Foods you Crave but Cannot Eat

[Mikels]

I keep kosher, which limits what foods and dishes I can eat. Many is the time, I would like to have had some dishes, but they are off the list. In many cases, I can find alternates to some ingredients, but wonder how close these dishes are to the original. Usually, however, cooking within the limits defined by kashrut is not all that difficult.

Edited October 7, 2010 by Mikels (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I sincerely feel bad for those who have to restrict their diet for health/allergy reasons. All of the foods I crave but cannot eat are due to an inability to get them where I live. I'm not suggesting that's as bad as a medical reason but knowing you can eat it but can't get it adds its own little twist to the knife. I really want a big bag of live crawfish.

[jgm]

Although I've had GERD for many years, I've managed it just fine until this summer. This has been "one of those years" for our family, when the anticipated loss of some elderly friends and relatives has come to pass, and since there was plenty of time to prepare, I weathered the storm pretty well. Unanticipated, though, was the illness and subsequent death of a much younger relative, which sent the entire family into a tailspin, including me. It was one of those deals where an initially dreadful diagnosis was followed by disaster after disaster (about 2/3 of those were induced by irresponsible physicians and hospital staff) and I spent a week unable to eat until my physician gave me a nerve-calming medication that allowed me to start functioning again. As a result, all kinds of things are now off limits: most citrus in any quantity (a couple of bits of orange in a fruit salad were fine), and anything with even a whisper of heat, including my favorite coctail sauce for steamed shrimp. Because of the necessity of eating most meals in the hospital cafeteria, during the entire summer I had ONE fresh tomato, which was wonderful, but the pain it caused wasn't. There are hints that the situation is resolving, and in a few months I may be able to eat more normally again.

Good thing I like tapioca.

[scottie]

Coffee, coffee, coffee. I recently had to quit all coffee, even decaf, due to ulcer-like stomach issues. I miss the hell out of it and sometimes buy it and take two sips, but even that will hurt for several hours afterwards. I try to subsist on the aroma.

Pickles are out completely, which isn't too bad except for the vinegary cucumber-and-onion salad indigenous to the South, which I grew up eating and discovered this summer is now forever relegated to the past.

Seltzer. My favorite fizzy water. Carbonation is a no-no. But I love Prosecco, so I figured for now I'll trade seltzer for that.

Cutting out spicy foods is looming on the horizon. I've cut way back on hot sauce and will miss it heartily when the day comes, but for now I use it very rarely and sparingly, at least compared to how I used to pour Sriracha and the like all over everything. I just bought a bottle of the (locally) famous Guyank Sweet-Hot, which I believe ought to last me for about ten years.

But I'd give up all this and more if I could have my beloved coffee back!

[barbjack]

due to medical complications from a procedure 18 months ago, I too cannot eat corn, red meat,pork, or anything with a peel or skin or much fiber.

Some day I would Love to be able to eat some nice corn on the cob, a pork chop, or an apple or a steak! I have been able to eat out

With more success at restaurants who do not mind disclosing what's in a sauce, or mind making substitutions. When staff realizes that it's for a medical reason, they are often willing to oblige.

[judiu]

Coffee, coffee, coffee. I recently had to quit all coffee, even decaf, due to ulcer-like stomach issues. I miss the hell out of it and sometimes buy it and take two sips, but even that will hurt for several hours afterwards. I try to subsist on the aroma.

Pickles are out completely, which isn't too bad except for the vinegary cucumber-and-onion salad indigenous to the South, which I grew up eating and discovered this summer is now forever relegated to the past.

Seltzer. My favorite fizzy water. Carbonation is a no-no. But I love Prosecco, so I figured for now I'll trade seltzer for that.

Cutting out spicy foods is looming on the horizon. I've cut way back on hot sauce and will miss it heartily when the day comes, but for now I use it very rarely and sparingly, at least compared to how I used to pour Sriracha and the like all over everything. I just bought a bottle of the (locally) famous Guyank Sweet-Hot, which I believe ought to last me for about ten years.

But I'd give up all this and more if I could have my beloved coffee back!

Scottie, have you tried Kava brand coffee? http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1574391/acid_reflux_suffers_a_review_on_kava.html

Sounds like it might work for you; good luck!

[barbhealy]

The second thing, after thinking about salsa, I'm tempted to make a post in Cooking asking for recipes and suggestions for a killer tomato free salsa, maybe one built on roasted peppers or something.

Can you eat tomatillos? They make a wonderful salsa.

[barbhealy]

Really, the worst of it is restaurants, generally -- I can cook around the gluten restriction for the most part when I'm at home, but I often can't try the new little place everyone's raving about, and even when I can I'm often restricted to a tiny corner of the menu.

