Why "only 1-2% really have food intolerances" drives me nuts.

[fjm]

I saw this today in a cook book (Amazing Grains, bought because we need a wider range of options) and once more it made my teeth grind, not because it's wrong, but because the writer doesn't understand the implications

Comments

[heleninwales]

I sympathise regarding your problems with bananas. I have a similar problem with eggs. Sometimes I can eat eggs with impunity; sometimes they cause stomach cramps and diarrhoea. Partly it depends on how they've been cooked, but for some reason fresh eggs that are worst. Once they pass their "use by" date, I can usually eat them without problems. However, if I'm away from home, I have to adopt a total "no eggs" policy because of not knowing how fresh the eggs are and also because it's difficult to explain that a couple of slices of hard boiled egg in a salad sandwich is ok but scrambled eggs for breakfast are likely to cause serious discomfort.

Coffee, sadly, has become a total no go area. :(

[lamentables]

If you're looking for more recipes, I recommend Green Kitchen Stories and their book. They tend not to use dairy products, write a high proportion of gluten-free recipes, and remember to point out gf alternatives. Also they make delicious stuff.

And yes, the whole allergy/intolerance/fad discourse frustrates me because it seems to come from a place of demanding that you deserve to have your choices/requirements respected and observed.

[rmc28]

FWIW I don't think it's "faddy" to like bananas only at certain ripenesses: the banana changes in taste and texture as it goes from green to yellow to speckled-brown to completely overripe. Personally, I only like the range that goes from greeny-yellow to a-few-brown-speckles; my spouse likes the range from yellow to lots-of-speckles, which is convenient because he will finish bananas I can't face, but basically we both have different but consistent tastes.

[fjm]

I don't dislike unripe bananas. They taste pleasantly of apple. I really do have a gag reflex which if worse might = the vomiting people with Banana allergy have.

[rmc28]

That sounds horrible, I'm sorry you have that reaction :(

I think I mean though, that you shouldn't have to justify that to me (or anyone) - you wish not to eat bananas at that stage, that's enough for me. Labelling it "faddy" strikes me as rude and dismissive.

The difference between preference / intolerance / allergy is more about how serious the consequences of getting it wrong are for the eater; but when I'm providing food to others, I tend to aim for higher than "didn't kill or distress the recipient".

[tithenai]

That percentage is baffling to me anyway because I feel that a majority of my friends have food intolerances of one sort or another.

[gillpolack]

There's a study of the kiwifruit and pineapple thing (the CSIRO did it, as part of its study into allergies and amines). I know this because I'm the same and my mother has worse reaction. The slow ripening jagged leaf pineapples are generally fine for me when ripe, while the others are only fine when superripe, for instance. And I can only eat bananas comfortably when they're so ripe that they'll only be good for cooking in ten minutes time or when they're plantains and I bake them. I also have problems with green beans sometimes and not at all at others. The allergy specialists explained to me that allergies are grouped and that when one has allergies one is also likely to be sensitive to a range of other things. Which you already know, but the combination of specialists here who admit this and the work of the CSIRO means that people tend to be OK with me eating/not eating pineapple for I will talk them senseless so that they get the differences between sensitivities and intolerances and allergies.

[joyeuce]

That's interesting; I hadn't heard about the CSIRO study. I like tinned pineapple, but have a mild reaction to fresh and avoid it when possible. I don't know whether I have a similar reaction to kiwi as it's so long since I've eaten it, but I first tried it when I was five and announced that I hated it, so it's possible.

I think it's also possible to have a very strong aversion, to the point of being unable to eat a food, without it being an actual allergy or intolerance. At 15, I stayed with an Austrian family for a few weeks. It was summer, and we had strawberries for pudding every single day, with cream and sometimes also chocolate mousse. For several years afterwards, the thought of eating strawberries made me feel physically sick, though I could tolerate them in jam or very well-mixed fruit (e.g. summer pudding). Eventually I grew out of it.