NeroW wrote:We have a joke:

"When is the correct time to mention your food allergy to the restaurant?"

I once went to a group Christmas party where the menu was discussed in depth weeks prior to the event. Everyone had their two-cents on what to include or avoid.

Just as we are seated for dinner with food streaming out, one woman loudly announces a sensitivity to msg and an allergy to shrimp. The owner assured there was no msg added. Of course, there was shrimp in a few dishes. She then announced everyone present was responsible to get her to the hospital, if she ate a shrimp.

You could have heard a pin drop.

We told her we would take her to the hospital, if this should happen, then proceeded with dinner.

I really don't remember much about this dinner, except for this incident.

Regards,

Red Meat Allergy Likely Caused by Tick Bites

Interesting, I am passing this onto my mushroom club friends, who definitely encounter ticks.

Thanks!

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

Red Meat Allergy Likely Caused by Tick Bites

Interesting, I am passing this onto my mushroom club friends, who definitely encounter ticks.

Thanks!

Regards,

I have an aunt who spent years practicing medicine in a mutton-eating third-world country, until she simultaneously caught Hepatitis (A or B, I think) and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. 45 years later she's still going strong, but she has a number of odd food sensitives that developed seemingly as a result of that double shock to the immune system. She's one of the most down-to-earth people you'll ever meet, and not prone to histrionics, but even the smell of lamb makes her sick. She's also unable to eat many stone fruits in their raw form, but can eat them cooked.

Isn't it interesting that young kids with food sensitivities sometimes outgrow them, but it seems that respiratory allergies get worse with age? (I've only developed pollen allergies in the last 5 years.) So I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that some food allergies/sensitivities/intolerances get develop with age.

chgoeditor wrote:Isn't it interesting that...respiratory allergies get worse with age? (I've only developed pollen allergies in the last 5 years.)

"Interesting" would be one word for it. "Sucks" would be another.

chgoeditor wrote:Isn't it interesting that young kids with food sensitivities sometimes outgrow them, but it seems that respiratory allergies get worse with age? (I've only developed pollen allergies in the last 5 years.) So I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that some food allergies/sensitivities/intolerances get develop with age.

Hmmm... I learned of my shellfish allergy during an ER trip when I was 14 (I ate some crab, and then stopped breathing. Interestingly, I distinctly recall eating a lot of crab as a young child before stopping for a long time due to worries over water pollution). In recent years, though, I've unknowingly eaten food cooked in seafood broth, etc., and have developed only a slight rash as a result. I should probably go back to the doctor to confirm.

Darren72 wrote:More here: Red Meat Allergy Likely Caused by Tick Bites

Thanks for posting this, Darren72. I am cheered that there is progress in understanding the connections between tick-borne illness and auto-immune reactions. Reading the comments after the link is also useful.

Darren72 wrote:More here: Red Meat Allergy Likely Caused by Tick Bites

Wow, sounds like something PETA might release to target meat-eaters.

Where do I get these crazy ideas? Science Fiction stories like this one, "The Moral Virologist" by Greg Egan

Tuesday's NY Times cites an empirical study of children with food allergies (first published in the journal Pediatrics in January) that found a third of those children had been bullied for their allergies. While the bullying seems to come mostly from other children, according to Elizabeth Steib, of the Food Allergy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, "Food allergy-related bullying does not always stem from peers, but from adults, such as teachers."

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/bullies-may-prey-on-the-food-allergic/?_r=0

An issue is a lack of awareness in the general public. This public service announcement from the non-profit Food Allergy Research and Education has received attention on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0AfuBAsJKY

Also, according to the article, 15 states now have standards from handling food allergies in schools, and at least two of these deal with bullying. This is a step in the right direction. As awareness grows, perhaps parents will discuss the dangers faced by kids with food allergies with their children, just as they routinely explain that it's a bad idea to run with scissors or throw stones, (though who knows how we can convince parents to discuss gun safety).

riddlemay wrote:

chgoeditor wrote:Isn't it interesting that...respiratory allergies get worse with age? (I've only developed pollen allergies in the last 5 years.)

"Interesting" would be one word for it. "Sucks" would be another.

Not if you get allergy shots. Tons of allergies as a teenager. None today except dust mites.

mgmcewen wrote:

riddlemay wrote:

chgoeditor wrote:Isn't it interesting that...respiratory allergies get worse with age? (I've only developed pollen allergies in the last 5 years.)

"Interesting" would be one word for it. "Sucks" would be another.

Not if you get allergy shots. Tons of allergies as a teenager. None today except dust mites.

