, so there's a good chance we're in the clear after all.

I can't remember now why I felt compelled to share this, or how it tied into your comment but I hope it's at least interesting!

True, although I met a girl with celiac early in the gluten-free fad who claimed that she couldn't trust a lot of restaurants' gluten-free options because a lot of them weren't actually gluten-free. Restaurants were just chasing a trend that they didn't fully understand. Things are much better now, but I think early on a lot of restaurants were treating gluten-free like the Atkins or Paleo diet, not an allergy.