Question for the well traveled: Where did the food make you sickest?

[Anonymous]

Egypt. Ugh-- got sooooooo sick.

[Anonymous]

Peru ... several trips (that is, I have been there several times and typically have picked up a bug each time). Worst was after hiking in the Cordillera Huayhuash. I was filtering water but some kind of bug must have gotten through -- it took months to recover.

Egypt.

Oaxaca, Mexico. Should not have had that elote, but it looked so good ...

And Kincaid's in Foggy Bottom. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Morocco/Western Sahara.

But I also got giardia as a kid in upstate NY, so....

[Anonymous]

This is a very useful thread

I'm actually trying to figure out what countries were NOT mentioned (or hardly mentioned). Italy and Japan, right?

[Anonymous]

Another giardia case - Peru.
I'm almost tempted to start a "Where did you get your giardia?" thread after reading this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another giardia case - Peru.
I'm almost tempted to start a "Where did you get your giardia?" thread after reading this one.

Haha I was thinking the exact same thing!

[Anonymous]

I've spent years in Delhi and months at a time in Peru and I've only gotten a stomach bug once, in Mumbai, and it really wasn't that bad - no vomiting, just some trouble with digestion. In fact, I think the only time I got proper food poisoning was at Yosemite National Park back in the 90s -- so, there you go.

That said, there's a reason so many Indians AND Peruvians think home-cooked food is healthiest, and will scold you for eating too much at restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Italy. I think it was food poisoning from clams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That said, there's a reason so many Indians AND Peruvians think home-cooked food is healthiest, and will scold you for eating too much at restaurants.

That is really interesting observation. Do they get sick from restaurant food as well or do they think that the cooking standards are not the same as at home?

[Anonymous]

Morocco - mainly because I thought we were drinking bottled water and were not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've spent years in Delhi and months at a time in Peru and I've only gotten a stomach bug once, in Mumbai, and it really wasn't that bad - no vomiting, just some trouble with digestion. In fact, I think the only time I got proper food poisoning was at Yosemite National Park back in the 90s -- so, there you go.

That said, there's a reason so many Indians AND Peruvians think home-cooked food is healthiest, and will scold you for eating too much at restaurants.

What do the restaurant workers do differently at work than when they're at home? This makes no sense.

I haven't been myself, but the folks I know who have been to Peru, got sick as a dog while there. One guy passed da fuq out and barely remembers anything. He said the locals made him drink some kind of tea concoction to get better. That's intense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is India worse than other third world places?

Some people here just love to hate on India.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've spent years in Delhi and months at a time in Peru and I've only gotten a stomach bug once, in Mumbai, and it really wasn't that bad - no vomiting, just some trouble with digestion. In fact, I think the only time I got proper food poisoning was at Yosemite National Park back in the 90s -- so, there you go.

That said, there's a reason so many Indians AND Peruvians think home-cooked food is healthiest, and will scold you for eating too much at restaurants.

What do the restaurant workers do differently at work than when they're at home? This makes no sense.

I haven't been myself, but the folks I know who have been to Peru, got sick as a dog while there. One guy passed da fuq out and barely remembers anything. He said the locals made him drink some kind of tea concoction to get better. That's intense.

It makes plenty of sense that home-cooked food in poorer countries in India is healthier than eating outside. There are no rigorous standards for food safety in restaurants, frequent power failures leading to loss of refrigeration and the restaurants often serve old food reheated to save money. Unless you go to a place patronized by lots of foreigners or one that locals recommend as a clean place you are running a risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is India worse than other third world places?

B/c people on DCUM love to bash India. I am not Indian but I have been there 6 times for work.
I have never gotten sick. The first time I was super careful. Now I brush my teeth with tap water and still have never had an issue.
Stay in a nice hotel. Eat in reputable places and you will be OK. it is a beautiful country that gets such a bad rap on this site.

So objectively saying that India is where you got the most sick is "bashing" the country?

You have an odd way of looking at the world.

You either haven't been on this site long enough or are deliberately acting dense. The PP made a correct observation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is India worse than other third world places?

B/c people on DCUM love to bash India. I am not Indian but I have been there 6 times for work.
I have never gotten sick. The first time I was super careful. Now I brush my teeth with tap water and still have never had an issue.
Stay in a nice hotel. Eat in reputable places and you will be OK. it is a beautiful country that gets such a bad rap on this site.

Well, those who give them a bad rap are the ones who are slumming it in India and then get ill. If you can stay in a 5 star hotel, eat at a good restaurant instead of a road side dhaba or street food, drink bottled water - you will be fine.

I am Indian and I have long since lost my immunity to the bugs in India. The way I keep myself free of illness is to drink bottled water and brush teeth with bottled water. Eat hot cooked meals and stay away from salads or anything raw. Eat fruits that you can peel the skin away. I always load up on delicious lassi carried by most food places that are chockful of probiotics. Use odomos on skin to prevent mosquito bites and have one of the electronic mosquito repellants in the room you stay in.

I'm sorry, but you list an insane list of precautions (to Americans, anyway) and then say that to do otherwise is "slumming it." Nope, it's not that black and white. We stayed in 5 star places and never took risks and someone in our group got so sick they had to go to a nursing home (to be nursed, but less serious than a hospital) for two weeks. We ate in people's homes as well, and our hosts lamented that they really had to stay on top of their staff because they would go to their unhygienic ways if they were not closely supervised. This is the same in posh restaurants and 5-star hotel restaurants. It just takes one lazy or untrained person, and the results are much more virulent because of the overall hygiene and risks. It's a gamble. I hope you keep winning it.

What the PP listed is a very basic set of common sense precautions to take while traveling in third world countries. Even my family in India does all this while traveling within the country. I don't know why Americans expect the exact same high standards of hygiene everywhere in the world.