Where I am told I am a bother

[bainsidhe]

I'm not allergic to avacado, but I sure don't like it. The taste is meh and the texture....*shudder*. Too bad a lot of sushi involves avacado.

A local grocer has a cashier that's allergic to shellfish. They have a very clear sign on the register that asks customers to inform the cashier if they have any shellfish in their basket. I actually asked her one day how difficult it was to get customers to forewarn her. Very difficult it seems.

[jedimaster91]

I'm not allergic to avacado, but I sure don't like it. The taste is meh and the texture....*shudder*. Too bad a lot of sushi involves avacado.

Actually, the small bits of avacado in sushi don't bother me. But I won't eat it otherwise. Don't like the taste. Sushi on the other hand....the only roll I know I don't like was a seafood wrapped in squid roll. Blech. I love the tempura rolls. Om nom nom!

[draftermatt]

Interesting, I never knew that avocado and latex allergies were linked. I'm allergic to latex and have never been able to eat avocado

I'm allergic to latex too.

I remember when I was first diagnosed I was given a list of things I should avoid (gloves, balloons, condoms, etc) and things not to eat, which included bananas, water chestnuts, apricots.

Every year the pediatrician would send my parents an updated list (avocado was added sometime after 2000).

The last list I saw told me I should avoid potatoes and tomatoes. I told my parents to stop getting the list because now they were being ridiculous, I eat potatoes and tomatoes at least once a week (sometimes together).

If it's all going to kill me I may as well die happy and full.

[Kogarashi]

Actually pretty much the default japanese soup is based on dashi - bonitofish flake and seaweed broth. Miso shiru is miso and other ingredients added to the hon-dashi. For a round eyes I actually make quite good hon dashi =)

Ah. All the miso soup recipes I've found involve some form of dashi alternative that doesn't involve seafood (unless you count seaweed as seafood). Interesting.

I'm not allergic to avacado, but I sure don't like it. The taste is meh and the texture....*shudder*. Too bad a lot of sushi involves avacado. (

One more reason I'm glad I know how to roll my own sushi. I get to put whatever I want in it.

[LadyAndreca]

I'm allergic to latex too.

I remember when I was first diagnosed I was given a list of things I should avoid (gloves, balloons, condoms, etc) and things not to eat, which included bananas, water chestnuts, apricots.

Every year the pediatrician would send my parents an updated list (avocado was added sometime after 2000).

The last list I saw told me I should avoid potatoes and tomatoes. I told my parents to stop getting the list because now they were being ridiculous, I eat potatoes and tomatoes at least once a week (sometimes together).

If it's all going to kill me I may as well die happy and full.

I love bananas, apricots, and kiwi...don't like water chesnuts, but I don't have a reaction to them, or the 'spit it out!' reflex I do with avocado. Some things take very little effort to avoid, like having latex-free bandaids in my locker at work and asking for a pair of nitrile-dipped gloves to be marked down for me since I can't use the store-issued latex-dipped ones. It's actually a common enough allergy that more people are aware of it than not.

But man, did it take some research to find good condoms we could use. Some "non-latex" condoms are made from a natural rubber, which is what latex is made of, and I'm just as allergic to that. Luckily I was smart enough to go "hmm, let me tie one around my wrist first and see if I react"...followed shortly by "Get it off get it off! ITCHY!!!!"

[LillFilly]

Hee. This all reminds me that I'm allergic to nickel; learned that in the military when we had to keep our locker keys on a chain around our necks. I needed permission to tie mine to my belt. When I did my handcuff training, I had no clue why my hands and wrists were red and covered in hives. THEN I realized the handcuffs were nickel coated! So my supervisor got me a nice pair of stainless steel ones. I have to wash wash wash after handling costume jewelery, wire, etc.

[draftermatt]

...followed shortly by "Get it off get it off! ITCHY!!!!"

When I used them I used Trojan's polyurethane, but after a while I started to get a reaction to them (took a few times) but instead of itching I'd get severe pain in a very unpleasant area, hence why I don't use them at all anymore. Wonder if it has something to do with what you said...

As far as bananas, etc. I ate bananas all the time, but when you're diagnosed at the age of 8 and NO ONE knew anything about it (at the time-Spring 1993), you listen to everything.

So I haven't had a banana in 17 years.

Gave up gum 13 years ago after chewing started giving me chest pain and a piece of grape Bubbliscious caused my throat to close.

You're right some things are really easy to avoid, others you grin and bear it (the bottoms of all shoes, elastic, etc).

Though I've heard in recent years we're not so much allergic to the food, but it "lowers our resistance" to latex. No idea how true that is though.

[Kimmik]

huh I am allergic to latex.. never knew it could involve food to... *makes note*

Any hoo I met the owner and we had a nice chat.. I explained that the reason I asked about the gravy is I know for almost a certain if it is a package I can't eat it and I would have ordered something else. And that my reaction ranges from a sneezy fit to it looks like I have the worst most vilest of hay-fever attack... I am getting to the point where doc wants me to carry an epi... I just cant afford it currently.

I also informed him that I didn't want the manager fired perse... but educated on the fact that just because he has never heard of it.. or what ever that it must mean that the customer is trying to scam them. I was even honest and informed him that it probably didnt help calling the manger a fucktard.

But come to find out that the manager was fired since the incident as he was rude to the wrong customer. I almost died laughing when the owner told me about it.. seems as if Manager had foot in mouth disease big time.

So in the end I had my brain picked about food allergies.. and the owner made me lunch... have no clue what it was but ooo was it yummy and spicy... hehe and I have permission to eat at his restaurant when ever I like.. Just no gravy for me.