Well, I was speaking as someone who went from having no obvious signs of allergies until I was in my late 30s. So I can't really imagine getting allergy shots in my teens just for the fun of it.

pairs4life wrote, in the "Pre-Wicked" thread:

This just isn't the site for those with food allergies,sensitivities or restrictions. This site is a celebration of food without restrictions.

pairs, I have to take issue with this. The very existence of this thread is prima facie evidence (am I using that term correctly?) that LTH encompasses discussion of food allergies. People with food allergies (and the people who love them) are just as entitled to celebrate food as those free of allergy. This thread now has 40-some posts in it, from some of our most respected LTH-citizens; a previous thread on the topic contained 125 posts.

riddlemay wrote:pairs4life wrote, in the "Pre-Wicked" thread:

This just isn't the site for those with food allergies,sensitivities or restrictions. This site is a celebration of food without restrictions.

pairs, I have to take issue with this. The very existence of this thread is prima facie evidence (am I using that term correctly?) that LTH encompasses discussion of food allergies. People with food allergies (and the people who love them) are just as entitled to celebrate food as those free of allergy. This thread now has 40-some posts in it, from some of our most respected LTH-citizens; a previous thread on the topic contained 125 posts.

As one of the few lacto-ovo vegetarians regularly posting here, and obviously this site is important to me, I stand by what I said. And you will also note that I provided suggestions and info to the OP on gluten-intolerance in response to an apparent frustration at how dated and limited the variety of restaurants mentioned that fit would be.

Then there's Indian Badger's comment on the lion thread that informs my belief that there are others with restrictions, allergies, and sensitivities that may not agree with you.

Indianbadger wrote:

David Hammond wrote:

toria wrote:I would not eat it or any exotic meat.

....

My philosophy of the food life is that the more omnivorous you are, the more open you are, the more likely you’ll be to find interesting content to write about -- as a writer, that's what I want. It’s rare to find an open-minded person who refuses to eat anything but the un-exotic, or a closed-minded who is eager to try food from, say, Burma or Samoa or some other "exotic" locale. Who knows what comes first, the mindset or the appetite, but the very act of taking something foreign or "exotic" into one’s body involves characteristics of trust and curiosity that I tend to admire in people and which I emulate.

Open your mouth and your mind will follow.

. Really. My being a vegetarian for ethical reasons makes me somehow narrowminded? Now I know why I stopped reading and following LTH Forum as regularly as I used to. As a vegetarian I found most of the discussion here pretty useless. But I always had the impression that people with restricted diets were somehow considered as lesser persons by the 'cognoscenti' of the group. This just proves it.

That said, to quote an LTH meat lover I miss, "it's all good."- Peace

I didn't read Indian Badger's comment on the Lion thread, but I'm sorry he feels that way. As someone who has food restrictions yourself, pairs, yet who loves and contributes to LTH in a big way, you would seem to disagree with him--and to agree with me, in my belief that LTH is just as much for people with food restrictions as for those without.

This is a cool post by Dana Cree (Blackbird's dessert chef) on how Gluten Free Girl got her into seeing wheat alternatives as not just substitutes for wheat, but possibly better than wheat and providing new and interesting flavors
http://thepastrydepartment.com/thinking ... and-wheat/

For those of us who are just mildly wheat intolerant, this is great news.

Also on that same front, gluten-free Senza now has a Michelin star.

Better living through science ...

New flour will treat peanut/food allergies

...
An experimental treatment that involves giving minute quantities of the trigger food to patients over a period of time in a clinic is successful for some patients who are allergic to peanuts. The process, called desensitization, sets off beneficial responses by the body to the food. But the milled roasted peanut flour that is currently used can have severe side effects. Lila’s team set out to design a new type of flour that could help control food allergies without causing dangerous side effects.

They turned to plant polyphenols, which have shown promise as compounds that can dampen allergic reactions. The scientists developed a modified flour powder in which cranberry polyphenols were bound to peanut proteins. With this extra cargo, the peanut-containing powder triggered the beneficial desensitization reactions, without provoking harmful allergic responses in laboratory tests with mice. The scientists note that the technique could also be adapted for other food allergies.

About three years ago I attended a dinner at a hotel. I ordered the vegetarian entree, lest I eat another bland chicken dinner. Part way threw the meal I noticed my lips were tingling, then I started coughing and then lost my voice. Allergy attack? Losing my voice is the reaction I would get to certain pollens, weeds and molds. My bronchial tubes constrict, a version of anaphylaxis. I asked the server to check with the chef on the ingredients in my meal. I noted them so as to alert my allergist. Within the next few weeks I had several more incidents and always when eating vegetarian options. I finally narrowed it down to onions and garlic. Hello, my life at that point was over. The problem then comes in that in order to be tested, you can't have had a reaction for 30 days. I would get within a few days and wham, another reaction. When I finally had the test done, six things registered: onions, garlic, tomatoes, green beans, oranges and cherries. Problem is they all ranked low on the allergy scale. I hadn't had a noticeable problem with the last four, so after many months of avoiding onions and garlic, I started esting small amounts and didn't have a reaction. About a year later I reacted to citrus on three occasions, but not since. Can't explain it, but always carry my epipen and Benedryl.