Thinking of joining the “Plague of the Month”Club?
Get in line.
The latest dread disease is a parasite apparently commonly found on fresh produce (That’ll teach you to eat your veggies.). The stuff is known to scientists who study such health issues as cyclosporiasis. Guess that it’s been around before, usually appearing between May and August, but so far the CDC(Center for Disease Control and Prevention–currently run by a nutball) has been unable to track down its origin. Seems that the DNA of this particular “bug” is really hard to track down to its starting point in the food chain, AND the time between exposure and the actual outbreak can be anywhere between two days to two weeks; so who remembers exactly what they ate–parsley? cantaloup? Kale?–over that kind of culinary stretch? Once upon a time health groups tended to believe this was all about imported produce but lately it’s likely to be a U.S. issue involving any kind of fresh fruits, vegetable or herbs, especially the unwashed ones. Even in your own backyard garden, I’ll bet. Stop! Don’t gobble down any greenery before you wash it. Wouldn’t hurt to wash all prep surfaces & utensils and your hands! Cook and refrigerate ASAP too.
So, anyway, it’s bad enough that the parasite sneaks up on us, slinking out of bathrooms of any vintage or location, but the symptoms are “bathroom-related” as well, that is to say–as one reporter phrased it–involving (You’ve heard of “projectile vomiting”?) “projectile diarrhea”. How’s that for a description which you can’t unsee? Yowzah!!!
And in other food-related news, The Week reports that in Texas politics the whole issue of food has gotten “down and dirty” when one candidate accused another of being vegan (Them’s fightin’ world in the Lone Star State, apparently), even though the accused was photographed with a turkey leg; he was using a napkin though, which the accuser derided because real Texans don’t use sanitary paper products “until it’s all over”. Fine dining goes political, I guess.
Also in The Week, news that the governor of Massachusetts issued an executive order legalizing the Scottish delicacy (not what I would call it, but what do I know?) known as haggis, which is illegal here under federal law. .Haggis is made from the lungs, liver, kidneys , etc of a sheep, mixed with oatmeal, suet, seasoning and boiled in the sheep’s stomach, served with “neeps & tatties”–turnips and potatoes. This is all to welcome Scottish football (soccer) fans known as “the Tartan Army”. Sounds offal to me.
Maybe they like it with ranch dressing.