[draco664]

So in the end I had my brain picked about food allergies.. and the owner made me lunch... have no clue what it was but ooo was it yummy and spicy... hehe and I have permission to eat at his restaurant when ever I like.. Just no gravy for me.

You see, *this* is why not being sucky when complaining is so much more productive.

The owner took you seriously, it helped in removing an idiot from a position of responsibility, you got a good meal, information changed hands (heads?) that will make eating there safer for others with allergies, and the restaurant keeps your custom and your good graces.

Bravo.

[trailerparkmedic]

I found out by accident that I am allergic to avocado - was sharing a community bowel of "kirby queo"

OMG I love that stuff!!

I really feel bad for people with food allergies but my patience has worn thin with one of my friends who claims to be allergic to food she doesn't like (there's a big difference between "I dislike the taste of garlic so please don't include it" and "You need to prepare my meal far, far, far away from any garlic in the kitchen and no one at the table is allowed to have any either") and then spends 20 minutes reminding the waitress of her list of "allergens". Honey, you've already ordered your food, please stop harassing the waitress. She also says she is deathly allergic to cilantro yet looked at me like I had a second head when I asked her if she wanted me to carry her epipen when she was going out without a purse. "I don't have an epipen, I don't need one."

And then there's my mother in law, who is "allergic" to beef, but not veal.

Real food allergies have to suck though, especially things that show up in weird places like peanuts. With restaurants having to disclose things like calorie counts, you'd think they could at least disclose common allergens in their food.

[Binky]

I hate not being able to have dairy, and I also hate not being able to have red meat!

It sux! Whats bad now is that I've cut out caffine so when I go to get something nice and warm to drink I normally go for a Chai Latte. Thing is, depending on where you go they use instant powder...which often has skim/milk powder in it. This means when I find out a place uses that...I can't go there even if it's yummy!

grrrrrrrrrr Good on you for standing your ground and NOT being sucky about it! Well done!

[Andara Bledin]

Real food allergies have to suck though, especially things that show up in weird places like peanuts. With restaurants having to disclose things like calorie counts, you'd think they could at least disclose common allergens in their food.

Many do so online, but not in the stores. With how often and quickly the "lists" shift, it's just not practical or cost-effective for them to keep printing and sending out new documentation that could be used by someone to sue them.

^-.-^

[angelkirie]

I have a pretty gnarly garlic intolerance, it hits me like food poisoning within a few hours of ingesting it.

As you can imagine, it's near impossible to eat out at restaurants, haha. I always hate asking the wait staff for special consideration so if I don't already know a place, I generally just order a salad. I've run into a few waiters on both ends of the spectrum, those that get REALLY uptight and refuse to let me eat anything that they haven't personally checked, and those that just tell me 'No, there's nothing here you can eat.' Thank God I haven't run into anyone who outright lied like in this story though! I don't think I could be as gracious as you were! Way to go!

[Muses_nightmare]

Whats bad now is that I've cut out caffine so when I go to get something nice and warm to drink I normally go for a Chai Latte. Thing is, depending on where you go they use instant powder...which often has skim/milk powder in it. This means when I find out a place uses that...I can't go there even if it's yummy!

That and Chai has caffeine in it (though there are decaf varieties), I hate not being able to have caffeine seriously, I used to be a huge coffee addict and I've gotten to the point now where a small amount of caffeine will make me feel like crap and give me a migraine eventually (and holy hell does american pop give me migraines, I swear the caffeine content must be way higher down there) And I'm allergic to raw celery, well my mouth goes completely numb if I have it, so I assume allergy, luckily cooked celery doesn't do anything to me, which is good cause that stuff is in EVERYTHING. Though I do have to avoid ordering chicken salad stuff while out, because 9/10 times there's raw celery in it.

[Lady J'ssem]

I've some mild non-food allergies (dust, grass, pollen, mold), and rather somewhat nasty non-food allergies (hay and horses cause of the hay...), and sensitivity to smoke, but the worse I get from those are headaches, sneezing fits, and hives, thankfully.

But the worse allergies I have are to milk, soy, and spices, oddly enough. I'm not affected tooo much by milk products. I can't have DMc's shakes or frappes though cause it'll come out one way or the other. I can have cheese just fine, ice cream I enjoy without issue. But I can't have milk in with my icecream or whatever, unless the milk was heated or used in it in some way. Milk on its own my body rejects straight off.
Soy based products cause me no end of discomfort. I get irritated if it touches my skin. I get cramps or it comes out one of two ways, or it simply makes me physically ill. Even if its processed with something I get sick. My yoga instructor fixed us a vegan breakfast once, with tofu eggs, and soy based sausage. She had started to tell us that soy was so good for you that no one was allergic to it, etc. etc. I had to tell her that I was and that it made me violently ill. She looked at me in complete surprise and told me that there must be some things left to be learned about soy then. Yeah...
Spices, I don't know which spices cause me so much trouble. I'm fine with normal black pepper. I can handle salt fine. But some sort of spice in either the Mexican Bell place, or any hispanic restraunt always sets me off when it first touches my mouth. It can be anything from simply my mouth going completely numb to my throat threatening to close. And unfortunately my sister LOVES Mexican and Hispanic foods. Nine times out of ten if we're looking for some place to eat, she'll request a Mexican restraunt, the spicier the food the better. It makes me want to smack her. Last time I went I ended up trying something, don't remember what it was, but it didn't look like it'd be spicy. I took one bite and my mouth when completely numb, I rinsed my mouth quickly, then took apart the thinga majig, it had two tortillas "glued" together with a spicey cheese sauce. My mouth was sensitive enough after that I couldn't even eat a normal taco. I love Bell place's drinks though....