Food Adventures Courtesy of My Wife & Rachel Ray

I know, the title seems to invite death. Not to my way of thinking or to the way a word freak looks at words! To read where it came from, click here: http://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/search/label/Introductions

One of the effects of chemotherapy appears to be changes in how people taste things. Favorite foods can become as tasteless as sawdust and as caregivers, we have to get used to the phrase, “Does this taste funny to you?”

I’ve found the best answer to that question is to say that it doesn’t taste like it’s over the expiration date (If it IS, however, get rid of it. The immune system of someone in chemo has been slowed down due to the destruction of cancer cells. ANY stray bacteria or virus can attack that immune system! It’s not a sure thing, but why risk it?). Also, you have to put on your cautious taste buds.

Humans developed taste buds in order to figure out if something that had been identified as “food” was rotten or not. If it was “rotten”, that would mean it might carry more than the usual bacteria and therefore make someone sick – or kill them.

But now that old favorites taste weird to the chemo patient, what can you do?

My wife has always loved watching cooking shows. One of those shows is of course, Rachel Ray. The show spins by fast, but you can go online and download any recipe you want. Better yet, go to your local Target, WalMart or Pamida store and get a Rachel Ray cooking video – any one of her 30 Minute Meals ones from the FOOD CHANNEL. Watch it together or have her watch it and then stand back!

The idea of experimenting with new foods also makes the prospect of failure easier to take – if it doesn’t taste good, you can put it down as a culinary experiment gone bad and move one! The National Cancer Institute’s EATING HINTS: Before, During and After Cancer Treatment publication suggests that you avoid formerly “favorite” so that a negative encounter doesn’t leave a bad memory that will ruin it for AFTER chemo when the taste buds recover.

And usually they WILL recover!

Now’s the time for adventure and while there may be failures, who knows – maybe you’ll discover a new favorite! I’m not sure my wife would have tried Israeli Spice Chicken if she hadn’t been on her journey through chemo. What I CAN guarantee now is that this dish just made it on our Most Wanted list!

Image: http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171512060l/104446.jpg