I have officially given the worst Christmas present EVER.

I HAVE POISONED MY FATHER!
If you have never heard of pine "mouth", google it.
So every Christmas I give my dad some sort of interesting food item because he loves his food (fancy capers, lemon curd, fruit preserves, etc.) This year, I chose pine nuts. WRONG CHOICE.
So basically, this pine mouth sets in 1-3 days after eating pine nuts. The pine nuts are almost always from my FAVORITE place in the world- China. It makes everything and I mean everything taste metallic or bitter for about 2 weeks.
My dad thought he was dying or seriously ill! After Googling, my mom found tons of articles from people experiencing the effects of pine mouth.
Seriously, why hasn't the FDA done ANYTHING about this?
I bought them from Fresh Market, which is pretty upscale. There is no country of origin listed, so if it is known that the pine nuts from China carry this risk, isn't that some sort of violation? Apparently, the FDA is not doing any real research on this, saying its harmless. How do they know its harmless if there is no significant research being done? And I'd say disgusting taste in the mouth for 2 weeks is awful, some people commenting on other blogs talking about how they've broken down with frustration and experience discomfort that alters everyday life.
Mainly, I guess I feel bad for my poor daddy.
But that brings me to another point.. If Fresh Market is buying cheap pine nuts from China and placing an expensive price tag with no origin listed, what else are they marking up and ripping us off on?!

Evil, but so tasty. What can we do?!




Scary stuff.
Basically, if this happens to you or a loved one, you are not dying. Contact the FDA immediately and make sure you do not throw away the package or any uneaten nuts! Hopefully something will get done about this.
I wish I could boycott China but our lovely consumer based society makes it nearly impossible without me living in a tree in my back yard.

And that's all I have to say about that.
xoxo