You can NEVER MAKE ME EAT another date!

[SmilingRawDancer]

OMG.


So I bite into a big medjool date, and when I hold the remainder down and look at my bite mark....a white larva is FLOPPING AROUND on the pit!!

Needless to say, I jumped in the air in hysterics, spit the thing out and continued to squeal like a little girl.


I'm done with dates. I knew that they were too good to be true, and I was right. My appetite is GONE.

[crystalmoon]

:eek: That would finish it for me too, i've read the thread about all the nasties than can be hiding in our foods but to actually see what you saw would totally freak me out...:( reckon I would be physically sick on the spot & probably shudder every time I saw dates in the future.
I really feel for you.........Im getting so put off the idea of shop bought dried fruits:confused:

[halikatak]

OMG!!!!!

Is this a common thing? Eek! I would probably upchuck if that happened to me.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/SMirC-puke.svg/120px-SMirC-puke.svg.png


http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://photobucket.com%22%20target=%22_blank%22%3E%3Cimg% 20src=%22http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z282/JSKUZBUCKET/SMILEY%20FACES/thvomi4.gif%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22Photo%20S haring%20and%20Video%20Hosting%20at%20Photobucket% 22%3E%3C/a%3E

[soulstar]

I would lose it, pretty quickly, too.

Right now I am eating grapes and am beginning to look a bit more closely at them as I bite down, just thinking about squirmy things in my food. :eek:

Luckily, I haven't run into any of these critters yet, but my date consumption is pretty low.


halikatak,

I love your green "about to gag" face thingy. Gave me a chuckle. :D

Keep on rawkin'

soulstar

[Riiiya]

that's why i always open them before biting eeeeeek! Back home in Ukraine i had a tough lesson with cherries ..brrrr still open every one of them uuh :(

[Shell]

Blech!! I hear you, SRD.......that would turn me off indefinitely! I'm going to be checking my dates regularly now! I once had this happen with a head of rappini.....never again can I eat it!

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u137/howlongmustiwait/Smilies/sigs165.gif

[SmilingRawDancer]

I had read a thread on these forums about dates and worms etc, but I figured it wasn't a big deal and that that would only occur in "fresh" dates, not expensive packaged "Fancy" dates.

I still feel sick. I keep drinking water....heiehiohdlgn;whegou

So yeah, I'm not so worried about bugs crawling into my food after they're born, like with lettuce for example. I cut it and wash it off, and occassionally I'll find flies etc. in it, but I know that they weren't inhabiting it for a long time.

This worm was BORN THERE!!! Get a new home!

[menat]

But...but...that big larvae was RAW! :D It gave you protein in its raw and natural form.

[justinesmith]

But...but...that big larvae was RAW! :D It gave you protein in its raw and natural form.

AHHHHH!!! Perfection. Good 'ol raw source of protein :D

[StarFire]

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/190-1.gif was it... (gulp...) half a larva ??? http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/backingout.gif ... aaackkkk..... http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/scaredbluesmiley.gif

[greenday]

Well, just chalk it up to a little Nature Protein Surprise. I bet the larve liked being bit in half WAY less than you liked how he tasted. ;)

[SmilingRawDancer]

He didn't make it into my mouth, but some of his friends might have, so I did him a disservice...nah the little bugger got away.
I saw him, I dropped the date half, I ran to the trash can and spit out the mouth half, returned to the scene of the crime...no wiggly white thing to be found. But my vegan radar was wailing, and....I'm traumatized.

Raw or not, some things just aren't meant to be eaten!!!

[lavendarJ]

That's why I can't buy the dates..... I still remember the last thread; I admit it; I am a whimp about bugs and there is no "look on the bright side" or "natural protein" thoughts that will win me over...I don't like bugs crawling on me....it took me a while to start eating blueberries again after someone shared a rather unfortunate experience....

