# Surpisingly dangerous food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001 "2010-03-27T05:57:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/61 "2010-03-29T15:43:17Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > … > Popcorn and stomach ulcers don’t mix, either - ow ow ow ow. On a similar note, leftover pizza will make you wish you were dead if you’re on prednisone and theophylline, and get caught in an endless queue at radiology without your bottle of Tums. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/62 "2010-03-29T16:10:59Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > I’m surprised no one has mentioned the durian yet ( [http://www.hot-screensaver.com/wp-myimages/malaysia-durian.jpg](http://www.hot-screensaver.com/wp-myimages/malaysia-durian.jpg) ). I supposed getting hit on the head by one of those things is even worse than being brained by a coconut, due to the spikes. I think the danger of those is that a bystander will choose to smack you on the head with it, as revenge over your unleashing the noxious odor of durian on them. > [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book, _Farmer Boy_, tells how wee Almanzo nearly lost an eye when a potato he was roasting over an open fire burst and smacked him in the eye. Potatoes: nature’s secret weapons. This is why if you’re microwaving or baking a potato, you really need to stab the skin (carefully, so as not to slip and stab yourself instead) in several places, to let the steam out and prevent explosions. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/63 "2010-03-29T16:16:55Z")
Yum yum. Salt and vinegar chips! So tasty! So delicious! So painful later on when the entire inside of your mouth is sloughing off in sheets! ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/64 "2010-03-29T17:33:35Z")
I had a friend who very recently swallowed a chicken bone in what was supposed to be a boneless filet. He felt it going down, but disregarded it, thinking it was just a small scratch. Several days later he couldn’t even swallow water & went to the ER where he learned he would be scheduled for esophogeal surgery later that day. Chicken bone in the esophagus, infection, ICU, 11 days in hospital later, and he’s still recovering. Ouch! …and I heard the first solid meal they tried to serve him was chicken! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/65 "2010-03-29T17:39:28Z")
Cutting a bagel in half can result in stitches. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/66 "2010-03-29T19:49:34Z")
> [@nikonikosuru](#): > > Mochi, pounded rice paste, is extremely sticky and very easy to choke on. Ever year I always read news articles about elderly people or children choking to death on it. [http://karai.com/archives/2005/01/03/new-years-death-toll-mounts/](http://karai.com/archives/2005/01/03/new-years-death-toll-mounts/) Especially around New Year’s, when it’s apparently obligatory to eat for good luck. I think I was also told that it was common practice to try to swallow the rice ball whole rather than cutting or chewing. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/67 "2010-03-30T15:02:57Z")
On her 16th birthday my daughter caught her hair on fire while reaching over to blow out the candles on her birthday cake. It wasn’t funny at the time of course but fortunately my brother recorded the whole thing and it’s now required viewing at all family get togethers. (She wasn’t hurt, just some singed hair.) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/68 "2010-03-30T15:28:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > My mother once told me how when she and her sister were little, they innocently ate a bowl of pineapple cores their mother had cut out of the pineapple rings. Skinned their tongues raw. I don’t quite get this one. If I’m feeling lazy, I won’t even core a pineapple. Other than being a trifle unpleasantly tough (in some cases. A lot of the time, it’s soft and sweet.), I’ve never noticed that the core has any sort of potentially dangerous properties. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/69 "2010-03-30T17:54:32Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > I don’t quite get this one. If I’m feeling lazy, I won’t even core a pineapple. Other than being a trifle unpleasantly tough (in some cases. A lot of the time, it’s soft and sweet.), I’ve never noticed that the core has any sort of potentially dangerous properties. I assume on the little girls, the combination of a rough core plus the [natural enzymes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple#Nutrition) in pineapple that break down proteins ended up giving them a hell of a sore mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/70 "2010-03-30T18:25:57Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I assume on the little girls, the combination of a rough core plus the [natural enzymes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple#Nutrition) in pineapple that break down proteins ended up giving them a hell of a sore mouth. Aaaaaaah, OK. Yeah, I had forgotten about the proteolytic enzymes. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/71 "2010-04-06T01:34:53Z")
[post=6468524]Seafood cocktail sauce[/post]. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/72 "2010-04-06T01:55:44Z")
I LOVE Wassabi. I suspect, for the purposes of this discussion, what I actually love is a Wassabi-flavored paste made from horshraddish, but that’s not the point. When I buy sushi, I eat every last bite of the wassabi - if there’s any left over after the sushi is done, it goes straight in my mouth. One day, it was especially hot. I relished the way it burned in a “whoosh” up my nose. Half an hour later, my entire mouth was edemitous. The inside of my cheeks were almost dripping with the swelling. Eating was painful for two days. I still eat all the wassabi straight. I just do so slower, and with more care. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/73 "2010-04-06T03:22:48Z")
[Uncooked cashews can be quite irritating](http://www.wisegeek.com/are-raw-cashews-really-poisonous.htm)to actually poisonous and relatively small quantities can kill you if eaten raw. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/74 "2010-04-06T03:38:12Z")
Doritos can apparently be used as a [weapon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bRSM4EbLFw). Watch out for Ted. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/75 "2010-04-06T03:49:18Z")
Excess consumption of persimmons, particularly unripe or on an empty stomach, is a [leading cause of phytobezoars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon#Medical_precaution) or indigestible food masses trapped in the stomach, the vast majority of which require surgery to remove. Betcha didn’t see that coming. ---
**Author:** ![davey77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@davey77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davey77)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/76 "2010-04-06T17:50:35Z")
I’ve been burned by many a pizza and fried mushroom, but it wasn’t until last week I obtained food that actually carries a warning label. The Ruchi brand of my beloved Indian Mixed (achaar) pickle sports a disclaimer on the label that reads “Warning: To be consumed in small quantities with food. Not for mass consumption.” Further, the label informs me to “use only dry spoon.” Huuuuunnnnnh? I _know_ it’s not for mass consumption. My wife tried it at our local Indian restaurant and exclaimed “That doesn’t belong in a mouth!” But where is the real danger? Maybe it’s from the spice Asafoetida, also known as “devil’s dung?” I’m an American of mostly English descent, so I have that taste for Indian food. Just want to know if I’m harming my health by eating achaar straight, over the stove, with a plastic, DRY, spoon. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/77 "2010-04-09T04:58:14Z")
Not sure if this counts as its not something you’re suppose to eat raw, but I read that there was a scene in the **Jackass** TV series where one of the guys is dared to eat _ **two teaspoons of flour** _. He did it, and almost choked to death because it absorbed all the moisture in his mouth and throat! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001.md?page=3)