I hate allergies. This afternoon I'm chewing on my cheeks. This means I ate something I'm allergic to. Most of what I ate today I eat every day, so likely isn't the culprit. The only thing different is I brought some BBQ for lunch.
Note for northerners: "BBQ" in the south is not the same as "BBQ" in the north. In the north, BBQ means you light up the grill, and toss on some burgers and dogs, or steaks, or whatnot. Down south, BBQ means slow-roasted, pulled pork. In NC, the sauce is either tomato or vinegar based, depending on whether you live near the ocean or mountains. Don't ask me which is which... I can never remember. (Although check the comments... I'm sure one of the locals reading this will set me straight. Again. ;) ) The funny thing is, you can make BBQ without even involving a grill! The stuff I ate today I made overnight in my crock pot... there is now a pervasive smell of vinegar in my house!
So... what is in this BBQ? Pork, and vinegar, obviously. I seem to remember the BBQ sauce listed peppers too, but I can't remember what else... there wasn't much. I doubt I'm allergic to vinegar. So, that either means I have an allergy to peppers (a possibility... they showed up on a skin test, but then so did everything else), pork, or something else in the sauce.
I've wondered if I have an allergy to pork... I've never been all that fond of pork, and will only eat it certain ways. (If you're allergic to something, frequently you'll either hate it or crave it.)
However, if I *do* have an allergy to pork, I will be royally ticked! So far meat is one of the few things I'm *not* allergic to. :P (No, I will never be a vegetarian... due to allergies, rather than some particular belief.)
Maybe if I'm lucky it'll be something in the processing of that particular batch of meat... that hopefully won't show up ever again. (No, I'm not allergic to tuna, just the can it comes in. :P )
Then again, I remember a bad reaction I had to a ham bagelwich I had back in undergrad... difficulty breathing and everything. I never did figure out what caused that one.
Bleh. Grumble, mumble, grumble. Back to work... *sigh*
3 comments:
North Carolina local to set you straight. ;-)
Eastern NC BBQ is vinegar-based. Western NC BBQ is tomato-based. Easter NC BBQ, IMO, is better. And, truthfully, it's all way better if it's fresh outta the hog, at a pig-pickin'. I had some of that recently, at a friend's mom's house, and that was some good eatin'. (Yes, I did say "fresh outta the hog," "pig-pickin'" and "good eatin'." At least I was born here, so I have an excuse. :-b
Oh, and for us, the northern "barbecue" is referred to as "cooking out" or "grilling out." But we called it barbecue as well when I was growing up.
Thanks Kelli... I figured you'd bail me out. :)
I can eat the stuff sold locally as "Canadian bacon"... which isn't actually real back bacon, but is more like ham with a bacon-like treatment. I find my allergic reactions differ a lot depending on the cooking. For example, I can't eat lemon merangue pie or mayonnaise at all, but cakes and cookies with eggs are okay. I can eat tuna, but not tuna that's been in a can. (There, it the food came in contact with something I can't eat.)
My cheeks are mostly better. I just have to be more careful about biting down when they're swollen. It's more of a nuisance than anything. (The insides of my cheeks aren't going to win any beauty contests.) The real annoyance is discovering yet another new allergy. Thanks for the well-wishes, though. :)
Texas barbecue is completely different. I never found any NC barbecue I could eat, Eastern or Western. It all tasted vinegar-y, even the tomato-based stuff. Yech.
In Texas, you get the confusion between "barbecue"=meat and "barbecue"=cooking burgers on a grill. Fortunately, I will eat either, so if I forget to ask which someone means, it's not the end of the world. I'm usually pleasantly surprised when "barbecue"=meat because most people seem to be the lazy types who use the word to mean they're going to cook burgers outside.
-Paulina
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