[RawHeaven]

Ohhh! oh! arggh that's gross! :eek: After that other thread on the same subject, I'm not touching another date. I'm being a total hypocrite after saying I wouldn't care about the little critters, but your visual has changed my mind! Ew.

[Green Life]

This is why I always blend dates up in smoothies or puree them, just to be sure that nothing can survive, but that is somettimes how it goes with raw food. I have found alot of creatures on my raw and living food.

Just havta wash everything off really well.

I found a maggot on my spinach leaf luckily before I put it into my smoothie.

Don't think I need extra protein that badly.

Green

[StarFire]

okay...so now you're tellin us you have an escaped date larva hiding in your kitchen somewhere???? .... http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/faint-1.gif ...

yewww.... SRD... I'm not comin over for dinner until you find that squirmy little larva!!! aaaccckkk.... :eek:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/OMG-1.gif

[SmilingRawDancer]

Actually it's in the living room :)

But my good kitty cats (I have 3!) kill any insect that enters the house. They attack moths, spiders, roaches.....indoor cats need all the hunting they can get!

[StarFire]

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/hangin.gif

OH THANK GAWD http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/whew.gif!!! SO WHAT TIME IS DINNER?? :D

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/8829-001-49-1047.gif

[halikatak]

StarFire - this is hiLARious!!!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/OMG-1.gif

[SmilingRawDancer]

Hahahaa ONLY on RFT could I share stories about dates and larva taking over the house :)


Ahhhh I love these forums :)
My lesson of the day:

Cut OPEN all your food, thou shalt never bite into a piece of fruit.

[StarFire]

hehheee http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/3Thanx.gif ....
photobucket... dont cha jes love all the crazy stuff they got on there http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/Flwr07.gif!!

[StarFire]

okay... aside from the larva thing... and from what I understand - occassional black mold.... (I've cut open every date since I read that...)

the other reason I have difficulty eating dates is because.... (infact I DONT eat dates because of this reason unless the date is in a recipe....)

because they look like cockroaches without legs.... :eek: yewwww.....

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/DSCN4776.jpg .... tell me that doesnt look like a date??? :eek:

[ron4540]

Yuk... I heard that insect infestation is common with figs too.

[menat]

This is why I always blend dates up in smoothies or puree them, just to be sure that nothing can survive, but that is somettimes how it goes with raw food. I have found alot of creatures on my raw and living food.

Just havta wash everything off really well.

I found a maggot on my spinach leaf luckily before I put it into my smoothie.

Don't think I need extra protein that badly.

Green

I see larva...tiny small ones on collard greens all the time. That is why I soak them in salt water and use a vegetable/fruit brush on them and they disappear. No more just rinsing off with water!

[Sunluvva]

Last time I looked at David Wolfe's site he was experimenting eating bugs and insects mmmmmm, think i'll give it a miss.

The 1st fresh figs and dates have arrived in the shops in the UK. I've bought loads and now im feeling kinda eeyuwwwwkky.

I shall check em first.

[Barbie2]

Okay... now a maggot would really freak me out! I can't watch CSI because of one episode with maggots. Oh shiver....:eek:

Barb

[maraw]

I think this is the image you are searching for... :eek:

[tvillemom]

I always cut open and pit my dates! I've never found a buggy in there! I mean, we should all realize, if we buy organic, you are more likely to find a bug...and that's actually a GOOD thing! I'm careful to examine, and wash my produce....

I'll still buy dates, when I can find them!

Wendi

[faith4u]

Yuck!

To this day my sister cannot eat a whole strawberry. She once took a bite out of one and there was a worm inside.

[Hannah]

Whoa, I have a bag of dates that have been in the cupboard for a few weeks now - I am totally freaked to even open the bag now - :eek: I too initially got freaked about eating dates after living in Houston with the largest cockroaches I had ever met - I had fear flashes when passing the date bin at whole foods at how easily a cockroach could blend in - yech! Oh well I think if I want a date-y dessert I'll just have to put my big girl panties on and go for it.

Also - just curious - what does ONOZ stand for? I love the graphic, and I know OMG ...

