h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Were you always allergic? Sometimes people can become sensitive to things they used to tolerate. I haven't been able to et mushrooms without getting the runs in the last few years.

That's interesting - I recently ate a meal including some large white mushrooms, rather than the button mushrooms I usually get, and got the runs the day after - I wasn't sure what caused it, but your experience suggests it was most likely the mushrooms indeed... Definitely something to watch out for

Great photo of the jelly ear fungus GB

Mushrooms are high in inulin. Jerusalem artichokes (also high in it) also give me the runs. Most of the other foods that are high in it (garlic or asparagus, for instance) I don't eat enough of to give me problems. Inulin is a god prebiotic, but I get plenty of those in other foods

That is interesting. Like you I do eat garlic and asparagus, but not very large amounts, so I haven't noticed the inulin effect before! Definitely something to watch out for...

Reminds me my sister went on a guided walk a few years ago, foraging for mushrooms with an expert (so as to avoid picking toadstools by mistake). She had the runs the day after, and was a bit worried she'd eaten something dodgy, but it was more likely that she had eaten rather too many wild mushrooms!

Fungi are fascinating

Thanks both! I agree, fungi are fascinating. I like looking at images of mushrooms and toadstools, but I won't ingest or handle them for fear of contamination. I carry antihistamines with me at all times in case of accidental ingestion. The last time it happened, as I tucked into a lovely plate of mince stew with my sister's mother-in-law, whom I had taken out for lunch as sis & her hubby were away on a cruise. My throat started to close up and I grabbed the pot of milk supplied for our tea, and drank it down. It did the job until I could get home to take my antihistamines. That's why I don't leave the house without them now. My hubby loves mushrooms but he won't eat them when he's with me.

I don't know if I have always been allergic to them, certainly as far back as I can remember I have avoided them. Also, I can't risk trying the meat substitute stuff like Quorn, due to it being a soil mould made out of fungus.

Yikes, that was lucky the milk helped until the antihistamine could work... Yes, Quorn wouldn't be a good idea for you to try. Scary indeed about how allergens can be hidden... I have several times discovered there were hidden peppers in a meal I'd eaten when I got acid indigestion an hour or so later - fortunately not too bad a reaction, but disappointing when peppers weren't mentioned on the menu or on the front of the packaging...