Near-Death By Roquefort
Sorry it's a little light, bloggingwise, this morning. I had a run-in with some roquefort cheese on my salad last night -- apparently, I have some allergy to this, and only this, and with some hellish symptoms...and I'm going to talk to the kids at Uni High again this morning (a session which I'd have to be dead or in a coma to miss).
So, in short...more blog items later, I hope.
Feel free to talk amongst yourselves below. Any topics.
Don't go all Rebecca Solnit-meek on me now!
Porthos: Rochefort? Isn't that a smelly kind of cheese?
heh, sometimes allergies are all about the last straw to break the camel's back. hope you feel better...
SwissArmyD at April 16, 2008 10:21 AM
I finally saw There Will Be Blood last night. Daniel Day Lewis, as always, was incredible. Very dark movie though.
eric at April 16, 2008 10:37 AM
What about snarky comments about eating stuff that's three months old and turned blue? :) Feel better.
vlad at April 16, 2008 11:03 AM
Get better soon!
Weird - that can't be the first time you've eaten Roquefort?
Mary at April 16, 2008 11:07 AM
"What about snarky comments about eating stuff that's three months old and turned blue?"
You could get your blue wings Vlad!
I have a real bad allergy to greens. Mustard greens or spinach makes me projectile vomit immediately. Then if I've actually digested some of it, I can go into shock. It was a real bitch growing up with grandma trying to make me eat this shit and I would be whining that it made me sick. I was having lunch with a friend at a Pizza Nova place down by the harbor last week and they brought me out a salad. I looked at it and ask the waitress if it had spinach in it. She said she didn't know so she checked and brought me another salad. It was more of a garden salad but it still had the same greens in it. The waitress looked at it and took it away and brought me a third salad that see assured me was only romaine. I ate it and on the way home, had the roof of my mouth swell up. She probably hand picked that romaine out of the other greens to make that salad and I still had a reaction to it. Allergies just suck!
Bikerken at April 16, 2008 12:24 PM
Maybe it was her first time, Mary. I've just realized I've never had it, and I'm nearly Amy's age, and love cheese. Strange to contemplate finding a new food allergy this late in life. Hope you're feeling better, Amy.
Kimberly at April 16, 2008 12:25 PM
April, I thought it a brilliant movie. You?
Jeff at April 16, 2008 1:08 PM
Get well soon, Amy!
Rainer at April 16, 2008 1:40 PM
Hi there! Thanks for the kind thoughts.
Oddly, I can eat Gorgonzola and the bluest bleu cheese, and I've eaten Roquefort throughout my adult life, but something happened in August -- the first time this happened. I had a tiny taste of Roquefort when we were buying some at a French grocery store, and experienced horrible symptoms all night. Nausea, terrible cramps, and a good bit of what you could call sending your food back -- but after you've already eaten it.
I wasn't sure it was the cheese, because we shop at this place (and eat at their restaurant) often, and their standards of food service and cleanliness seem good, and also, I called the manager, told him who I was, and told him I'm not litigious and didn't want to sue them -- and he told me nobody else had had a problem with the cheese.
Then, as I was leaving for Sarasota a month or so later, Gregg got a salad which happened to have some Roquefort on it. Good morning, hell! I was on a red-eye from LA, and spent most of my time in the bathroom, just sitting there in hell. Luckily, everybody else was sleeping and nobody needed to get in there.
Well, last night I went out for dinner with a shrink I'm friends with, and ordered a Cobb salad, which, I presume, had much more Roquefort than the last two times I had some (tiny tastes each time). It's the most pain I've ever been in.
Other than this Roquefort hell I visit periodically, I have no food or other allergies. This is totally weird. I'm having drinks tomorrow with a certain investigative science journo - going to see if he has any ideas. Or maybe Marlene Zuk knows, but I'm loathe to e-mail people for free advice who don't advertise themselves to be in that business.
Amy Alkon at April 16, 2008 3:12 PM
There Will Be Blood
That's what I was thinking during one of the many times I had my head stuck in one of the groovy shopping bags I save from Paris.
Amy Alkon at April 16, 2008 3:13 PM
In a recent interview, Keith Richards says he never eats cheese. Paraphrasing: "Eating curdled milk is a bad idea."