[EmJo]

I read somewhere that the average American unknowingly consumes several pounds of insects every year.

I know I've accidentally eaten little worms/bugs/eggs b/c I find them every once in a while in organic lettuce after washing it and after eating some of the leaves.

Yum, yum, LOL. :D

[curlykitty]

Oh man! I know how you feel. I LOVE pomegranates and must eat 50 of them before seasons end. Anyway, I always circle cut the top of to make a nice round shape and one time I did it and there was a worm curled up all nice and comfy in the top of it. Bleh! Needless to say I didn't eat that pom. It could have been the sweetest most juicy pom ever and it still went into the can. I make sure to cut the round off 1st now and always check for stowaways. Luckily it hasn't stopped me from enjoying one of autumn's gems. :p

[curlykitty]

Also - just curious - what does ONOZ stand for? I love the graphic, and I know OMG ...

It means Oh No. :p

[Veganforlife]

I'm sorry, but I've gotta respond to the post about not eating dates. I have not read everyone's responses, but just reading the op got me thinking. WOW. Do SAD/CRAP eaters question what crap goes into their foods? Did you before you became raw? I didn't. Down the hatch it went. I read ingredients, don't get me wrong, and if I couldn't pronounce it, I didn't eat it. Do you realize what that chicken ate before it was slaughtered? The cow? Roadkill for one. Yep, McCrap's has contracts all over the U.S. to have roadkill picked up and then fed to the cattle; in a "ground about" way. So theoretically one is eating a dead carcass that once ate roadkill. MMMMMM! Roadkill! Oh and then how about all the pesticides that are known carcinogens? MMMMMM! Pesticides! Then there is the BGH that is fed to the cattle. MMMMMM! BGH! Should I go on? Unless you grow your own, you're gonna have "friends" on food that is good and whole. It tastes good! To me that's a good sign that it has life attached to it. I have read all about dates containing little "hitch-hikers" and I just simply check each date. If it's got a critter - it goes into the compost. Simple as that. But to give up a wonderful food - there's no way I would. If I went on that theory, I would be eating nothing, because everything at one point or another unless it's been grown in a controlled climate/atmosphere, has had something crawling, peeing, chewing, licking, and coughing on it!

[maraw]

I agree, that if a bug will eat it, all the better! Remember when we were kids (for those of us over 30) and corn used to have worms and other critters caught up in the silk? Oh how I miss those days. I haven't seen a bug one on an ear of corn in probably 15 years. And if they won't eat the stuff, why on earth should we?

Think of bugs as mini OSHA inspectors. ;)

[Dylan]

yeah I also think it's just a fact of life. We share this planet with creepy crawlies, and they serve their purpose as much as any of the rest of us.

There is a big raspberry bush in my backyard that I pick at in the spring. And when I venture in there, I go through and see which raspberries are totally clean, and which are being used by insects and other animals. I just let them take the ones they want, and I take the ones nobody else is using.

[Dylan]

about dates though, i don't find them appealing with or without worms lol.

[diali36]

I've workin in food service a long time. The stories I could tell you. Don't think bugs are only in one type of food. Raw, cooked, processed, whatever, there in there. I had a friend that worked in a science lab and for fun he and his buddys would go to a store and but various candy bars, different brands, and leave them out on a shelf to see which ones would hatch bugs 1st!!:)
Look carefully at everything and wash wash wash!!

[subbacultcha]

Ergh ergh ergh. That's perhaps the only reason I'm glad I can't afford all organic food, less bugs!

[Veganforlife]

I'd rather have the bugs then the pesticides and buy less and be healthy.

[beppa66]

okay... aside from the larva thing... and from what I understand - occassional black mold.... (I've cut open every date since I read that...)

the other reason I have difficulty eating dates is because.... (infact I DONT eat dates because of this reason unless the date is in a recipe....)

because they look like cockroaches without legs.... :eek: yewwww.....

