Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook
scary beasties in market food
I'm always a little wary about finding beasties in the produce I buy in the local market. A lot of it comes from countries that have very nasty bugs indeed. Today I bought a bowl of finger chillies and saw a black and yellow stripped thing in the bag, as I pulled out a few chillies for tea. It wasn't the caterpillar from the cinnabar moth, I know that one, but I was still a little apprehensive.
As I tipped out the chillies onto the counter top, mallet in the other hand, I found the 'beasty' to be a bit of cardboard box! What a relief.
I'm not afraid of these things, we have a mouse (may be more than one?) that I try to catch, but it out-wits me every time, boy, do I feel dumb. I suppose I don't want to kill it!!
Green leafy vegetables imported from other countries worry me too, things like cabbage for instance. In places like India, where untreated sewage finds its way into manure sometimes, tapeworms are spread this way.
But isn't that the dilemma? We don't want our veggies sprayed with all sorts of chemicals but neither a big 'beasty' staring up at us while preparing supper!
Can tape worms live in cabbage ? I've always thought they needed animal hosts ?
Though tape worm needs an animal host (human/pets/farm animals, from its feaces T.worm eggs can reach vegetables as well if there are no hygiene measures. So we need to wash fruits and veggies thoroughly before consuming and also wash hands thoroughly before eating.
Greater danger lies when we eat undercooked/raw - pork/beef/game which is infected by T.worm cysts which results in cysts embedding itself in muscles, eyes, nervous system, brain etc which may cause very serious problems(cysticercosis)and even death. Hence I absolutely avoid consuming pork or its products when in India. The good thing is while cooking curry the high temperature kills these beasties. I may sound like giving a lecture here, but the threat is real.
The problem is that untreated sewage carries the same spore/ova/eggs to vegetarian food chain. In recent years, things like raw cabbage salad/coleslaw/other salads served with fast foods, have become popular in India and there are many incidences of tapeworms in vegetarians. Other root vegetable salads sold by roadside vendors are also not washed properly in clean water. It is a huge problem.