Food for Thought.

This is a subject I think about a lot, well you cant help it really, eating is something you have to do every day if you want to survive. The problem is, as many of you will know, trying to eat when you have Parosmia, is no easy task.  Its a case of forcing it down your neck as quickly as possible in most cases.

I say in most cases because these days, (after a year and half of this nightmare), some things are now bearable....even pleasurable dare I say it.

If you remember in my last post about smell I said its a case of my interpretation of certain smells being different from the normal now, and I have to recognise these as the new smells of things....have a look at the previous post for more detail

And the same can be said for food also.  It doesn't taste as it should, but this is now the new taste of certain foods. Think back to my 'orrible onions post, when I said the taste of onion and garlic was like eating rotten food, if you read it that is! I still anticipate some food to taste as it used to and its very disappointing when it doesn't, and even worse if it taste vile. That's Parosmia for you!

Well on the other side of that, the taste of milk chocolate for example is sweet and... weird, that's the problem I cant describe what it tastes like anymore but to me that is now what chocolate tastes like and the main thing is it isn't horrible.

So now here is a list of my taste interpretation of some everyday foods that we all eat. (or used to in my case!).





Lets start with savoury:

• Chips - cooking oil
• Fish - rotten food
• Eggs - rotten
• Bacon - salt
• Cheese - salt and maybe a bit of something else....tartness?
• Chicken - rotten, unless in a sweet sauce, then bearable
• Beef - used to be horrible but now pretty tasteless, (I'll explain about taste shifts at the end).
• Chilies - no taste, but I get the sensation of heat (which is good as its some kind of association).
• Garlic - disgusting...rotten to the worst degree.
• Onion- the same unless well disguised.
• Food in sauces -
• Chilli Con Carne - heat and.....thinking here!! savoury, in a nice way but I don't know what...argh!
• Curry - horrible unless its sweet, like a Korma as that masks the taste of garlic.
• Spaghetti Bolognese - tinny, and bitter = not good!
• Casserole - if its beef and has a lot of gravy, too meaty, rotten.
• Tuna pasta - rotten as I cant eat tuna anymore.
• Cauliflower cheese - nice good texture, salty and a bit creamy. I always get a big helping at my mum and dads, he makes great cauliflower cheese....anyway, I digress.
• Sweet/Puddings -
• Ice Cream - effect of coldness in the mouth is good, and its sweet. Blackberry Crumble flavour works well due to the texture of the crumble in it, and the tartness of the blackberry.
• Lemon Meringue Pie - lots of different textures, lemon works well for me as it is tart and sweet overall. (Goes well with ice cream in fact).
• Cake - good, as its sweet and gooey.
• Cheesecake - one of those weird indescribable tastes again, and I don't like the texture, so not very keen.
• Dark Chocolate - not very nice at all, but again I don't know how to describe the taste...oh good grief, just nasty!
• Toffee- mmm, ok still a bit odd tasting but the sweetness masks it a bit, and if its really soft I like the texture.

Tastes shifts -

Sometimes, and it is the case with a lot of people with Parosmia, things taste ok then after a period of time taste horrible. I don't know why this is but it can be disappointing when you have just started to enjoy something again then it becomes awful to eat. It can be as short as a day or two or over a period of weeks.

The worst for me was eggs as I used to like the different textures in omelettes, however eggs taste bad again, as you will see from my list, so that's yet another dish to cross off. The same goes with fish it was good, then I started to really dislike the taste and texture....so now another no, no.

On the plus side from bad to good - tomatoes used to have no taste and I hated the texture, but now a sweetness comes through and as long as they aren't too ripe they are fine.

So there you have it the complex world of Parosmia.....I wouldn't wish it on anybody, but its a case of adapting and experimenting with different types and combinations of food. Otherwise I'd probably hardly eat anything. Bon appetit! (Not being sarcastic, honest!