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/DSCN4776.jpg .... tell me that doesnt look like a date??? :eek:

Star, thanks for sayng this. EXACTLY!!!! They have always reminded me of roaches too. Ewwww.

[crystalmoon]

OMG that sooooooooooo does look like a date :eek: :(
scary!

[dalimeindacoconut]

Never wanted to mention this before as I did not want to gross anyone out, but dates look too much like huge cockroaches to me. I just cannot eat them and then reading about the larve, uhhhhh gross. Oh my goodness, I just typed this without reading the other posts and they remind other people of cockroaches too....TOO FUNNY!

[halikatak]

*vomit*

I bought a package of figs... and I'm not even going to eat those now :(

Gross.

[RawKev]

I enjoy dates far too much to every stop eating them. You should read the studies on the allowable amounts of dead bug contamination, rodent hair/droppings etc. in bulk grains and other sad foods. All that stuff has to get stored somewhere and bugs get into it, it's just a fact of life. Obviously a live maggot inside of my anything I'm about to eat would gross me out but I would just toss it out move on to the next one making sure to check there is no bug inside.

[tanishamarshall]

I have to say I did find a worm in one of my dates but I still plan to eat them, I think it will be next to impossible to be raw if we think to much about the bugs. I do get freaked out but after hearing how many insect parts are in sad foods I'd rather be raw and build a tough stomach.

I do examine before I eat though.

[Portia2012]

The idea of cattle eating roadkill is exactly why I am getting out of McDonald's. It will be easier for me to avoid SAD food.


~Portia~

[Frugal Raw]

I'm more in the look and toss group. I grew some of my own salad items this past Spring and helped out in a bigger also organic garden - bugs are gonna happen, and they still do in fresh corn Maraw! We just cut it away and ate the good stuff:) There's nothing like it:D

[Bananapie]

I am not totally sure about this but I am pretty sure that the bugs that live in fruit are not the bugs that will colonize in your gut (parasites). So at worst you digest a bug (larvae) get a little b12 and have a little bad karma on your shoulders. I for one love dates and some months they are the only date I get because after getting married and having kids dates are few and far between!

PS Did you know that at the turn of the century and especially during the civil war larvae were used to treat gain green. They were placed in the wound and would consume the infectious material (ig puss, dead cells, green stuff...) and viola! no more gain green! Pretty handy creature to have around, makes me kinda want to give them a slap on the back and say thanks for helping out humanity before the age of antibiotics!

[Ginger]

Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

[tepiglet]

Years ago,I remember opening up a box of raisins-you know the one
with the smiling brunette on the front of the box?
And I discovered a big worm crawling around in there!
Put me off raisins for a loooong time.
What can I say,I'm kind of squeemish sometimes.
Thinking maybe it was a fluke,I bought some more raisins a while later,and
I found lots of little icky almost transparent looking worms crawling about..
Talk about blech!
I'm all for nature's critters,just not in the food I'm about to consume.LOL

[snowflakerepose]

I find this funny because, as others point out, a lot of SAD food is even more full of bugs. I took a law class and I have a whole binder of different processed/canned foods and how many bugs/rat droppings/etc. are allowed. Eeew. Good motivation not to eat that stuff.

But I don't know if I mind a fresh bug so much. All apes consume bugs occasionally and our dislike of them is pretty cultural.

[tepiglet]

True.
I was vegan for quite a few years, before trying raw,and although I know
I avoided a lot of bugs/parasites etc.,by not consuming meat and dairy,and processed junk food-
inevitably I'm sure I unwittingly ingested some...er...interesting things through the huge amount of organic fruit and veg that I ate.
That didn't bug me(sorry for the lame pun I couldn't resist!).
However,when on occasion,food I've brought home :D
is inundated with insects...I have to draw the line there.
I don't need THAT much protein!hehehe

[missvitreous]

I've found some nasty things...Brocolli... no matter how close you check it, there's always something in there. If it's not a big caterpilliar near the stem, it's smaller ones near the top where you can't see. That's put me off it for quite a white. When you go to the store, you get lulled into thinking you don't need to clean produce. And years ago I found a dead larva in a can of corn once. It was just floating there on the top. Yummy! I think I'll check my dates now. :eek:

[Aleesha Sattva]

i'm so surprised to see rawbies responding this way LOL come on folks... i'll take a live bug in my food anyday over pesticides and growth hormones!!!

