Why is there potato in my mayo? and other questions i frequently ask these days.

Those of you that follow me on twitter will know about the rant i had yesterday. i went home for lunch, in an honest attempt to eat food that was safe - food near work is hard to find that isn’t a cross contamination hazard, and i hadn’t packed lunch that day, but the problem was, the mayo i bought, that i have been eating for years without a problem now contains potato starch - something that i am fairly allergic to.

    i realized that i had eaten something i was allergic to quickly (after a “wait a minute my mouth is burning and there is no hot peppers on this sandwich” realization) and luckily i am well stocked in allergy medications, and took the meds in time, but it bothered me a lot. here’s a product i ate for years, and although it’s been drilled into my head that if you have allergies like i do you need to read ingredients each time, every time, there are somethings that i take for granted - condiments are one of them.

    But back to my question, why exactly is there potato in my mayo? heard the news about the soaring price of corn? in an attempt to keep food costs down, many products are using things other than corn starch as a thickener or stabilizer, and truthfully, it is making my life extremely rough right now - potato and tapioca seem to be the starches of choice - and i am allergic to both. In fact, tapioca in a microwavable pizza put me in hospital for two days a couple years back (and at the time, i remember asking “why is a type of pudding in my pizza??”). There is really nothing wrong with those two substitutions, and really this post isn’t about it being wrong, it is more that food is changing - things that have been made one way for years and years aren’t anymore. Corn is an expensive food now (but a cheap source of fuel..ironic, huh?). Don’t take for granted that something you have eaten for years is still safe or still the same as it was before, the food world is changing, and the itchy, tired, not feeling well me, doesn’t think it is for the better.

    i am close to only wanting to eat food i make myself (i’ve already had very nice twitter friends send me instructions to make my own mayo). we will have to see, but it scared me yesterday that something that i always thought to be so safe is no longer safe.