We have been having the same discussion for almost four years now. It’s time we got an outside view.
When I’m sick, I want toast, tea, chicken soup, and apples. Mild, comforting things.
When Sydney’s sick, he wants chili, curry: anything spicy enough to drive the taste of the illness away.
It would be one thing if these were just our personal preferences. But we so completely don’t understand why the other would want what he or she wants that we have decided the other is completely messed up. So where do you fall? Are you a spice or mild sickie?
Erin
Alan Schmierer
I think it kind of depends in what way you feel “sick”. If your stomach is bothering you, spicy is not really so advisable, etc. On the other hand, if your nose is stuffed up, spicy foods can help clear that out…
As far as head colds go, it’s kind of an interesting dichotomy. Assuming that having a cold makes you unable to smell (/taste flavors), it seems you guys have gotten around this in 2 different ways. Erin picks fairly bland foods & doesn’t miss the flavor. Sydney picks spicy foods that will still provide some stimulation (e.g, pain on the tongue) in the absence of other flavors.
Sydney’s def. the weirdo 🙂 Even when I can’t taste anything, I’d rather have hot broth than curry or anything that’s going to make my already watery, leaking eyes and nose leak even more.
–heidi
I think you have just confirmed that Sidney is wierder than you. 🙂
Can’t say I have ever tried being either. Just ignore it and live life like normal!
Just a guess – perhaps those foods that Sydney prefers to eat when he is feeling ill are foods from his childhood, and are what his mother may have given him when he was sick. Spicy foods are recommended to help clear stuffy heads.
Science confirms that chicken broth/soup contains ingredients that aid the healing of those with a cold/flu etc. Erin was fed chicken soup/broth when she was growing up – whether for illness, a cold wintry day, or simply because it tasted good. Tea has always been a comfort food in Erin’s family as well. The BRAT diet was on the menu for upset tummys; bananas, rice, applesauce, toast.
Perhaps in both persons, the food is not the true comforter…:)
Also, for the record: unrelated to your sick-food preferences, you’re both a little weird. 😉
Nope, not a lot of spicy foods in my childhood. It’s just that I don’t much care for the taste of mucus, so when my body is full of mucus I prefer food that has enough flavour to cover up the mucus. Makes perfect sense to me.
Sydney
YUCK, Sydney! And ditto Lisa’s last statement!!!