Long before Instagram was a thing, photography and food enthusiasts had a knack of capturing food on their cameras, without thinking of posting it anywhere. When I was in college, I had a simple mobile camera, but I made sure that I documented all the meals that we are out, the beautifully laid o

This picture was taken on Firangiri beach, the most popular beach town of Penang island, Malaysia. It was a beautiful evening, and this eatery was right on the road. I ordered Tom Yum noodles with shrimps and husband ordered a plate of simple egg noodles.The shrimps on my plate looked absolutely tempting and it tasted better than it looked. Now, shell fish are notorious for triggering allergies in sensitive people, which I am not at all. In my (almost) 37 years of existence, I don't know of a single food item, that is known to evoke any allergy in me. So I am pretty experimental in what I can put inside my tummy. I am willing to try everything and anything. And being a Bengali, shrimps and prawns are far from experimental, they are a staple of anyone's diet. I relished every morsel, oblivious of the fact what my future held for me. 

I couldn't sleep that night because of intense itching all over my body. The husband was deep asleep, and I didn't wake him up. I kept slathering body lotion all over myself, thinking that the pruritus was because of extreme dryness from sea bathing and swimming. I couldn't notice any rashes too, as it was dark and we had only warm white light in out hotel room. 

As soon as dawn cracked, my jaw fell when I started noticing the redness all over my body. The sight was horrendous, something I had seen only in textbooks; not even on any patient of mine. I shook my husband awake in anxiety, and it took him some time to come to his senses and realize the gravity of the situation. We were not carrying an anti histamines, as it was a short trip, the kids were not there and allergy was the least of our concerns. However, this incident proves that you can never be over prepared. 

We rushed to the nearest chemist shop (not so common on a beach side) and got the substitute of whatever we get in our country, after trying to convince the chemist that we are registered medical practitioners from India. 

My redness, swelling and hence itching subsided after 12 hours, but along with it came intense drowsiness. In all, we lost 2 precious days of our trip. I am still not sure what exactly triggered that allergy, I could only pin the shrimps as the culprit. Now, I would be super apprehensive of trying shrimps or prawns, (or would keep an Epi pen with me).. 

It could have been much worse too. I could have gone to an anaphylactic shock and died, if it had been too severe. 

Could you imagine this story while looking at these happy pictures? I bet not! There's usually a long saga behind every picture, and from next time onwards, let's ponder over other possibilities, instead of just drooling on the food!

This post is part of #BlogchatterFoodFest