LOL

[tepiglet]

I agree with you on the pesticides and such.
But I'm a raw food vegan-vegan being the operative word.LOL
I don't want to be eating-if I can help it-any 'protein' in the form of bugs.
What I may accidentally ingest without being aware of it it doesn't bother me though-I just
don't want to know about it,hehe.
Although I must confess I've always had a bit of a bug-phobia which stems
from childhood,and a mean older brother who used to taunt me.:D

[tepiglet]

Btw,Recycling Goddess,
I just checked out your online magazine.
Very cool!
BC seems like a great place to be raw.

[lalakis]

Geez, I would actually be HAPPIER to have live bugs pop up in my fruits/veggies from time to time because I know the food I am about to ingest is ALIVE. I'm kind of into it :p

[Aleesha Sattva]

Btw,Recycling Goddess,
I just checked out your online magazine.
Very cool!
BC seems like a great place to be raw.

thanks! It is!!!


Geez, I would actually be HAPPIER to have live bugs pop up in my fruits/veggies from time to time because I know the food I am about to ingest is ALIVE. I'm kind of into it :p

I agree completely!

[greenday]

Haha, look at the attached picture below and tell me you're REALLY worried about a bug in a date (or that a date might look like a roach). I mean, sure it's normal in our clean, modern society to be squeamish about "bugs", but put it in perspective....think about what lives ON and INSIDE us!!! Without them we'd die, so it's okay to be SYMBIOTIC with our smaller buddies! :)

And what exactly is that picture? You want to know right? If not...do not keep reading any further:

It's a human eyelash creature! :eek:

Demodex folliculorum, or the demodicid, is a tiny mite, less than 0.4 mm long, that lives in your pores and hair follicles, usually on the nose, forehead, cheek, and chin, and often in the roots of your eyelashes. They have a wormlike appearance, with legs that are mere stumps.

The mites live head-down in a follicle, feeding on secretions and dead skin debris. An individual female may lay up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, and as the mites grow, they become tightly packed. When mature, the mites leave the follicle, mate, and find a new follicle in which to lay their eggs. The whole cycle takes between 14 to 18 days.

The mites have tiny claws, and needlelike mouthparts for eating skin cells. Their bodies are layered with scales, which help them anchor themselves in the follicle. The mite's digestive system results in so little waste that the mite doesn't even have an excretory opening. So although there may be mites in your eyelashes, there isn't any mite poop! Thank goodness!

However ... did you know that you go to sleep at night on a pillow that is home to many thousands of dust mites ...which help keep our homes clean by consuming the tens of millions of skin cells we shed each day? Just pretend they're not there! :(

source: worsleyschool.net/science/files/eyelash/creatures (http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/eyelash/creatures.html)

[tepiglet]

:eek::eek: :eek: :eek:

[crystalmoon]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :p

Am feeling the need to tea tree all of my face now!

[tepiglet]

Good idea.:)
*goes to fetch tea tree oil from under the bathroom sink*

[pippin07]

I just finished eating a 1/2 dozen large medools about 20 minutes ago:eek:

From now on I will open them up first. GAWD,,,,,that would be traumatic!!!

[Lavendula]

I used to eat alot of dates, but since going raw,they are just not calling to me. I got some just because, and opened up one and sure enough, there they were.

[blix]

because everything at one point or another unless it's been grown in a controlled climate/atmosphere, has had something crawling, peeing, chewing, licking, and coughing on it!

It makes you not want to eat anything, BUT.......

