[Sca-cooks] Cooking with allergens- alert

[Gorgeous Muiredach]

>If you folks are that allergic to begin with, please
>avoid the allergens as much as possible. An allergy
>does not spring up full-blown from nothing- it is a
>reaction your body has to particular substances which
>becomes worse on every repeated contact- if they kill
>you and make you sick if ingested now, more improper
>exposure could bring you to the point where even being
>in the same room with them could cause you serious
>problems, If you're going to try desensitization, only
>do that under a Drs care- informal desensitization
>could make you worse -much worse.

Good point.  I *used* to be able to eat crustaceans.  I loved the
stuff.  Got sicker and sicker on it until I went to see a doctor.  So
repeated exposure does make things worse.

However, in my case (note I point out my case, as I realize it's not the
same with everyone), handling of the beasties does not increase risks.  I
state this because I did work with a couple specialists on the
issue.  Having worked in the food field for nearly 15 years, I *needed* to
know what I could safely do or not.

For me, it is actually the ingestion, and processing, of iodine.  So in
fact, it's not so much the crustaceans per se that I'm allergic to, as the
iodine level found in their meat.

Interestingly enough, other high iodine content food have proven to be
rather harmless to me, such as oysters.

As Phlip points out though, don't try this at home without a doctor's
supervision.  Unless you have a death wish, of course :-)


Gorgeous Muiredach
Rokkehealden Shire
Kingdom of the Middle
aka
Nicolas Steenhout
"You must deal with me as I think of myself" J. Hockenberry