This. Exactly this. I've been gluten free for seven or eight years now (and I can't eat potatoes, and the spouse can't have unfermented soy), and I don't crave the foods I can't have. I crave being able to go out to lunch or dinner on the spur of the moment. I crave not having to explain my diagnosis or my eating habits to people I barely know. I crave being able to trust people (who I know have the best intentions, and make the best efforts) to serve me food that doesn't make me sick.

It doesn't matter what your allergies are, mine is MSG, restaurants -- and even well-meaning friends houses -- are dangerous because they use so many pre-prepared products where no one has any idea what's in them. How do you tell your friends that their cooking makes you sick? My MIL used to be a wonderful cook but now she cuts corners by buying stuff from Costco and I get a migraine every time we eat there. I love her (she's not your typical MIL) and we enjoy spending time with them, but I dread the meals.

[jkarpf]

Since grapefruit doesn't go well with my Lipitor, when I order brunch with my partner, I encourage her to order a glassful of the juice so I can smell it.

But usually she orders orange juice so we can share it.

Yet what I really want is to smell her grapefruit juice.

[Kouign Aman]

I crave being able to trust people (who I know have the best intentions, and make the best efforts) to serve me food that doesn't make me sick.

Yup. Makes us feel lousy when we accidentally make you ill. We cooked bratwurst in beer last summer, told everyone that's what we did, and thusly, after consuming 4, our dear friend discovered his wheat issues extend to beer.

We felt awful.

Edited October 8, 2010 by heidih
Fix quote tags (log)

[sazji]

Beer. I don't exactly crave it, but there are times I really wish I could have it; on hot humid days especially, something that is cold and a bit bitter is just what I want. But if I drink beer, it only takes about one and a half hours for a migraine to kick in that will make me pretty much useless for around 20 hours.

[codheadred]

Port

I come out in what my family amusingly (for them) termed a "Port Rash" where my neck becomes red all and inflamed. Takes about 4 glasses or so... problem is if its a meal where port is being served I have a tendancy to get to 4 glasses plus whatever went before..

Steven

[psiweaver]

I'm really missing good mexican food after moving from Los Angeles, up to seattle in fact i'm missing the across the board ethnic options in LA, also good pizza.

[faith]

Tuna and onion flesh, primarily. Not my allergies, but my better half's. We live in a place and have schedules that mean we eat out seldom (which is fine as we both are happy in a kitchen), and I can't see cooking two different meals, so I learned to steer clear of his allergies. The tuna is a histamine reaction (similar to kids who can't even be around peanuts of any kind), so it's just too risky to get near the stuff, even if we're choosing entrees in a restaurant. He's been advised to stay away from mahi-mahi and halibut as well. Given that tuna and mahi-mahi are all over the menu at my favorite fish taco place, we've crossed that off our list. (Of course, that has started to sting a little less since we've relocated from that city.) And tuna certainly never comes in the house. As for the onions, we're not sure exactly what it is about them--he can have stock or stews flavored with onions that are strained out, and onion powder works as well (thank goodness for Penzey's toasted onion powder)--but actual onions are a bit of a disaster. I'm glad the weather has turned cool enough to make stock more often as that's a prime way I tuck onion flavor into dishes. But not being able to sweat onions till they've released their sugars is something I miss especially every time I make a one-pot meal.

[CKatCook]

regular yellow onions is painful to my eyes to cut. Not just ordinary crying you get with onions, but my eyes will burn hours later. I cannot even eat them in anything raw (like on a taco) without it making my eyes and nose burn. Which is sad, because I want me some french onion soup this winter! I cannot eat graham flour. It literally makes my throat close up and I love graham crackers. As well as swiss chard, but I cannot eat swiss chard either.

I only have a very few, I have a friend that has so many food allergies it makes it difficult for her to eat anything she does not cook herself. My heart goes out to anyone that has to deal with food allergies, illness, etc. that restricts food like that. Hopefully some good ideas will come out in this thread.

Pine apple/ black bean salsa...yum. (for the person up the thread that was allergic to tomatoes, her name escapes me now)

[kitchensqueen]

I'm lactose intolerant so I really miss cheese - fresh mozzarella, provolone, freshly grated aged reggiano-parmegiano. And vanilla bean ice cream and cream sauces... cookie dough ice cream, freshly churned salted butter, fresh whipped cream... and sadly I became lactose intolerant in my early twenties so I know what I'm missing. :-)

[SaltySnack]

There are lots of things I can't eat anymore and for the most part I've gotten over eating them, but I still miss fresh pineapple, I would love Reeses peanut butter cup but now I can't stand the smell of coffee so I don't miss that any more. For me the hardest part has been going gluten free and traveling. I was in Mexico recently and would have loved to have picked up some treats but with no ingredients listed on the package there was no way I was chancing getting sick. I don't mind anymore giving up certain foods if that means I am healthy and feel good. It's a tradeoff I will willingly make.