[wordup] When Dinner Bites Back

[Adam Shand]

I have to admit that my first response is "Serves you damn well right you
fucking morons", but hey ... maybe I'm biased.  Yeesh.  I mean I was a
fussy eater before I was a vegetarian ... now I'm downright prudish when
it comes to what I put in my mouth (heh ...).

'nuff said.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/23/living/23EXPL.html
Via: The Eristocracy <Eristocracy at merrymeet.com>

May 23, 2001
A Host's Worst Nightmare: When Dinner Bites Back
By LINDA LEE

THE menu was adventurous and full of exotic ingredients. But that was
expected at the annual Explorers Club dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria. What
was not expected was a follow-up questionnaire from the Health Department.

It seemed that some members had allergic reactions to the meal, but this
time it wasn't the usual suspects like shellfish or peanuts. It could have
been the scorpions on blue tortillas, or the roasted crickets with sweet
baby corn, or even the mealworms with chive crème fraîche.

Members of the club, which was founded in 1904 to celebrate "the instinct
to explore," happily gobble the bizarre appetizers in the same way that
college boys once swallowed live goldfish. Except for those like Carl G.
Schuster, a longtime member, who once saw a friend go into anaphylactic
shock after eating a grub cooked with garlic for an entomologists' dinner.

Not long after the Explorers Club dinner on March 24, a few phone calls
came in to the New York City Health Department from people complaining of
burning or numbness in the mouth. It didn't take the agency long to figure
out that the callers who had braved its formidable phone tree - West Nile
virus, press 1; rodent complaints, press 2; exposure to asbestos, press 3
- had recently attended the dinner.

The challenge was to figure out what had caused their symptoms. The more
exotic buffet fare was a prelude to a sit-down dinner for 1,500 in the
main ballroom, featuring smoked trout, a choice of beef or sea bass and a
coconut-mango gelato.

"In any sort of food-borne reaction, we look at all that was consumed, and
look at what was consumed in common," said Sandra Mullin, associate
commissioner of public affairs for the Health Department.

Not surprisingly, investigators' suspicions soon focused on the more
unusual items, particularly the tempura tarantula in ponzu sauce - the one
exotic item that the affected diners had in common. The tarantulas, which
had been kept in a refrigerator overnight to slow them down, had been
sprinkled with Cognac, then killed under the broiler, which also singed
their hairs off. The spiders were then turned on their backs so their
underbody hairs could be singed. Then they were put in a rice-flour
batter, fried and served with the soy dipping sauce. In photographs the
dish looks yummy, but it's a well-known fact that tempura place mat tastes
pretty good, too.

John Doherty, the Waldorf's executive chef, said he did not bother to
taste-test the tarantula. "That's not something I would choose to eat, or
choose to serve, so it's not something I chose to taste," he said. (How,
then, had he chosen the preparation method? "Think soft-shell crab," he
answered.)

Faanya L. Rose, the Explorers Club president, ate the tarantula and said
her only reaction was, "I think it lacks salt."

Others, it turned out, were particularly allergic. New World tarantulas
(which may also have a mild venom in their bite) have what are called
urticating hairs, which are meant to sting or irritate, on their abdomens
and legs. Sometimes the hairs cause hives in those who handle the spiders.
The tingling and numbness that afflicted the three explorers eventually
dissipated and no one was hospitalized.

At the Health Department's request, the Explorers Club sent out a
questionnaire asking respondents to indicate - with a yes, a no or the
highly unlikely "don't remember" - if they had eaten mealworms, scorpions,
crickets or tarantulas. "It was just to see if anyone else had developed
any symptoms," Ms. Mullin said.

"If you consumed the tarantula," the survey read, "which part did you eat?
Legs, body, head." It also asked, "Did you take home any leftover foods
from this meal?" The form was mailed on April 11, but only a few have been
mailed back.

There were 120 portions of tarantula prepared. "There were no leftovers,"
said Stephen D. Nagiewicz, the executive director of the club, "and only a
few people called with questions who had gotten numb." The tarantulas were
all farm raised in the Southwest and sold by purveyors of exotic foods.

Robert G. Breene, the director of the American Tarantula Society in
Carlsbad, N.M., said that this particular variety, the Chilean rose
tarantula, has a mild form of the urticating hairs, unlike the goliath
pinkfoot tarantula of South America.

For the record, when they prepare the appropriately named goliath in South
America, where it is commonly eaten, "one thing you normally do is burn
the hairs off before you cook it," Dr. Breene said. "They remove the legs.
And they use the fangs for a toothpick." --