Cucumber crisis
Cucumber crisis
In our dark times of being bloated and belchy every day, bestie and I shared an abiding love for cucumbers. Their simple, fresh and crisp taste comforted us when little else did. That's why, when we embarked on our journey to find mutual love with our food, we confidently assumed we'd feel great on our first weekend alone with them. We didn't.
With heavy hearts we looked up cucumber sensitivities, still hoping it was unlikely. But, as usual, we found that assumption is the mother of all f*** ups (Under Siege 2). As innocent and comforting as they seem, cucumbers are actually quite well-known to cause gas. It's a substance called cucurbitacin found in cucumber skins that causes the problem. For some people skinning cucumbers works but cucurbitacin can leach into the flesh too so it doesn't work for everyone and sadly not for us. Apparently some stores stock "burpless" cucumbers but we've never seen these.
In the end, we had to make the tough choice to let a love go. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't straightforward. Cucumbers suddenly seemed to be in everything we ate: salads, wraps, sushi, sandwiches, the little gourmet rolls at cocktail events.
While our hearts hurt, our bellies thanked us. It's incredible how immediate the improvement was once we'd unlearnt the habit of eating them. Bestie coped by developing a potentially unhealthy obsession with lettuce. I got creative.
