We really are BONKERS about food in this country, aren't we?

[hunkermunster]

Why is this?

There's wall-to-wall cookery shows on TV, chefs are celebrities for making a bit of chicken and some potatoes and leeks look nice in a tower on a plate, we have more "choice" than ever - and there's so much ill-feeling about food, what we eat, what we feed our children...

"Oh, I really shouldn't..."

"It's naughty of me, but I can't resist..."

"I am allergic/intolerant/on a diet/cutting out carbs/eating protein/only having sausages on even days/on a grapefruit and flaxseed only diet"

Mental, isn't it?

yes sorry must change back

It's good to 'splain.

Sometimes, when you can be arsed

What annoys me is people using the word "allergy" or "intolerance" to mean "something that gives me a bit of indigestion".

True allergy and intolerance, as drosophila and tribpot point out, are much more serious problems. I hate to see that being trivialised because if everyone (apparently) has an allergy, there's a risk that people aren't going to take the real ones seriously enough.

errggghh... I type way too slowly with 1 hand! Crossposted.

Totally agree, oh hunkerperson.

And it links nastily into our (not restricted to the UK) obsession with bodies and weight, so that we've lost sight of what a normal female body should look like and end up with anorexia or obesity. I think.

drosophila, I'm really not trivialising allergies, promise. But I might be triviliasing people who say they're allergic to something when they just don't like it (I know several of these twats).

I have a weirdy fruit thing where my throat and tongue and gums itch and burn if I eat raw apples, peaches, nectarines, plums, sometimes cherries and pears and underripe tomatoes. It's by no means as serious as a full-blown allergy though.

Agree with MI that it's all tied up with body image and eating disorders.

Enid, I knew that was you - didn't even see you'd namechanged

yes, MI is right and so is hunker.
I refuse to have scales in this house. dd1 said to me today "If I eat too much food then I will get a fat tummy"
she's 3.5
I can't think of one single female of my acquaintance with a good relationship with food. and not too many of the men either

That cous cous recipe sounds lovely, Hunkermunster & I shall give it a go.

I popped in to see my aunt tonight,who was looking after her 8 month old grandaughter.She proudly announced to me that x had eaten all her tea.It consisted of a marmalade sandwich,a yogurt,and a slice of coffee cake!We just give her what we are having she explained airily to me.

All the food groups were covered there the,aren't they?

I went to Borders recently and couldn't believe how many titles are available on the subject of food. Recipe books by well-known chef's wives' cousins; "Eat this but don't eat that" books; "This is the diet for life" books; "Cucumber cures cancer" books, on and on and on.

To take HM's op, maybe there's just too much choice in the UK and people feel overwhelmed by it, it's all too complicated. When I go back to the UK my eyes boggle at the amount of things to eat compared to here (Nigeria). Do we really need a zillion different types of cereal or lasagne or ham or biscuits?

When I'm here I yearn for the supermarkets at home as the range of food available is very limited. We can get fresh milk & yoghurt perhaps once a month, currently there is no non-dairy spread and cream cheese is unavailable. Ham and bacon are occasionally available anywhere but no other cold meats. The range of fruit and veg is narrow and mostly poor quality -
green potatoes, scabbed tomatoes, mangled green beans, mangy carrots, courgettes, aubergines and onions and that's about it. It's also expensive; £8 for a cauliflower, £3 for small tub of Philly cheese (if they have it), £10 for two red peppers or a lettuce. Meat is cheap, £4kg for fillet steak but I'm not a great meat eater. At the moment we'd kill for some golden syrup, decent cheese and some Branston's pickle. Not necessarily all on the same piece of bread.

But when I get back to the UK the selection in the shops is just too much for me! I don't want all that choice, I just want to buy decent stuff without having to read so many labels and make so many decisions.

well, i think obsession for food is increasing in the developed world, and I can't really understand why. I'm Italian and all my italian friends constantly talk about food, like how al dente should the spaghetti be, depending on the sauce. I'm kidding you not. they can talk for hours, especially men, who pride themselves of being much better cook and wine connoiseurs (sp?) etc

suedonim - I think that choice is the problem. There are plenty of well intentioned parents like myself who start out doing things right and end up giving their kids too much junk. Why? I wasn't brought up on the stuff - I ate what I was given because there really really wasnn't anything else. I simply can't say that to my kids - they know that there are 50 types of cereal (most of which their mates eat), 100 types of biscuits, 100 types of sweets/chocolates/crisps. So it's always a conflict. It only takes one trip to the shops with kids in tow when you let your guard down and say 'one won't hurt' for things to slip. And once they get used to all the rubbish it's much harder to get rid - I'm trying to change our diets back to what they were 3/4 years ago but it's hard.

Choice isn't always a good thing.

Don't want to worry you but the weirdy throaty thing could well develop into full blown allergy. The thing that I know very well about allergies is that the experts know bugger all abou them. I constantly get told by DS's consultant things like 'we don't know why but children who have a real dislike for a food may well exhibit allergic symptoms later on' or 'we don't know why but someone can tolerate a food reasonably well for years and then have a full on anaphalytic reaction after eating it'

You get the gist 'we don't know why.......'

My DS hated banana and was forced to eat one at school by teacher. He came home and had severe cramps and ('wee wee coming out of his bottom'). As this is not his usual allergic response I only mentioned it in passing to Consultant and she did a blood test and sure enough he is showing as allergic to banana. He used to eat it as a baby quite happily.