Does anyone else get numb tongue from eating fresh celery? I do, and I didn't know that it didn't happen to everyone! Apparently, it's not uncommon, though. Articles that I'm reading can't agree about whether it's a reaction to eugenol (also in ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.) that's responsible or if it's an allergy to furanocoumourans that increase in concentration as the celery ages.
@North idk about that specificallg but my only real allergy is to my favourite flavour, cinnamon, only in concentrated extra good things like candy hearts and fireball, and the only reaction is that it makes my tongue shed like a snake the next day.
really fking weird. maybe related. have some fireball and see how it goes.
@SarraceniaWilds I love fireball, lol. Luckily, I don't have that reaction to cinnamon. It's one of my favorites, too. Cinnamon imperials are an A-tier candy.
Okay, I can't find any proof that eugenol can be found in celery. Another possible culprit is "oral allergy syndrome," where certain pollen allergies can cause cross-sensitivity to some foods. Also, it turns out that celery is one of those foods that causes a lot of severe allergic reactions, like peanuts. I guess a non-trivial number of people are mildly allergic to something in fresh celery.
The only other "food" allergy that I have (that I know of) is honey, but only mildly and only sometimes, which tells me it's probably actually a pollen allergy. That might lend some credence to the "oral allergy syndrome" theory
@North I have a similar pollen problem for mustache wax. Depending on where it's from and where the bees got their pollen I may or may not breakout. Not life or death allergy, but definitely annoying.
@North And there's even a thing called "exercise induced anaphylaxis" that can be triggered by eating a lot of celery. (Presumably by concentrating the allergy inducing portion?)
@North This is not something that affects me, but a good friend of mine has a similar response to what I perceive as "spicy" food they perceive is as "tingly" food.
It reminds me of the Radiolab that talks about how the theory of taste is not nearly as well developed as the theory of color. We can at least agree on what is blue and what is not blue 🙂
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