Food ponderings

Yes, I agree with you completely I think.

I only drink decaff tea these days - went off caffeinated drinks just before I found out I was pregnant as they tasted odd and coffee makes me feel sick. However, if I'm round at a friends house I just have water instead, as hardly anyone has decaff tea. Decaff coffee is more usual though.

Some people seem to think drinking water is very odd, though. They list every drink they have in the house, in case you'd prefer something else.

Before IBS (well, ok, it's an IBD) and intolerances personally I had agonising stomach cramps that as a child my mum put down to 'growing pains' or 'period pains' (whatever the time of the month). I would have thought the medical profession would put a BIT more effort in when you are bleeding out of your backside at the age of 9.

L
xx

But how do you KNOW Nick?

How do I know that my host tonight doesn't think I'm just a fussy eater making an excuse?

How do I know that she won't think "Sod it, I'll tell her it's gluten free, she won't know the difference"?

because you tell her you have coelicacs (damn i cant spell it). look this isnt about you, as PP said, its not talking about bona fide medical conditions.

I think as ATG says, it's about aiming to please.

As the meeja has made us a nation of foodies and introduced a certain competitive element into cooking/entertaining, we all want all of our guests to love what we make for them. I certainly do, and this extends to pleasing fussy people, as I see it as a challenge.

It sounds really silly but I really feel like I've done well if a fussy person says they love my food, even though I'm secretly thinking "what would you know anyway". I would feel that somehow I'd failed in my mission if someone didn't eat what I'd made for them, as much as I found their behaviour rude and irritating. Useless trying to rationalise that!

So if you were at someone's house and were served food that was just bad quality and badly cooked - let's say tomato soup out of a tin followed by Asda value sausages, lumpy mash, gravy made from a packet and khaki peas, and then stewed fruit with custard made from powder - would you eat it? I'd feel obliged to try, but my god I'd struggle.

Ahh you've met my MIL then? And this is her making "A real special effort" just for us.

Blimey... I didn't know you know where my nan lived?? ?

well, the get-out answer is that none of my friends would provide that, so it wouldnt be an issue. however, in reality, like you, i would struggle mightily but that struggle would be based on the fact that it was crap, not because i dont like sausages, mash, custard and friuit etc.

I'm not fussy about food - I'll eat most things and have no allergies. But I don't drink tea or coffee. Its not a problem (to me) - I'll drink hot water, cold water, juice, squash, milk, hot chocolate, wine, beer, spirits. Its a real problem as no one seems comfortable giving me, say, water. As you say, they'll list everything or you'll get "You don't drink tea or coffee? What do you drink?". I'd understand if they didn't have water. I'm happy with the stuff out of the tap - it doesn't have to be bottled or chilled!

Coeliac Disease is fairly well known nowadays though isn't it? Maybe it's because I worked with a lady with it that I know the consequences of eating anything with gluten, I certainly would be doing my homework before cooking for someone with the disease and I wouldn't just 'bung' it in and hope they didn't notice.

We were going to my bosses once when I was pregnant, I thought I ought to point out that there were certain things I was better to avoid. He gave me scallops as a starter and some sort of soup with nuts in. I ate them.

I agree that often "I don't like" is turned into I'm alergic or intolerant to" it annoys me because it's rubbish and basically dishonnest. Plus it's not acceptable for me to ignore your "alergy" and now somehow I'm the rude or ignorant one.

I also hate peopel who won't even try a food they claim not to like. I don't like eggs but I periodicaly try them if for no other reason that it would make brunch a far better meal if I liked them!

To me fussy eaters are yet another sign of a more gyroscopic, selfish and responsibility shirking population.

Plus then people think that you are merely being difficult when you actually do have a problem

There's a huge difference between an allergy (which is potentially life-threatening) and an intolerance.