What about breatharians??? You know, those who live on air:p Do they breath in little insects I Wonder.:p :p
Tepiglet I thought you are vegan and didn't kill things.lol
I've just remembered a man I saw on television who ate a worm sandwich. YUK.

[Rawzula]

I once bit into a date....and the inside of it was black.

EWWWWWWW:eek::eek:

[tepiglet]

Blix,you're funny!
Yeah,I think I heard somewhere that breatharians and/or fruitarians,
believe that plants feel pain,i.e that the broccoli can 'feel' it when you
cut it out of the ground.
I could be wrong,I mean it sounds loopy,but I heard that somewhere.
I think that some fruitarians will only eat a fruit or veg if it has already fallen on the ground.
Meaning that they won't pick an apple,but if it has already fallen from the tree
then they'll eat it,or something like that.
Again,strange but true.:)

[Aleesha Sattva]

not really strange IMO... no more strange than us choosing to not eat meat!

[Lola]

Fresh cherries and dates are the worst. I always open both and examine carefully before eating them.

I too got my lesson when I was a teenager living in south of France. My father brought us 2 full grocery bags of beautiful, right off the tree cherries. One of his clients had cherry trees in his garden and he told my father to help himself since he doesn't like that fruit. My sisters and I just feasted on them like there was no tomorrow. When one of my sister got bored enough to open the cherries to remove the pit, she jumped up like she saw a ghost. We opened several after that to check, and all, ALL OF THE CHERRIES WE OPENED, were infested with tiny, very alive, transluscent white worms. We were sick to our stomachs for days. It took me years to eat an other cherry after that.

It happens that I have to throw away a whole package of dates when more than 50% of the ones I open are infested.

If this can be of any consolation, madjoul dates are "cleaner" than the other variety. I like Madjouls. I hardly find worms in them while I find them way more often in the other type of dates.

[tepiglet]

That's too bad,I love cherries,and many farmers grown them locally
where I live.
I've never seen any insects when I take out the pits,luckily.
But I know what you mean.
I've found infestations of those gross little translucent worms before
in raisins secs,on multiple occasions,and was put off eating them for
a long time.

[SmilingRawDancer]

It's not so much the eating of the bugs that grosses me out, and if I don't know they're there it's that much better. BUT it's the part about eating them alive and squirmy.
Now I freeze my dates and raisins for awhile before chomping down. Makes me certain that it's all dead!

[Vivafree2]

Well.... we are into living food - aren't we?
Thank you for the hint on dates - so far i soaked them and nothing suspicious crawled out - but i will be more aware of possible protein
in my dates! And i never thought about freezing! good idea!

[blix]

Well.... we are into living food - aren't we?


:o :o :o :o

[RawLoveBaby]

Does anyone know how to tell if a medjool date is rotten?

Occasionally I bite into a date and it tastes disguting like it is rotten, but it doesn't look any different from the others. Is there a way to tell if it's any good before I buy it?

[Raene]

Aww sick!!! It must be bug week cuz today I was chewing my chard and looked down into my salad and saw many many small gray spiders!!!! Blech!!!!! Gotta love organic food...

[cayenne]

the other reason I have difficulty eating dates is because.... (infact I DONT eat dates because of this reason unless the date is in a recipe....)

because they look like cockroaches without legs.... :eek: yewwww.....

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/DSCN4776.jpg .... tell me that doesnt look like a date??? :eek:

Starfire, is this one in your kitchen :eek: ?

[tepiglet]

Heehee,Starfire.
You funny!
I used to eat dates as a kid,but it was difficult for me to get past
the fact that they resembled cockroaches.
I used to think that I was the only one who thought that they looked
like bugs,until others pointed out the same thing.
Cockroaches have always given me the willies-can't stand them!
Although,who does like them?LOL
I love how dates taste though-especially medjools.
However ,I usually soak them and add to recipes,or blend them in a shake,
rather than eating dates on their own-that helps with the ick! factor.:)
I know,I'm such a wuss.