Newsweek’s current cover story (decidedly not a gonzo piece) is a decent stab at explaining current trends in food allergies, covering the statistics, the research, and the social effects of this growing trend. It’s worth a look. Though the last paragraph is wince-worthy, I commend the writer on her attempt to describe the experience of having food allergies and offer a thumbs up for mentioning the fact that a milk allergy is a completely different and rather more deadly thing than lactose intolerance. Our friends at FAAN get a mention, too. Yay for public awareness.

Categories: allergy, in the news
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Because there haven’t been enough Harry Potter posts around here lately…

Cambridge restaurant offers an HP inspired pudding.

Pug and I went to Upstairs on the Square once and it was very nice — if rather more up-scale than we were expecting (slightly awkward, but like I said, it was very nice). I can’t vouch for this dish myself, but I think the story is awesome.

The article gives their recipe, but I have no idea what the non-dairy substitute for heavy cream would be. It also looks like a lot of work and suggests the use of a blowtorch.

Categories: Harry Potter, allergy, life in the big city
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Directly from the most recent copy of Food Allergy News, a newsletter I get from the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network:

“A representative of Tropicana wants you to know that their Healthy Heart Orange Juice now contains Omega-3 fatty acids which are sourced from fish. The presence of fish is clearly indicated on the package ingredient statement.”

…if it ever occured to you to check orange juice labels when you have a fish allergy.

Yes, I’m posting this because it cracks me up. And yes, I’m all for heart-healthy (and I don’t mean to put anyone off Tropicana. There’s a bottle in our fridge as I type). But it’s also true that food allergies get more complicated the more manufacturers meddle with foods. Checks and balances, always checks and balances.

Categories: allergy
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Item 1: TOS is getting a facelift. [article; q & a] This makes me very tempted to get my hands on a DVD set before the digitally-redone version comes out. It’s a very “Han shot first!” sort of impulse — though to be fair, it looks like they’re trying very hard to be faithful to the intentions of the original directors and designers. File this one under “being a purist.”

Item 2: …and file this one under “being a snob.” I finished Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons yesterday morning. Funny thing about Dan Brown. I read The DaVinci Code when it first came out and heard from my mother that it was making a splash among our Unitarian friends, who were intrigued by some of the wacky ideas it presents and appreciative of the way it presents the sacred feminine. I enjoyed those aspects — and hey, it’s a fun chase story if you’re in the mood for that sort of thing. I was also impressed that one villain committed a murder by abusing his knowledge of another character’s peanut allergy. (Awareness is spreading! Yay!)

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Categories: Star Trek, allergy, books
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