For years I had to avoid peppers because of my allergy. I had to ask at every restaurant the ingredients of every food I might order. People who ate out with me got used to the spiel. For Christmas one year my sister gave me a script to hand to my waitperson: "I have an allergy to peppers—green peppers, bell peppers, hot peppers, pepper flakes, pepper sauce, cayenne, Tabasco, paprika—all peppers. But not black pepper. Black pepper isn't a real pepper. I can't eat food that has been cooked on a grill that previously had peppers on it. I can't eat off a plate that has peppers painted on it. If my waitperson is named Pepper I'll have to have a different one. Thank you for making my dining experience a pleasant one." Only the parts about the plate and the name are an exaggeration Everything else was a part of my spiel.
Sometime waiters were careless. In spite of my having explained the peppers allergy to my waitperson at breakfast in a restaurant on the northern Oregon Coast, one bite of my potatoes alerted me that their reddish cast was paprika. I ate no more, but one bite was enough. Walking down the beach after breakfast, I suddenly felt the swords-in-the-stomach precursor to the bombs in the bowels. I turned back at once, walked fast, walked even faster, realized I wasn't going to make it, looked for something to shelter me on the long wide stretches of sand, made my way to a driftwood log, crouched behind it, and put on my ostrich mentality because what else could I do?
Only once did a waiter berate me for being so hard to please. I never ate in that restaurant again. Most experiences were more pleasant and sometimes charming. At an Indian restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, I looked at the menu in dismay. Was there nothing I could eat? When I told the waiter about my allergy, he corroborated that there was nothing on the menu I could eat. "The chef will make you something special," he said. So the chef did, and it was divine. At another restaurant in Tacoma, Washington, the waitress told me that next time I should let them know a day ahead that I was coming, and they would create something for me. At a small restaurant in Greece, I was invited to go right into the kitchen to make sure the cook, who spoke no English, understood about the peppers problem.
Yet inevitably, at some point, some kind of pepper would sneak into something I ate, and I would suffer the usual bout of sickness, the double-me-over swords in the stomach and the unending trips to the bathroom.
One day, on my way to Eugene, Oregon, I bought a sandwich at a deli to eat on the road. I checked ingredients before I bought it, of course, but either "pepperoni" wasn't listed or I misread the placard, because when I had eaten about half the sandwich, I thought in alarm, "That tasted like pepperoni." So I stopped and opened the sandwich, and, yes, it was pepperoni, or what was left of it. Oh, god, I thought. Now I am going to be sick, and I hate being sick from peppers. Resignedly I folded up the rest of the sandwich, drove on to Eugene, and stoically faced an assured sleepless night.
To my surprise I woke up the next morning, and—I hadn't been sick! That was interesting. So I ate the rest of the sandwich. I didn't get sick! It seemed miraculous. Could I eat peppers again? Cautiously, meal by meal, pepper by pepper, I experimented. Green peppers in a salad. Salsa with chips. I ate sausages again. I made the beautiful black bean and red pepper salad I had once enjoyed so much. I returned red
Such regrets are minor. Delight is foremost. I had discovered I could eat peppers only a month before a trip to Sicily. It was pure pleasure to be able to eat freely. As suddenly and mysteriously as it had appeared fourteen years ago, my peppers allergy had now disappeared. My culinary horizons have expanded again. I am free of the peppers allergy.
Next week: "Feasts in History"
Recipes from this post:
Black bean and red pepper salad
Baked shrimp, with pepper flakes
BLACK BEAN AND RED PEPPER SALAD
serves 8
Dressing
Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
16 dates (about 4 ounces)
2-3 limes
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
4 teaspoons honey
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons ground coriander
Preparation
Boil dates in water for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour to soften. Squeeze the limes to yield 1/2 cup juice.
To make
Put the date mixture in a blender with the rest of the ingredients. Purée. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Salad
Ingredients
4 15-ounce cans black beans
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
Drain and rinse the beans. Chop all the peppers, red onion, and parsley.
To make
Combine beans, bell peppers, onion, and parsley in a bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Beautiful!
BAKED SHRIMP, WITH PEPPER FLAKES
serves 3
Ingredients
1 pound large shrimp
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine
4 large garlic cloves
2 tablespoons capers
1/2 cup Kalamata olives
2 medium tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) feta cheese
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (or more)
1 lemon
Preparation
Peel and devein shrimp. Peel and mince garlic. Drain capers. Pit and slice the olives. Peel and seed the tomatoes and dice into 1/2-inch pieces. Chop the basil and parsley. Crumble the cheese. Zest the lemon. Preheat oven to 375º.
To make
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, then transfer to a 9 x 12-inch baking dish, spreading evenly. Bake until the shrimp turns pink, 15-25 minutes, depending on the size of the shrimp. Serve warm or at room temperature.
No comments:
Post a Comment