[Paddlewise] Eating in third world eateries....

About five years ago or so I went to a Wilderness Medince Society Meeting 
for several days... and one presentation of interest to me was on 
"travelers' enteritis" ... or travelerr's diarrhea.

One of the most prominent predictors of getting a food induced diarrhea was 
eating at any eatery (i.e. not preparing your own food and drink).  We were 
shown dozens of photos of how food was prepared and stored at many eateries 
in many places....  primarily to demonstrate what some of the problems are 
in places where food inspection standards may be non existent... and 
education on such issues may be unusual.

Street vendors were one of the biggest problems, according to the speaker, 
because the food is often cooked elsewhere, then transported and stored all 
day in unsafe ways ... and sold hours later.

Although a huge part of the experience in traveling is to eat out.. yes 
where the locals do... but that is not necessarily, from a numbers 
standpoint... the most reliable way to avoid food related illness.

Cooking your own food (if you know what you are doing) is in fact the safest 
way to avoid food borne illness... according to the speaker... if you are 
traveling to places where food safety is not well regulated and/or those 
restaurant operators are not well informed on food safety issues. (common in 
places with less regulation and infrastructure.)

It also was said that, as expected... living in a place for some sig period 
of time (i.e. 18 months or so... not sure on that number) does result in 
your getting acclimated to the bacterial challenges of a given area, and 
therefore seems to be accompanied by less gi troubles if you stay in that 
area.

Cipro is thought a good thing to have available in such places... in case 
the event occurs.

Also... food borne illness clearly can  happen in the USA also... or any 
country.


Mike Orchard (I have some background in such things... although it is not my 
primary focus)


Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:44:46 -0700
From: Craig Jungers <crjungers_at_gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] PaddleWise list censorship

"On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 7:40 PM, Bradford R. Crain <crainb_at_pdx.edu> wrote:

>  Not that anyone cares, or needs to know, but we have found through
> experience that blockages can be relieved promptly by traveling to Mexico.
>
>
Gmail puts ads alongside the email that are referenced to part of the email
content on the theory that if you are writing about something then you - or
someone you're writing to - might be interested. Two of the four ads next to
Brad's post were for a laxative. LOL.

On a related note, however, and from many years of living in Mexico and
South America I can say that I avoid problems by not eating at places
frequented by tourists and search out restaurants that cater to local
residents and are busy. The theory is that a tourist hotel with a restaurant
has already got your money and may not care that you spent your vacation
sick in your room. But a local restaurant that gets its clientele sick will
not last long. Local restaurants are more likely to be run by owners not
employees who also might be more interested in keeping their business going.
It's flimsy reasoning but it worked very well for me.

And I never eat anywhere that has any cutesy name like "The Tipsy Parrot" or
any restaurant with any hint of English in its name.

Another tip: Chinese restaurants - owned and operated by emigrants from
China - are all over Mexico and S. America and usually have safe food. One
of my favorite eateries was a Chinese restaurant in Sao Paulo, Brazil where
they served a terrific spaghetti."
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