Why are people frightened of food ?

luckylukey

The only food prep thing I take care of is I have a chopping board that is only for garlic. This is after my aunt came for a meal and complained it tasted like garlic. I had made garlic bread for lunch, washed the board and reused it later for supper! I was so embarrased

Other than that - I have a pretty lazy attitude and no one has gotten food poisoning from me *yet*

lynzpower

Also on 'How clean if your home' when Kim and Aggie come into someones kitchen as say 'oh my gawd there's 50 billion trillion microbes on that worksurface ' The homeowner looks ok to me! We need to build some resistance in our children. At 43 I have never had food poisoning (tempting fate there!) and I thank my mum for that.

Oh come on doddsy would you want to eat anything thats come from any of those kitchens? with the overflowing bins and the food remains rotting everywhere. If it was a commercial kitchen it would rightly be condemned as a threat to public safety. We naturally have resistance to bugs, and yes we can build resistance by not overspraying everything in assorterd kitchen sprays, but with this sort of level of bacterial infection ( which could be cleaned with say grapefruits, standard soap etc, and binning rotting matter) will override this resistance and make us ill. Would you accept that in a hospital kitchen?

Alfietinker

I'm 25 and I was not taught to cook at school. I remember lots of nutrition and hygiene classes in HE but the only thing I remember cooking was a 'design your own pizza' competition. With a ready made base.

My always used to cook from scratch and I learnt a lot from her when I was living at home. However, leaving home, working full time (unlike my mum) has gradually put me into 'bad habits' and I realised recently that I am pretty useless when it comes to food. I cook 'quick' meals from scratch (spag bol, chilli, pastas, curries etc.) but in terms of say, making a fish pie, I hadn't got a clue. I've always made jams/fudge/cakes etc but only for fun, and as an extra expense, rarely making 'real' food. So I got a 'beginner's cookbook last Christmas to take me right back to basics.

It's only recently I've wondered if I am unhygenic in the kitchen and wonder if I'm building us up for a dose of poisoning. I made sure I washed my hands after handling raw meat and have a separate chopping board, as well as washing the knife afterwards. I only put raw meat on the bottom shelf of the fridge. That was really all the trouble I took.

However my nan recently told me she regularly bleaches all her kitchen equipment, always washes meat before she uses it. (both of which I've never done). At work everything goes in the fridge, including oranges and marmite, and I was told off for taking them out and being unhygenic. My friend told me I was wrong not to wash my hands after stroking our cats.

I have never worried about all this and have never been ill but when you're told you're essentially dirty then it makes you wonder a bit. That's all.

tawnyowls

pollyanna24 wrote:

Don't think I've ever had it out of the packet. What doe it taste like? :rolleyes:

Gross. Like wallpaper paste.

Twopints

I, too, believe that this is largely down to the many scare stories and to people wanting something to panic about.

I have often eaten stuff that's out of date, but my wife, who is a qualified chef with all the food hygiene stuff that goes with it, tends to throw stuff out the second it expires.

However, recently I came home late and ate alone (sob) and mentioned that the sausages seemed sweet. No comment until I finished eating. Then she says: "yes, they smelt sweet so I didn't have any in case they were off". Oh, that's nice - and what about DS - "yes, he ate them and thought they tasted funny - but he hasn't been ill" :rolleyes:

They were meant to be Cumberland sausages, or so we thought. But then remembered that DS had picked up the sausages from the shelf - he must've got pork and apple. Still it's the thought that counts.

gargoyle

I used to have big arguments with my friend over germs. She was typically everything spotless, shoes off in hallway, first child with cream sofa type of person. I however am not. Six years down the line my DD hardly ever has any illness, hers is constantly ill. Without the introduction of some germs our bodies can't build up an immunity, and anyway biscuits taste far nicer with a bit of dirt on once you've droppped it. .

p.s. i go by the sniff and a little taste method - smells good, tastes good it must be ok.

doddsy

No lynz I wouldn't myself:D I was just trying to make the point that those homeowners appear to have built up a natural resistance. I boil my dishcloths, change my t towels everyday, use seperate cutting boards, that to me is just common sense. But I will not domestos everything in sight either, and if occasionally something drops on the floor in preperation, it will get dusted off, rinsed and used:D

hollydays

Interesting thread.I always have to laugh at the adverts designed to terrify neurotics with kids-you know the sort of thing,aiming to sell cleaning products. Its exploiting parents fears.

thriftlady_2

Why on earth would anyone put marmite in the fridge ?

Of course we should wash our hands before handling food, and wash them after handling raw meat. Chopping boards should be cleaned thoroughly with hot water (my tap water is scalding hot btw). I don't bother putting raw and cooked meat on separate shelves, I just put the raw meat in a dish with sides so that it can't touch other food.

I've been trying to get my eldest son cooking more, he enjoys it. I find my patience is tested though, when he insists on washing his hands after every stage. I don't know where he's picked up this idea from.

jessicamb

I'm terrified of food production! Especially chicken and pork - I cook it enough and then some more just to be certain .

My schooling wasnt around cooking but food science. Chorleywood breadmaking and fish finger production. Pictures of bugs magnified so you could see how icky they were. Great descriptions of e-colie, campylobactar (sp) listeria and all the other nasties. We could only cook anything if we could design it so it could be made in a factory :rolleyes: . Thanks to mum and grandma I can cook though well enough to get by with anyway.

Since finding OS I am a bit less protective about use by dates but not totally. Anything dairy gets binned and meat gets frozen. I havent killed myself yet though.