I like exotic food but this was ridiculous!
If you knew me, you would probably consider me to be a foodie. I like good
restaurants, I like to cook, and I'm willing to try most anything. In my
family, I'm considered to be an adventurous eater. Years ago when I went
to Austria I had Wild Boar stew which I really enjoyed. In London I learned
the difference between Lamb in the US and English Lamb - mutton that is.
I also ventured to have a hamburger in Jakarta which tasted nothing like
the ones we get here in the US. My colleague and I decided that it was
probably made of Australian horse meat. One of the things you learn about
eating when you travel to exotic locations is to be wary - not only of
the water, but the ingredients in the food as well. Well this morning I
found that I needn't travel too far to find exotic, potentially disease
inducing ingredients in my food.
I sat down for my usual breakfast of whole wheat bread with peanut butter
and jelly, a cup of coffee and fruit. Today my fruit of choice was grapes,
big red globe grapes. I LOVE red grapes. I'm also aware that in the past
couple of years, bugs have been found in grapes purchased in supermarkets
in the Greater Boston area. Therefore whenever I eat them I try to wash
them thoroughly and I also visually inspect the bunch when I grab each
grape. So there was a rather large bunch of washed grapes spread on the
plate before me. I had already eaten one or two when I began to reach for
another and suddenly saw something move. Right away I suspected a bug.
As I looked more closely I saw it was a spider - not the usual house type
spider, but a larger one with striped legs.
I quickly bagged the bunch of grapes, as well as the rest of the
grapes I had bought over the weekend and then hit the internet looking
for some information. What I wanted to know was whether there was some
place official I should be reporting this to. The only information I found
was that in the past people have found black widow spiders in their grapes
and that the females are the ones that bite and can cause several days
of discomfort. So I ended up taking the grapes to the supermarket where
I bought them. If anything, I assumed they would want to know. The manager
opened up the bunch I had wrapped separately and with a little difficulty
shook the spider loose. Upon inspection he said it didn't appear to be
a black widow spider but he would send it out to be analyzed and took my
name and telephone number so that someone could call me when they get the
results. He wasn't sure how long this would take, but I can't wait to find
out! I have to say that the store's reaction was more than I had hoped
for, and in addition to sending the spider to be analyzed my money for
the grapes was refunded and I was given a $10 gift card for the store.
So if you're fond of red grapes please be very careful when you go to eat
them. As for me - I think I'll avoid red grapes at least until next year.
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