<p>I usually serve Thanksgiving dinner with traditional American favorites and vegetarian Indian favorites to please family and guests. Some Hindus are strict vegetarians, others not as much. I have warned people about ingredients- some who don’t eat eggs will indulge in cake and pumpkin pie. A friend’s mother did not eat banana bread because of the eggs while her otherwise vegetarian D did. If we visit the inlaws for more than a day I have been known to go to McD’s for a meat fix- and a break from the spicy foods. Visited Jain friends overnight once and wanted some protein (not just carbs- blood sugar…) for breakfast, a sandwich works (no egg products). No peanut butter (from the ground) and their only cheese was very spicy, sigh. It is interesting what various religions choose regarding food, and how people interpret things eons after rules were established.</p>
<p>bd, if it were a buffet style, I’d be much happier. But it seems when I get together with people, they have elaborate pre-prepared meals. I like the ones with lots of people where they put out ingredients separately and say “dig in!”</p>
<p>My favorite Thanksgiving memories are of my vegetarian aunt cooking the turkey (she’s an excellent cook of both meat and non-meat products). A “friend” pushily informing her that the turkey wasn’t done enough. He literally sad in front of the oven the rest of the night “guarding” it from us taking it out. The turkey was BURNT. I have so many stories about that particular guest. He’s no longer invited anywhere. </p>
<p>We’re always a fun group to cook for. Aunt is a vegan. One of her daughters is diabetic, other daughter is lactose intolerant/vegetarian. Dad is soy intolerant. I have UC and a vegetarian. My dad’s the pickiest eater in the world. Oh yes, our holidays are always together and always a cluster****.</p>
<p>OK, Busdriver, you & your husband are still great at being accommodating. As you say, beer does strange things to even very nice, relaxed folks. Glad you were able to move beyond the unusual evening. ;)</p>
<p>“I swear he just did not like the taste.”</p>
<p>Sometimes someone who is allergic may not have a reaction the first time exposed or if they have not been exposed for a long time. We discovered my son was allergic to shellfish when he was small, which surprised me as he had eaten shrimp a few times with no reaction. He had not eaten shrimp in years and recently ate some with no reaction. He thought he must have outgrown the allergy and tried some again a few weeks later and became very sick. He will not make the mistake again, but it was strange that the first time exposed when young and recently did not cause a reaction.</p>
<p>My uncle (who isn’t very bright) refused a graham cracker because, as he explained, he was “allergic to graham.”</p>
<p>Wow, busdriver…he was plain out rude!</p>
<p>When I have people over, I really like to serve buffet style with lots of simple options…and I pay no attention to what people take. </p>
<p>I do like to have a heads up on dietary restrictions–and even preferences and “non-preferences” because I like to make my guests happy.</p>
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Next time invite me! I would have been thrilled to eat your food.</p>
<p>My sister (she of the evil bride daughter) is allergic to strawberries. Seriously allergic. She and her MIL share the same birthday. Her late husband’s extended family always gets together for MIL’s birthday and includes my sister in the party. Guess what they always serve? Give up? Strawberry shortcake.</p>
<p>OhioMom, I do understand the whole thing with allergies and I try very hard to accommodate, but I still think this kid was just a PITA and not allergic. He just did not take precautions at all, did not read labels, etc.</p>
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<p>Oh, I was just giving background on the family’s reaction to the brother’s sudden conversion, in both senses. The family didn’t take particularly kindly to either one, which may be why they got so bent out of shape about the vegetarianism of the BIL and his GF, who shared his new-found religious point of view, and was inclined to be a bit preachy about it. (The BIL is still very serious about his Christianity, but the GF and the vegetarianism are long gone.)</p>
<p>I wasn’t implying anything at all about Christian Science.</p>
<p>Hah, zoosermom! Well deserved! :D</p>
<p>MD Mom, sounds like another case of pseudo allergy. My H’s niece has a real peanut allergy, and she has to be incredibly careful. For example, she once broke out in huge welts all over her body after a kid who had been eating a peanut butter sandwich touched her on the back of the neck at school. (So much for those people who get up in arms about no-peanut requests and claim that all the parents have to do is train their kid not to eat nuts…)</p>
<p>I don’t know much about food allergies, but is it possible that, rather than faking, these people just have a very mild food allergy?</p>
<p>For example, I am slightly allergic to rats. I used to have a pet rat and have done some rescue work with pet rats. Whenever I touch one, I get a skin reaction, itchiness, redness, bumps. However, it’s not at all severe. My throat doesn’t close up. My eyes don’t water. The itchiness is irritating, but I can definitely deal with it if I have to.</p>
<p>Again, I don’t know if food allergies work the same way, but if they do I can see someone choosing to eat a food they are allergic to sometimes, even if it does have some mild allergic effects. That does NOT mean that they don’t have an allergy, are faking, or don’t try to avoid these foods.</p>