He looks a lot better for his age than he could if the legend of his lifestyle were accurate. I doubt he even drinks alcohol when there aren't people around to be impressed.
I drink and eat cheese for fun.
Crid at April 16, 2008 8:15 PM
It's odd, isn't it, that what's totally benign to billions of other people can cause a reaction in a few unlucky individuals.
I didn't have any food reactions until I was in my early twenties. One day I went to my corner deli and ordered my usual ham and kryptonite on rye, and whammo! it just laid me out.
Feel better.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at April 16, 2008 8:19 PM
I am allergic to Strawberries, Pineapple and Coconut. Growing up we lived down the street from a strawberry farm and I ate them by the bucket day in and day out...one morning when I was in my early 20's I put some on my cereal and within 20mins broke out in hives and swelled up to nearly twice my normal size. It's strange how those things can pop up suddenly like that!
Hope you're feeling better now!
Kimmers at April 17, 2008 8:59 AM
That sounds just terrible, Amy. My boss developed a similar problem when he was in his 40s, but it happens with all dairy. I don't think he's ever bothered to find out the problem, so I'd be curious to hear if you discover anything.
Hope you're on the mend and you can find a diagnosis - sick on a plane is my worst fear.
Glad you weren't too sick to tell that Gold's Gym jackass where to stick it!
Mary at April 17, 2008 9:10 AM
All dairy? That is scary.
Ice scream (Haagen-Dazs chocolate-chocolate chip) is one of the joys of my life.
Hope I'm never too sick to tell the rudesters where to stick it! (Truth be told, it was the night before that was real hell, but you don't tell kids you'll be there and then renig, so I got on my horse and managed to hold the remains of my guts in.)
Amy Alkon at April 17, 2008 9:15 AM
Sorry to hear you were ill, and hope you're feeling better. Like others have said, allergies have a weird way of appearing for no reason. It's like your body just decides that it's had enough of this certain food or substance it's tolerated in the past. When I came home during winter break after my first few months in college, I found myself having allergic symptoms in my family's slightly dusty house that I had lived in for almost ten years with absolutely no problems. Also, my eyes once suddenly became allergic to the brand of contact solution I'd been using for years. And my apparent dust allergy worsened greatly during a time of emotional problems, compelling me to finally get a prick test and find that I am indeed allergic to dust mites, which are everywhere no matter how much you clean. Pooh.
I wish I had some answers. But, there's no reason to think that it would be all dairy at this point... though I too would consider that a tragedy... mmm, cheese!
Debra at April 17, 2008 10:01 AM
develop allergies to all dairy as an adult?
This is genetic and in many places (where only kddies get milk) quite normal.
It is lactose (milk sugar) intolerance.
Lactaid may help.
Bryers lactose free ice cream is also a great relief.
Jim at April 17, 2008 11:00 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/04/neardeath-by-ro.html#comment-1540720">comment from JimBut, I'm not allergic to all dairy. And this Roquefort hell is extremely recent. And very puzzling.
Amy Alkon at April 17, 2008 11:25 AM
Amy said: "I wasn't sure it was the cheese, because we shop at this place (and eat at their restaurant) often, and their standards of food service and cleanliness seem good, and also, I called the manager, told him who I was, and told him I'm not litigious and didn't want to sue them -- and he told me nobody else had had a problem with the cheese."
If I am reading this correctly, the French manager probably thought you were nuts. I can't imagine anyone even considering a lawsuit in France over the *possibility* of food poisoning. Is that normal in California?
You didn't even know for sure it was the cheese that made you sick! You assumed food poisoning, which means that it could have been anything you had eaten that day. How can you even bring up the word "sue" with this guy? And yeah, I get that you were trying to reassure him, but hell, just mention that "you won't call the health department because you are anti-government" to him if you suspected you might have been done wrong. No need to use a sledgehammer.
Although, I would be surprised if you could retain a lawyer at all for such a hypothetical lawsuit. France doesn't have this culture of "punitary damages" like the US. They would just shut the place down if necessary, which is much more sensible, in my opinion.
Depending on the age of the manager, he probably had a good laugh afterwards while joking with his coworkers about "those crazy Americans".
liz at April 17, 2008 11:42 AM
Uh, "punitive". But I suppose, however, that you could get damages for lost time and income, which is of course not the same as punitive damages. But it all seems a bit weird to me.