I'm intolerant to potatoes. I don't cook them at home unless we're having people over and then I will eat them. I'll eat them out as well if a friend cooks them. I swell up slightly (rings get tight, face feels puffy etc) and it affects my breathing in that I can get a bit wheezy and will snore if I sleep within about 6 hours of eating them (H hates it when I eat potatoes ? )

However, it's not a huge problem. I wonder how many people conveniently have 'intolerances' just because they won't eat something (rather than can't)

Do you remember one of the fussy guests threads where someone said her friend was 'allergic' to lamb?

what on earth is there in lamb you could be allergic to? ?

I'm not sure about lamb, but a friend of mine has a relative who apparently has a lactose intolerance which means she can't eat beef. I'd never heard of that before, and thought it sounded rather odd...

No idea. I love lamb but it makes me chuck these days. Mind you, I don't eat anywhere but home at the moment either, so it's only annoying my H

?"I'm allergic to eating cute fings"?

MY ex-BIL was allergic, it made him throw up. I thought he was having me on but he swore it was true.

I've actually seen a lamb allergy/ intolerance in action before, with the full-on wheezing, rash on face and puffing up of head. NOt good. ? I do think it's one of the rarer meat intolerances though.

Why would you not be able to be allergic to lamb? You can be as allergic to it as any other meat I would have thought - pork allergies are pretty common.

L
xx

a fab phrase

michpuss - i agree, there is a world of difference between an allergy and being fussy, and i m certainly not lumping genuine medical issues with those of simple fussiness

Lamb makes me throw up hours after I have eaten it. No idea why. I have eaten it at my parents, who are both amazing chefs, and in a 5* restaurant - same thing happened. I avoided lamb for years until I went to a friends for dinner - they served lamb which I ate as I thought I would be OK, within hours I was throwing up everywhere.

So I now say I am allergic to lamb.

i think its possible to be allergic to anything isnt it?

i m horribly allergic to the pesticide spray which is often used on apple trees. it isnt life threatening, but i have to wash apples really well before eating them or cooking with them.

it might be that your body isnt keen on the high fat content in a lot of lamb cuts. who knows? you wont know unless you have a proper test - but then presumably if it doesnt really affect your life, why bother?

see, this was it...i can't work out what is in lamb that would cuase an allergy, as opposed to what would be in beef, pork etc.

i've never heard of anyone being allergic to pork either

Hmmm. Well I've always been a bit scathing of intolerances and wotnot.

Bit of a bugger really, as otherwise I might have been a bit more on the case with Lexi possibly having a dairy allergy. It wasn't until we removed every last trace of it (he was already on milk substitute and dairy-free spread) that his diarrhoea went and he came out of nappies. He was 5 years old. It could have been so much sooner.

In fact it was only that I scanned a continence nurse, who knew a paed continence nurse who referred us to a Gastro Consultant, who referred us to a dietician....Bless them, I hate to think what would have happened if we'd gone with his Paed Consultant's complete lack of interest in everything bar his speech delay, and refusal to believe it was sortable.

To be fair, he takes an emulsifier too, and the dietician wanted us to do a dietary challenge, to test whether dairy really was a problem. I declined. However, we visited Mr JK's parents, the kids had brioche before we could stop them and our test was underway...

He's dairy intolerant. It's not been a good week ?

I'm much less sceptical than I used to be, but I don't cater to not-really-liking-things. I don't care if you eat it, but I won't cook anything else.

If you read the literature (I had a peek a Madsen 2005 and Bjornsson et al 1996) . . .

35% of people will tell you they have a food allergy.

90% of them are lying.

Peanut, dairy and wheat allergies account for over 90% of those cases.

Eggs, shellfish, soy, mustard, some fruits make up most of the rest.

Meat allergies really are pretty rare.

so when they say "allergy" are they referring to "intolerance" ? its my undestanding that genuine food allergies are very serious things.

I would say the reactions you describe are an allergic reaction to potatos - the description is spot on for allergies (see link below).

I suggest you be careful about avoiding potatos in the future because of the risk of the reaction increasing in severity in the future, especially as it's already affecting your breathing.

http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/food_allergy.html

That's very interesting actually - I wonder what percentage is onion!