<p>It is absolutely true that some people just have milder allergies. If I consume anything by Minute Maid, I just get a small, mild rash. I don’t like their stuff anyway so I don’t drink it, but if it was something I liked I might drink it in small doses occasionally. My mother should NOT eat pineapple because it makes her tongue swell and itch, but on very limited occasions she does it anyway. For the longest time, I just got a headache from dairy and ate it anyway every day… until it started making me vomit instead, at which point I had to stop. Though, I still eat a hershey kiss here and there. It’s enough to make me queasy but not actually throw up unless I do it every day. It doesn’t mean I’m not allergic.</p>
<p>busdriver - "a little rude? I think you’re being very generous in both your description here and your grace in how you handled it…not that you had any choice. I would have been more then just a little perturbed! :mad: And yes, as others have said, I’d eat at your house any day. It sounds like an amazing spread you offered!!</p>
<p>Bromfield, you asked about the diff between a food allergy and a sensitivity. My understanding is that an allergy brings on significant symptoms that could be life threatening (e.g., glands swell, throat closes, hives, difficult to breathe) whereas a sensitivity is just that - digestive upset and the like that doesn’t really require medical intervention and doesn’t put the person in any kind of jeopardy. I will say as shorthand that I’m allergic to shellfish but in reality for me it’s probably only a sensitivity, as all that really happens is that I throw it up shortly. But I can be around it, touch it, etc., with no problem; indeed, I could eat a dish made with shrimp as long as I picked out the shrimp. People with real allergies would be sensitive to the presence of the shrimp “leftover” in their food, if that makes sense.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl – you reminded me with the “allergic to graham” story. When my daughter was young, she had a friend over and I was making them pasta. The friend took one look at the box and said, “I can’t eat that.”</p>
<p>Me: “Oh – I’m sorry – you can’t have pasta?”</p>
<p>Girl: “No – I eat pasta – I’m just allergic to elbow macaroni.”</p>
<p>D (to friend): “You can’t be allergic to a shape!”</p>
<p>What’s next – a FB group for people allergic to fusilli?</p>
<p>The only thing I can think of Co2015 is that the girl had a problem with something in the box mixes of mac n’ cheese (there’s all kinds of stuff in that powder). Maybe she carried that over to think it was the shape of the pasta?</p>
<p>Yea, there are definitely degrees that the degree of allergic reaction CAN vary significantly from day to day. I have been allergic to many types of shellfish from earliest memory. I do enjoy bivalves, which cause me NO allergic reaction (clams & oysters), for which I am very grateful.</p>
<p>With the other shellfish, IF it is EXTREMELY fresh (like I just caught it) and IF my health is very good and not having any other allergy issues and IF I have only a small amount, I CAN eat some shellfish without much untoward reaction. I have done so on rare occasions but it IS risky and frankly not something I should or often do because of the risks involved.</p>
<p>Allergies can be very tricky–you never know when they will be especially severe, so most of us with them try to err on the side of caution.</p>
<p>Have heard of some folks who take Benedryl & then indulge in foods they know they are allergic to. That seems too much like Russian Roulette to me and I do my best to be kind to my body.</p>
<p>I am fortunate that cross-contamination generally only makes me itch somewhat (e.g. when they cook someone’s dish that had shellfish in the same pan as mine w/o shellfish). If I were extremely allergic and cross contamination was a bigger problem, might have to limit outings and meals where that might happen. I can even eat around whatever I’m allergic to, if I’m very hungry and adventurous. At most, I will get some itching but nothing life-threatening. With sulfites, very small quantities in food are mostly manageable. Unfortunately, it is in some skin preparations & that can make me swell up badly!</p>
<p>On the peanut allergy–I’ll just echo that a person who is allergic to peanuts (like my son) can generally eat things fried in peanut oil, because the oil doesn’t contain the proteins that cause the allergic reaction. This is what the allergist told us, and it has worked for my son. He does get reactions from cross-contamination once in a while–but it’s usually from baked goods, never from peanut oil, as far as we can tell.</p>
<p>Perhaps this explains some of the increase:</p>
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<p>[Food</a> Allergies and Sensitivities: Information from Answers.com](<a href=“Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions”>Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions)</p>
<p>blueiguana – good point. I think she just didn’t like elbow macaroni (she was used to more elevated fare, let’s put it that way). </p>
<p>My kids used to say “I’m allergic to (fill in the blank)”. They weren’t allergic – they just didn’t want to eat it.</p>
<p>Here’s some more info on peanut allergies–it also notes that most allergic people can eat peanut oil, as long as it’s not cold-pressed (not very common). It’s a pretty good website in general for allergies–it sends out alerts for recalls, etc.</p>
<p>[Peanut</a> Allergy Facts, Symptoms - FAAN](<a href=“http://www.foodallergy.org/page/peanut-allergy]Peanut”>http://www.foodallergy.org/page/peanut-allergy)</p>