Balance of Food

Food sensitivity tests should tell us why we are food sensitive

"Is it an allergy?"

I have what is likely a food sensitivity to mozzarella cheese. This keeps me away from most standard pizzas.

I often get asked "are you allergic to all cheeses?" I calmly explain I have a reaction specifically to mozzarella cheese. Why? Don't know. Food sensitivity seems to be the proper answer.

EverlyWell has a way for those with food sensitivities to find out for themselves: "Learn How Your Body Responds to 96 Different Foods."

"This at-home test measures your body’s immune response to 96 foods to help provide guidance on what foods may be the best to choose for an elimination diet."

The cost for the food sensitivity test, an immunoglobulin G test, is $159. This is lower than the hundreds of dollars I've heard quoted for similar procedures.

Here is why I likely won't take the EverlyWell test, no offense to the company.

cost — $159 is quite a bit of money. EverlyWell does take HSA/FSA payments, which would be nice if I had that option.

security — The stories about the ancestry sites and who owns DNA and the like make me reluctant to submit blood or DNA to figure that out.

viability — The test works on 96 foods. I have a specific food in mind, but don't know whether that food will be tested.

results — If I take the test, and the test tells me I have a food sensitivity to mozzarella cheese, I paid to know what I already know. If the test is negative, I've wasted $159.

Cheap pizza comes to Canada but at what cost

A test that would tell me why would have value. Is there something in mozzarella cheese specifically, such as the process, that makes this distinct from other cheeses and dairy products. Buffalo mozzarella might not produce the same reaction.

The simple "test" would be to buy buffalo mozzarella to see if I have the same or similar reaction: a bad headache in the back of my head, sometimes with nausea. A lot cheaper than $159. Even if buffalo mozzarella makes a difference, I would still have to ask each time what mozzarella is being used.

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I read food labels and don't order items that might have mozzarella cheese in them. I have had a few instances where I ordered something in restaurants, thinking I was safe, and was not.

If I had a diagnosis printed on a card, I could have them read the card instead of explaining why I have a food sensitivity to only one kind of cheese. That might not have helped in the one instance in the French-speaking part of the world where I accidentally received mozzarella cheese.

Pain and suffering over time has led to a diagnosis, however unofficial that is. I don't miss mozzarella cheese in the slightest and won't die if I ingest some.

$159 would be a great price if I could learn something I don't already know. Staying away from mozzarella cheese is annoying but costs $0.

photos credit: EverlyWell

Euell Gibbons: a natural food enthusiast ahead of his time

I feel certain I saw Grape-Nuts commercials featuring Euell Gibbons when I was a child. Maybe not. I remember watching Match Game episodes with questions featuring Euell Gibbons.

The answers often went back to wild hickory nuts since Gibbons, in the Grape-Nuts commercials, said the cereal reminded him of "wild hickory nuts."

Grape-Nuts was a healthy cereal in the 1970s, a time where more cereals were healthy. Cream of Wheat, old school oatmeal, Farina. Healthy cereals are less intense than the cereals of those times.

The 1970s was the last pure decade of the U.S. food system with relatively healthy fast food, no high-fructose corn syrup, glyphosate did exist but not to the extent of today's dominance, and a less-greedy approach to processed foods.

Gibbons was into wild foods, appreciating what nature could provide with plants that might otherwise be overlooked. He had a series of books that started with the word "stalking."

• Stalking the Wild Asparagus (1962)
• Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop (1964)
• Stalking the Healthful Herbs (1966)
• Stalking the Good Life (1966)
• Stalking the Faraway Places (1973)

Gibbons was ahead of his time in many ways. The word "diet" was commonly found in artificially sweetened soft drinks with saccharin. People foraged for mushrooms but that wasn't too well-known. People ate liver without irony; the concept of a "nose to tail" approach without a catchphrase.

I remember eating Grape-Nuts as a child, putting refined white sugar on the cereal. I now enjoy Grape-Nuts as an adult minus the sugar. The latest is eating Grape-Nuts with a flavored Greek yogurt. The ingredient list is about as simple as a brand name cereal could get. Grape-Nuts is like no other cereal on the market, though I haven't had wild hickory nuts.

Not everyone knew who Euell Gibbons was, even if they were on Match Game. The contestant seems really confused even when Gene Rayburn explains who Gibbons is.

The Grape-Nuts commercials led to the Match Game jokes. Gibbons did make appearances on Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. Match Game kept Gibbons in the spotlight.

What's Tempting: Original Grape-Nuts

What's Tempting: More protein in breakfast cereal

Grape-Nuts went through a self-inflicted PR mess by adding "isolated soy protein," a cheap GMO protein to a cereal already strong in protein. Changing back was a very smart move.

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Julia Child has been celebrated lately with a HBO Max series and a CNN film. Child's work and legacy should be celebrated.

Given our love for natural foods, eating foraged wild mushrooms, and a nose to tail approach, we should do more to celebrate the work of Euell Gibbons.

Gibbons died in 1975, not longer after most of the world figured out who this person was. He deserves more than just the punchline of game show questions and a cereal spokesperson.

video credits: YouTube/Bionic Disco; YouTube/movienotes
photo credit: Grape-Nuts