[Sca-cooks] hate hate hate 'american' restaurant food.

[Huette von Ahrens]

Jadwiga,

Do I ever hear you!  Being highly allergic to capsicums, I have to be very very selective
when I eat _anywhere_.  When I eat at a restaurant, I have to grill the waiter/waitress
relentlessly to make sure that there are no capsicums whatsoever in the dish I order.
When I eat at a friend's house, I have to practically ask for the recipes used to make sure
I can eat something.  Eating at a potluck dinner is a chore for me because most of the food
contains capsicums of some sort or another.  Most of the time, the person who brought the dish
is either not in the room or gets offended if I ask questions about the ingredients. And buying
packaged food from the market takes me a long time, because I have to read the ingredients list
carefully.  My life has become so difficult.

I have had this happen to me:

Me: "Are there any capsicum peppers in this dish?"
Waitress: "I will ask the chef." returns "No."
Me: "No chilis, jalipenos, or bell peppers?"
Waitress: "Oh!  I thought you meant hot peppers.  There are bell peppers in the dish, but
they aren't hot."
Me: "But they contain capsicum and I am allergic to capsicum."

And I get the same response for cayenne pepper and paprika.

But even American food nowadays contains some quantities of camsicum.  Most restaurant
meat loaves have bell peppers in it.  I used to love Sloppy Joes, but I can't eat them
unless I make them myself.  And don't get me going on spaghetti sauces....  Sigh.

Huette


--- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net> wrote:

> Y'all have probably noticed that I'm no big fan of the capsicums. 
> 'American' chain restaurant food, however, is slowly becoming overrun 
> with 'em. This weekend was the last straw for me.
> 
> I was at Ruby Tuesday's, and innocently ordered the "Shrimp Pasta 
> Parmesan", apparently overlooking the word "spicy" in the shrimp 
> description. (Not, of course, hot, cajun, or anything else.)
> 
> What I got was shrimp literally lightly crusted with a 'spice mixture' 
> which later investigation showed was about 80-90% powdered red pepper. 
> (Yes, I sent it back when I couldn't taste anything but the pepper. They 
> cooked it without the seasoning and brought out a tiny cup of seasoning 
> for me to put on if I wanted it. The waitress who helped us was VERY 
> smart. I dug around in the seasoning and found the few crumbs of actual 
> herbs and used those.) 
> 
> This, ladies & gentlemen, is ridiculous. People are putting hot pepper 
> in deep-fried onions. They are dumping it on everything. Is this like 
> the well-done steak problem-- a way of disguising a horrible food? Or 
> what?
> 
> I like spices. I make mustard, and ginger sauce, and peppercorn sauce. 
> But short of pretending to a mild 'reaction' to hot pepper or only going
> to diners for american food, is there any safe way to avoid being hot 
> 'peppered' everywhere?
> 
> -- 
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 
> "I thought you might need rescuing . . . We have a bunch of professors 
> wandering around who need students." -- Dan Guernsey
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> 


My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel;   King Henry VI, part I: I, v 
http://www.twoheartsentwinedpottery.com/


 
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