cistavoda

Yep. As ffay005 said, there were catering troubles ex-DEL. But as they have resumed catering I'll eat it. (and I'll eat all the Häääg-Dzz available as well)

florens

Special meals too I think.

cistavoda

So the options are:

1. Eat normally
2. Eat only ice cream
3. Eat a special meal
   
   or my recommendation:
4. Eat only "salad" and wash everything down with plenty of Napue and Koskenkorva

intuition

Nice comeback!

oliver2002

Well, basic tropical food training is not to eat uncooked things. And alcohol does nothing to the pathogens you may have consumed. If it can get past your stomach juices then 60% v/v alcohol can't harm it either.

cistavoda

This. ^

_ra_

florens

AndyA

On my shameful mass tourism trip to Delhi a few months back I found myself eating an ice cream (or "kulfi" to be more precise) bought from a street vendor. I was with a friend so I was just going with the flow with him and I didn't notice until half way through the cold, but quickly melting, kulfi that maybe this is not such a good idea. Well nothing came out of it, but I think I won't be eating dairy products from an Indian street vendor any time soon again.

oliver2002

I lived 20 years in India and wouldn't eat anything from street vendors, period. That said I have had my worst stomach upsets from my nieces daycare in Sweden. This xmas they also gave us the worst colds when we were all in my in laws place in Tornio. Nowadays we joke that tropical stomach upsets are nothing compared to winter dagis virus from the Nordics.

GUWonder

Eating salad in India is high-risk.

As a rule in India, I was told to avoid any food that isn't freshly cooked and served hot, whether from street vendors or restaurants, and that restaurants were risky beyond hotel restaurants that catered substantially to foreigners from beyond Asia. And that rule mostly served me well. That meant most ice cream was to be off limits, most salad and fruit off limits unless prepared in a way that involved peeling and/or using boiled and filtered water to clean and prepare the veggies/fruits. It didn't mean all street vendor food was off limits, just all non-hot food and most hot food except of certain sorts or from certain street vendors with a long history of serving foreigners too without issue. And most dairy was off-limits beyond the cocoons (with the exception of some yogurt). The main focus was to avoid anything that used regular tap water without the water having gone through a long boil and filter process before use, and so drinks beyond the homes were meant to be sealed carbonated beverages or bottled water bought from reputable sellers. Salad and ice cream were a general "no no". And being careful with keeping your mouth shut in the shower/bath and using only reputably-supplied bottled water for brushing teeth can definitely help in India.

I used to eat some street food in India, but I sort of knew that freshly roasted corn cobs from some valley streets vendors and freshly grilled cut meat cubes on skewers at some places in Delhi and elsewhere in northern India was doing fine by me. The "winter vomit"-producing day care viruses in the Nordics seem to not hit (or not hit as hard) some kids who have had lots of exposure to India as it hits kids who haven't. Not sure if the difference is due to fortitude arising from prior exposure to pathogens or if it's due to having more exposure to having stricter rules about hand washing, bathroom use and what to eat and not eat. It could also be due to the "gross candy" buying and consumption habits that seem rather prevalent as part of the popular cultural in at least parts of the Nordic countries.

When I've had severe food poisoning from plane food -- rare as it has been for me -- it's never been from food served to me on flights departing India nor even from flights within India. It's been from plane food catered for US airlines flying from Europe or the US or food catered for European airlines flying within Europe or from Europe to the Americas. To my amusement, I've never had food poisoning from food that was served to me on domestic flights operated by Indian carriers with code-share operations with US or European carriers. The worst bout of food poisoning I've experienced has been when flying UA from BRU.

cistavoda

Sorry, on the AY forum salad means beer ...

oliver2002

Hmm... I grew up in an Indian village in 1980-87 with a pack of dogs to play with and a pond to swim in. Later during University in Bombay (1994-99) I had malaria thrice and thyphoid once, the latter probably originating from the office building 'canteen'. I think that is sufficient exposure to pathogens. The bloody dagis virus still gets me everytime I get in multiday contact with my nieces.

GUWonder

Just goes to show that not everyone's constitution and prior pathogen exposure and results from the same is the same.

I guess one solution for you may be to try to minimize time with the nieces, but I'm not sure their cousins, their mom or the airlines will like that solution.

I have not yet gotten any kind of stomach-upsetting virus in the Nordic areas, and that's despite a substantial level of exposure to people in contact with daycares in the region. I do hear from some people that they think daycare teachers should have more fully-paid sick time off from work than the rest of the working population, and I'll take that as a sign that the hygiene hypothesis and its adult variant only goes so far in working.

Andaman

I have never had any major health issues in SE Asia, I seldom catch a cold even. But it seems it's better to avoid Finnish daycare kids The last time I spent a whole day with these little sweethearts I got a severe bacteria related pneumonia and was hospitalized for six days, for the first time in my life.