One of the things that surprises MOST people about me is that I really don't enjoy alcohol. I often like the taste of alcoholic drinks, but have never liked the way they feel in my body.
Little did I know, this simple "taste" preference may have saved my life.
You see, I am allergic to a key ingredient in most wines, beers, preserved meats, and even my beloved pickle. This ingredient is sulfite. It's also found in many dried fruits and some red fruit drinks. (The list is much longer and I provide the link a bit later.)
What concerns me most about this is not my own health, but that considering the potential severity of the reaction for some groups of people, so many of us go untested, untreated and unconcerned, believing our headaches and shortness of breath (to name two common reactions) to be related to stress, heat or some other factor. Potentially more dangerous is the fact that we treat our ailments with drugs that may either contain a similar compound or react poorly when mixed with sulfite-containing foods.
Because this allergy is reported as 1 in 100, it
seems rare to some--peanuts, wheat, eggs, dairy etc. get center stage at the allergen table. Sulfite-allergies are also ones you can develop over time, so here again, the possibility of blaming the allergic reactions on some other cause is likely.
DO NOT take my word for it. I would be mortified. Do read this article from the very trusted source: WebMD.
http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/sulfite-sensitivity As you read the article on WebMD, consider that if the number of those affected by this allergy is
only 1 in 100 --then in Brooklyn, NY alone, that's 25,000 of us. Consider also that restaurants buy in bulk--many owners trained in scalable costs and bulk food preparation, NOT in nutrition and chemical additives. After a while, the numbers of people and the potential encounters you will have with sulfites add up. If you are sulfite-sensitive or severely allergic (for example for many asthmatics) OR you take a medication that could interact with sulfites--consider all of the above with great care and caution.
Dried fruit, lunch meats, pickles, wine, beer, jams, jellies --ALL foods I love to taste or eat--can also create the kinds of physical reactions that bring about some very unhappy chemical mixes that make it difficult for your to cope with stress--physical, mental and emotional. What do most of us do when stressed --eat more of the same kinds of food--then the cycle of unhealthy feelings, thoughts and actual physical stress continues. This is why I take the time out to discuss these kinds of unsavory matters with my Carib Kin. I would frankly, be more popularly received by some if I smply made it easier to repeat our recipes as we rememember them---but can they be if we don't use fresh, local farm ingredients and your grandmother (like mine) isn't the one who actually salted and left the cod out to dry in her outdoor kitchen? Is your and my beloved guayaba jam the same as the one brewed at stove top with doors wide open and women yelling out from one kitchen window to another about the latest happening in town.
To be honest, I have deep concerns about our diets in particular
because we are so good at recreating the flavours of our Carib Kin
without the benefit of the fresher, more globally healthful ingredients. So I share this with you because as we cook and mix drinks together, feel connected over old flavours like they are long-loved kin returned for the stay--it would do my heart a service to know that you are keeping watch (even if it takes a notebook & pen) over your/your kin's ability to tolerate certain foods.
As you know, I'm not a doctor, nurse, or holistic health practitioner. So, I don't write blog entries dealing with serious health matters solely from my own experiences. Nor am I terribly moved to suggest the latest herbal-trend because it was helpful to someone who is now a convert. I've had one too many people suggest to me that there was a vitamin or herb that would magically cure some ailment they knew very little about. With some complicated, non-visible disabilities, they can be as intractable as being hearing-impaired---and NO, as far as we know, on some store shelf in Healthy Herb Shop 2011, there is NOT an herb for that! At least not yet--and no one is more interested than I am in finding it.
In fact, some people are so allergic to some herbs, it can kill them. I almost served a friend of mine a dish of death via parsley-encrusted fish. Fortunately, she knew the smell well enough to say "I can't". (I've never fully recovered from the experience...) I also instantly get the taste of metal in my mouth when I imbibe a tea that has hidden amounts of chamomile--no severe reaction yet, but enough to make me very uncomfortable.
So, be aware, be sensitive, be wise. Bring a dish if you know you have a sensitivity. Prepare alternatives before you feed your family the latest round of digestive aids or advice because the item on your table
doesn't bother you!
Again, here is the article:
http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/sulfite-sensitivity (Yet, even WebMD says that you NEED to make an informed decision with the help of medical/nutritional professionals.)
Now that you have some insights, also track your reaction to MSG (check the back of that Spanish rice seasoning packet!), Aspartame (I don't need to read the label here, I feel it within minutes!), and really every label of every food you purchase. Develop a keen dietary awareness of you and those you love.
There are a variety of options out there. When they are on sale, buy in bulk---hence the call, once again for converting that sock draw into a mini-pantry.
I know I may very well be the bearer of bad news, but 20 years ago, restaurants & food products didn't advertise as No-MSG. Twenty years from now, I'd like to sit at any table in any country where my Carib Kin reside and eat without worry. Wouldn't you?
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News of the World, by Idea go
Vive La France, by Carlos Porto
Parsley Leaf, by Suat Emam 
Red Wine Pour, by Paul
Here's the card we put together: me and her for the Holidays and party invitations. Sorry, man...don't know exactly what she has planned when. I keep a lunar calendar around though, and I picked up a little French: "Quand la lune est plein" = 