My son Takeh has food allergies, so when I cook for him, I am very careful about the ingredients I use.
It is possible to prepare separate meals for children and parents, with the children eating a meal that eliminates the allergenic ingredients and the adults eating a normal meal. However, as a busy couple who both work, we do not have much time to cook. As a result, we adults have less and less opportunity to eat the foods he is allergic to.
In his case, his body tends to overreact to fish, but whether he has an allergic reaction or not depends on the type of fish. And the allergy test itself does not cover all fish in detail, so it is impossible to know which fish are off limits and which are safe.
The good news is that the most recent test showed that he is not allergic to shellfish. That means he can eat shrimp and crab.
However, this does not mean that we can rejoice. In a few years he may develop an allergic reaction to eating crustaceans, or he may have no problem eating shrimp but not prawns. In any case, parents should always monitor him carefully when feeding him protein-containing foods.
Today he had his first taste of fried shrimp.
It came from my parents, a very large frozen shrimp fry. I fried them in oil to make them crispy and crunchy.
It was the first time he had seen this dish, but he was not too alarmed and bit into it with his hands. At most, he was wary of the heat, saying, “It’s hot, it’s hot”. Apparently, he decided that since this dish looked like croquettes or pork cutlets, it must be delicious. From the side, I could see that his memory of past experiences was steadily accumulating.
Although he does not hide his caution about dishes he has never seen before, he was greedy when it came to fried shrimp. He ate one in no time and quickly devoured the second fried shrimp, which he “probably won’t eat, but I prepared it to look good on the plate. Oh, if that second one went uneaten, my parents would eat it.
He also pointed to the empty plate and shouted in a loud voice, “It’s gone! This was a sign that he wanted to eat the third one. I had to convince him that that was it for the day, because it would have been a waste to give him the third fried shrimp. I never thought I would like fried shrimp so much.
Come to think of it, most of the “children’s lunches” served in restaurants have fried shrimp on them. I had thought that the reason why fried shrimp was used in children’s lunches as a must-have item was because it looked good and was meant to be a decorative item. But maybe kids really like shrimp. I had underestimated them.
I wondered what would happen if I gave him stir-fried shrimp with chili sauce.
Would he say, “It’s spicy,” and hate it? Or would he continue to eat it, saying, “It’s spicy, but it tastes good,” and then exclaim, “It’s not there! I wonder which it would be?
I would like to try it next time. Be careful not to make it as hot as possible.
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