Friday, March 7, 2014

Safe eating

Years ago my colleague Lewis Leavitt traveled in Pakistan without getting sick by following the "hot to the touch" rule.  Over the years, this advice has been supplemented with the suggestion of also taking 2 Pepto-Bismo tablets before each meal.  The curries in Myanmar arrived with a big plate of greens that we left untouched.  We did not drink the water, or let them put ice with anything.  Beer was sanitary, and we got B vitamins too!  After washing our hands, we used sanitizer too.  And it pretty much worked.  The night after leaving Myanmar, Will got a bit of crummy tummy, but I have stayed fine.

In a particularly nice place, I drank some exotic fruit smoothies.  And I buried a bit of cilantro in my soup/noodles combination for a while to sterilize it.  I so wished that I had a kitchen and could buy all the food that I wanted in the market, take it home, and peel/clean/cook it.

Friends had an experience with a shop that had the food sitting out, then the shop microwaved it to heat it.  I think that possibility obviates the "hot to the touch" rule in today's world.  SAS folks made all kinds of different decisions -- some eating most everything, some eating mostly just white rice.

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