Food & wine desperation - what to do?

[SueV14]

Ok, I'm looking for like-minded foodies and wine lover among you ladies who also struggle adjusting to all the food restrictions?? All the things I love and would normally order when eating out I can't have, eg. medium cooked steak, chicken liver pate, beef tartar, sashimi, ceviche, seared scallops, prosciutto, carpaccio, soft stinky cheeses with rind and all the other great stuff...!! And although I don't miss having a drink on its own at all, I do love wine and miss pairing up my food with wines, be it in a restaurant or when I cook at home and enjoy a glass with dinner. I did try de-alcoholized wine from waitrose and it's no good. And I am one of those who decided not to have an odd glass every now and then.

I do consider myself a foodie and a bit of a wine-guru, and now being just under 8 weeks I'm wondering how to survive without all the things I love and (unfortunately) crave. While no morning sickness is actually a good thing I guess it would've been easier to stop thinking of all the foods I miss. :-)

Anyone feeling the same way?

No the steak advice has been changed, it's not about the bacteria on the surface, but possible toxo cysts, that could be inside the mean, and are not killed by just searing the surface.

meat, obviously, not mean.

I eat runny eggs, I don't see the issues as the vast majority of UK hens are vaccinated from salmonella - and as has aforementioned, salmonella was a big balls up anyway.

I have been having around 1 glass of wine a week if I want it (and I haven't always felt like it) in the second trimester.

I had someone who told me I shouldn't be eating goats cheese which is ridiculous. I also enjoy a nice medium steak - I don't see the harm in that whatsoever.

The guilt and pressure trip placed on woman to behave a certain way and eat/not eat certain things is crazy - you would wonder how the species has ever managed to survive!

Totally understand! My OH has promised me a blue steak with blue cheese sauce, along with a pint of cloudy cider (proper cider I'm originally from the west country) once bub gets here! Going 9 months without Roquefort cheese has been a killer! Its fine to eat Lion stamped eggs raw... they are from salmonella free hens so there is no risk :) ... I have been eating them the whole way through I cant eat solid eggs its just wrong!!

I drank wine in moderation through my last two pregnancies. It seems a long time to go without foods you love but actually it will be here before you know it. Just make sure your DP stocks up on all your favourites for when baby arrives. i don't think nhs meals strech to steak and scallops congratulations.

No, pregnant french women do not eat Brie and blue cheese and pate and drink wine. I am pregnant in France and have been told to stop all these things.

The way I look at it is I try to avoid things that would potentially cross the placenta and harm the baby, but worry a bit less about food poisoning - I just make sure everything I eat it fresh and I know where it's come from.

Therefore for me, sushi, shell fish, runny lion stamped eggs, baked Camembert etc are fine to eat. I will eat a pink rather than rare steak too as I think it's quite unlikely to really be a toxoplasmosis risk, but obviously that's personal choice.

I try to avoid listeria risks such as unpasteurised cheese and pate, as well as cured meats, but that's about it.

Also, I have also been tested for toxoplasmosis immunity fairly recently, and despite eating rare meat and carpaccio etc for decades, it seem I have never been exposed.

If you have ever had cats though, chances are you may be immune to it anyway.

Not necessarily - I've always had cats, at least one, currently have 3. I'm not immune to toxo. There's a study showing that pregnant cat-owners had no higher risk for getting toxo that non-cat-owners.
'Sources of toxoplasma infection in pregnant women: European multicentre case-control study' found that Risk factors most strongly predictive of acute infection in pregnant women were eating undercooked lamb, beef, or game, contact with soil, and travel outside Europe and the United States and Canada. Contact with cats was not a risk factor. Between 30% and 63% of infections in different centres were attributed to consumption of undercooked or cured meat products.

Japanese women can afford to eat sushi because the hygiene standards are incredibly high in Japan. That isn't a stereotype, it's a fact. That, and the fact that their (very socially irresponsible and unsustainable)...fish policy means that pretty much all fish used is completely fresh. You can't really say "they do, so we can too" when there are so many differences between the two countries.

I believe Japanese women are also told not to eat the same sort of fish more than once or twice a week. I know for sure that their weight gain is monitored to an almost militant degree, which doesn't really exist in the UK.

The line of "french women drink wine during pregnancy so no worries" that gets trotted out is a complete myth. It might have been true in the 1980's, but these days French women do pretty much exactly the same as Brits do. Some women abstain completely. Some have a drink every now and then. They have exactly the same arguments about it as women in the UK do, and it's equally controversial.

Considering the importance of motherhood in Italy, I would be very surprised if many women drank at all during pregnancy.

For the OP - perhaps if there is a time when you really can't bear it, you can pick the wine that other drink with the food, and then just have a sip of someone else's glass, without actually getting a glass of your own. That way you get the TASTE of it, but the actual amount you are drinking is like, what? A tenth of a glass?

I love wine, and I love cheese and I normally have my steak blue.

I had a well done steak and it tasted like shit. Next time I will have it medium but ensure the edges are cooked.

Runny eggs are fine as long as they are British Lion stamped.

cheese is easy - just make sure it's hot

No wine here, I can't trust myself / don't see the point of one glass, so just avoiding it.

Thank you everybody for all your responses! I will make sure next time in a Japanese restaurant I'll ask my question differently.. Rather than "Is your fish fresh or frozen" I'll ask "Which of your fish has been previously frozen and which not". I guess this is more likely to give me an honest response :)))

And I am SO baking Camembert this weekend!! With baguette and roasted Brussels sprouts to dip! drooling

Love this thread! I've only just found out that I'm pregnant and my friend has been on at me about a list of foods I can't eat already. This has really helped - Thanks ladies :)
P.S I hate hard eggs so the fact you can eat soft eggs if they are lion stamped has made my night (I'm easily pleased)

You can eat rare steak as long as the outside is completely sealed as any bacteria will only be on the surface and is killed when it's seared. I only found this out when pregnant with number three.

I stuck to no runny yolks in my first three pregnancies, in my fourth I gave in to the craving and was fine. I just made sure the eggs were lion stamped and we'll within use by dates.

again, it's not about bacteria in steak. NHS:

Raw or undercooked meat is risky in pregnancy

Try not to eat rare meat because of the potential risk of toxoplasmosis.
The Department of Health previously advised it was fine to eat whole cuts of beef and lamb rare, as long as the outside had been properly cooked. As a precaution, this advice has now been removed while a food safety committee looks into the issue of toxoplasmosis.

Having been to France at 12weeks pregnant this year they are stricter than uk. All meat is cremated, no deli meat, soft cheese with rind, alcohol or salad in restaurants. They have a much higher toxoplasmosis risk and are tested monthly (I think)

I'm in France and yes, we're tested monthly for toxo. The official advice is pretty much the same as in UK though. I guess the restaurants vary - the ones I go to always say that oh surely one glass of wine is ok, and never had any issues with salads.

I've eaten runny-ish eggs so they aren't solid but not really runny either.

But I only do this on eggs I've brought from the supermarket that are well within their dates and I can see the lion stamp for myself.

I don't have runny eggs in restaurants and hotels where I can't see the egg for myself.

In my head I'm craving champagne but the thought of wine is making me feel rough.

I think I'm missing the idea of going out boozing and socialising.

I'm 7 weeks, feel sick, tired, no one knows yet apart from family and I have a dreadful cold so feel awful and sorry for myself.

Whinge over and back to Text Santa and box of sweet shop sweets