"Your Honor, he assaulted me with a stinky cheese, I think!"
liz at April 17, 2008 11:48 AM
If I am reading this correctly, the French manager probably thought you were nuts. I can't imagine anyone even considering a lawsuit in France over the *possibility* of food poisoning. Is that normal in California?
People sue over anything across the USA. I had no intent of suing, but some people look for any opportunity, and I wanted to reassure the guy I was only calling to inform them that I had a problem, and their cheese was one of the things I'd eaten that night, and to find out whether anyone else had complained about the cheese.
Does that sound terribly unreasonable to you? I'm sure, if my friend Chantal got sick after eating at a restaurant in Paris, she'd be on the phone in much the same way.
Regarding your remark: "You didn't even know for sure it was the cheese that made you sick!"
Uh...that's why I said "I wasn't sure it was the cheese."
I'd only eaten one place before there, and my boyfriend and I both had a hamburger there (presumably out of the same pile of meat). I'd eaten only breakfast -- an English muffin at home very early in the day, before we had a late lunch/early dinner of hamburgers.
The French grocery/restaurant I was talking about is in Los Angeles, not France, and a French guy running a restaurant here is going to be used to dealing with American legalities and all.
Furthermore, he got that I was just calling for information purposes (to let them know I had a problem/see if anyone else had similar issues) and was quite nice.
It clearly is the cheese, but only a reaction I have. The cheese in my boyfriend's salad was from the same place perhaps a month later. We love the place and eat there and get carryout from there all the time.
Amy Alkon at April 17, 2008 11:57 AM
"you won't call the health department because you are anti-government"
Uh, sorry, I'm not sure what that means, and I'm not anti-goverment, just anti-too-much-government. And I doubt the guy had any sort of laugh over this because I know him and like him and he isn't one to get a giggle out of anybody having horrible pain and staying up all night vomiting.
I really find your comment positively weird.
Amy Alkon at April 17, 2008 11:59 AM
Amy sez: "I really find your comment positively weird."
It referred to you saying "I'm not litigious and didn't want to sue them". I meant that it would be more appropriate for you to say "I won't call the health department, because I am anti-government".
Parallel humor doesn't work so well when the sentences aren't side by side, it's true.
So disregard my comments. Obviously when you said a "French grocery" I assumed you were in France! Seeing how you travel here often, it is an understandable mistake. I imagine that you made the perfect response for California. But they would laugh at that in France. Food poisoning is a rite of passage, here. :) Hope you are back in shape.
liz at April 17, 2008 1:25 PM
Sorry for the misunderstanding - you're right: I didn't make it clear. I only wish the euro/dollar exchange was better and I could go there as indiscriminately as I used to!
Amy Alkon at April 17, 2008 1:35 PM
Thanks for understanding, Amy. :)
But still, to beat a dead horse, the concept of suing anybody over anything less than missing limbs is still "not done" in France. Probably you could dig up some cases to prove me wrong, but the unlitigiousness (?!?) of French culture is another big bonus. (Not that I am into food poisoning or limb chopping or John Edwards.)
My opinion is that people in France are somewhat less individualistic, and more "social", than in the US in general. Sure, you could conceivably win 10 zillion euros in a court case, but your neighbors would have to pay for it, and they would know it, too. I'm sure that you noticed that ostentatious wealth is not very well accepted here, and that the "glamour" is really low key. Ironic when you consider France is the Mecca of haute couture and produits fins. The circles I travel in, I see a designer label once a month max. I figure that this is a great place to become an older sexy woman; the "seduction" is something quite special, and has little to do with bling. It is actually great, because style is totally connected to the person, not the stuff.
I really hope that the dollar gets over its depression, too. I'm starting to think, though, that the dollar is undervalued, for all you currency traders out there. Hold on, Amy, Paris will still be here after the slump!
liz at April 17, 2008 3:07 PM
Are you sure about that?
http://tinyurl.com/6dp6ht
Crid at April 17, 2008 3:11 PM
To clarify, Jim, I'm very familiar with lactose intolerance, and the person I mentioned has an allergy that is not the same at all.
Mary at April 18, 2008 7:07 AM
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