I love corn. Straight off the cob or from a can, sweet kernel or cream, I do not care. I love corn products, such as popcorn, corn chips, and wonderful, wonderful corn bread. More than these, I love things made from corn products such as corn syrup. And I can no longer have these things.
You see, I am allergic to corn. Or rather, according to my newly-acquired allergist, I have a sensitivity to corn. This means that, while consuming corn will not cause anaphylaxis for me, it will cause stomach acid to enter my esophagus, which, over time, will irritate it to the point that my esophagus will begin to close…which is what happened in all these years before I discovered I had corn “sensitivity” and why I had to have my esophagus widened a couple of months back.
Now, the good news is that if I cut out all corn products from my diet for the next, say, two years, my body may forget that it has this particular allergy, and I can go back to eating corn. Maybe. The bad news is that it’s hard to find products that don’t have corn, corn syrup, or corn starch (shoot, even most baking powder is made with corn starch). I will now be spending most of my grocery money at Whole Foods, where I’ve managed to find a number of things that I can eat and that don’t also require me to spend much time in the kitchen.
I guess I should pick up with yoga again; then I can really be one of those Whole Foods people.
4 comments:
AND, because it's used to thicken sauces and soups, it's used to bind ingredients together, it's in everything, you can be one of those people at restaurants. "Now, your flour tortillas, are those made here at the restaurant? And do they have corn syrup? Ok, what about cornmeal or cornstarch? You're sure? You can promise me that they don't have cornmeal or cornstarch? Because I can't have that. So you're sure? Ok, well, then. . . you know what, it's not that I don't trust you, but I'll just have the vegetable plate.
Now, do those vegetables have any kind of sauce?"
JLR: ha ha, absolutely. I'm going to be one of those people. And then the waitstaff will spit on my food.
Random factoid: "Corn" is the term used to describe the most common type of cereal/grain in a particular region. What you're allergic to is maize, but since it's so common in the US, it's called corn. I believe in parts of Europe, "corn" refers to wheat.
Sorry to hear about the allergy. People who allergic to ingredients (not just specific, easy to spot foods) have it worst.
lia–That’s interesting! Of course, if we were to go around asking waiters if the food we’re ordering has “maize,” we’d probably get some funny looks (or more spit in the food) because generally you refer to something by its name in the country you’re in, not what other countries might call it. The term “corn” does indeed mean the chief cereal crop of a region, or at least, that’s what the term means in British English, but in this country it is also just the correct word for what we know as corn but other countries call “maize.” [See the Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English (defining “corn” as “a North American cereal plant (Zea mays) that yields large grains, or kernels, set in rows on a cob”).] According to my etymological research, we call it “corn” because that’s the shortened form of “Indian corn,” which is what it was once called (but who knows). But whatever you want to call it, it’s in everything, isn’t it?
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