Edible Things You Should Never Eat
When I was very (very) small, I ate a whole box of crayons in the hope of having colorful poop. It didn’t work, but it did give my mother a few hours of mild anxiety as she worried about what might happen to me. The (disappointing) answer was nothing. I didn’t squeeze out a rainbow or die a horrible death from periwinkle poisoning. As a result, I can personally confirm that your body can – and will – process a lot of things that you really shouldn’t be putting into it.
At some point, most of us realize that eating inedible things like crayons or glue is a waste of our time, especially when you realize you live in a world where there are things like chicken wings and beer. However, this does not mean that you should eat everything that is technically considered food. In fact, there are several examples of edible things that you should never eat.
decorations
Cocktail decorations serve a dual purpose: they can enhance the taste and texture of a drink, as well as increase its visual appeal. Side dishes are sure to show up in your Instagram posts, and they can turn an ordinary mix of ingredients into something truly extraordinary. And yes, most (but not all) cocktail garnishes are 100% edible because it’s food – usually fruits, vegetables, or sometimes spice sprigs (or, in the case of Bloody Marys, bacon).
So you can eat them, but you can’t . Never. These garnishes were likely peeled, sliced, and poured into a glass hours before, instantly becoming a welcoming host for all sorts of germs .
bar nuts
Like a side dish, those bowls of free snacks that your local watering hole slaps on the bar are technically food and therefore technically edible. Bars love to offer snacks because they are very cheap, salt encourages you to drink more, and patrons perceive them as freebies, which is why they are popular.
They are also one of the most unhygienic places on Earth. Even if you see a bartender pour “fresh” nuts or chips into a bowl just for you, there’s a good chance they’ve been sitting around for a long, long time, and a non-zero chance they’ve been taken from previous bowls. And if the bowl is already there when you arrive, you obviously have no idea what kind of vile, horrible person was holding his dirty mittens in that bowl before you. Bottom line: order something from the kitchen.
raw dough
Raw dough, especially cookie dough, is hard to resist. First of all, if you’re baking something delicious because you’re hungry, it’s very tempting to just scoop up some dough and gulp it down. And, like many of nature’s perfect killers, there’s no overt sensory warning that the substance might kill you. But things can kill you .
Most of the flour used in baking is actually raw. It seems nonsensical from the start because we think of “raw” mostly in terms of meat, but “raw” in flour means it hasn’t been processed in any way, making it a great place to eat. like E. coli to grow. The only way to ensure these contaminants are destroyed before you eat them is to cook or bake them. In addition, the eggs used in this test may contain salmonella.
However, if raw dough is so dangerous, why can you buy a pint of cookie dough ice cream? Because this dough was made from pasteurized eggs and heat-treated flour.
Raw meat
When I was a child, my father regularly terrorized his family by wandering into the kitchen while dinner was being prepared, scooping up a handful of raw ground beef and munching on it. He claimed it was an old tradition in his family. He also died quite young and I’m not entirely sure the two things are unrelated.
While you can indeed order and enjoy a variety of raw meat dishes at restaurants, including the famous steak tartare (which includes a raw egg for extra gamble) or beef carpaccio, you should never really eat raw meat. It’s an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, including E. coli and salmonella, and every time you eat a little raw meat, you risk getting seriously ill.
So why can you eat raw fish in sushi? Because sushi fish is processed at freezing temperatures to kill bacteria and parasites before being cooked for you, a step that most raw meat dishes don’t go through.
Animal food
It seems like an urban legend, but the fact is that some people ate pet food to survive during tough economic times. Pet food has become more and more trendy in recent years, leading to the odd situation where your cat’s lunch looks better than yours.
But no matter how curious (or desperate) you are, you shouldn’t start sharing your pet’s bowl. While eating pet food won’t cause you any immediate problems (it’s food, after all), pet foods are formulated to deliver a different set of nutrients and vitamins than what you need. or which is well tolerated by the human body. Regular consumption of pet food will eventually lead to negative health effects (for example, some vitamins in dog food are perfectly safe for your dog, but toxic to you), and you may even suffer from malnutrition in the long run. For example, many pet foods do not include vitamin C, so you can get scurvy if you dine with your dog all the time.