Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Sushi


I get asked a lot by my third graders what my favorite food is. I'm not sure why it's such a must-know topic, but they get really grossed out when I tell them I like sushi. Their curiosity made this school year especially hard because saying I "like" sushi is an understatement. Better said, I LOVE SUSHI! I adore it, crave it, practically live for the stuff. And for nine months I told myself it was worth it to abstain from my one culinary true love (with only a couple of cheats) if it meant we'd have a healthy baby.

The only fantasy that helped me through it was that I was going to send Jon to our favorite sushi bar for celebratory spicy tuna the minute our baby was born. Imagine my utter devastation when the lactation specialist at the hospital told me I ABSOLUTELY could not have sushi while breastfeeding. Other prohibited foods have been found to be myths (chocolate, onions, spicy food) so I asked again, just to be sure, and she looked at me like I wanted to feed my baby arsenic. My question is ... what do women in Japan eat after they give birth? Their babies seem just fine!

So, lately I've been haunted by sushi. I want it so bad I can taste it ... almost. And I can't have it for at least another year. Oh, the cruelty. But I found some alternatives that just might have to do until then:

SUSHI USB drives... pretty funny.



Fruit sushi. Not nearly as good, but might trick my eyes and tummy for a while.



Do you have any ideas?

5 comments:

Molly said...

Japanese people eat sushi during pregnancy. Granted, they eat other things besides just sushi, but they don't stop eating sushi. I've had sushi once during the pregnancy and didn't feel guilty at all. I highly recommend you go and get fancy vegetarian sushi. Get the avocado rolls with other good stuff in them. Get the sushi with cooked eel or cooked egg or the tempura sushi. The only thing people are paranoid about is the raw fish. I say get yourself lots of sushi that doesn't have raw fish (and maybe one that does). You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Heather said...

I agree, i dont think it is bad. MODERATION in all things is my motto for life and i think it applies in breastfeeding as well. Plus you better be coming to our sushi class on the 12th!!!

Shelly said...

I think that just sounds gross, but I am not sure I have ever even tasted it, so I guess I can't say. My advise is to not despair because you are making a big assumption that your baby will actually nurse for a whole year. Three of my babies have been done before that (7, 8, and 9 months old and then William made it just beyond a year).

Connie Whitesides said...

I say just do it! Indulge. Ella will appreciate later in life.

Erin said...

I think that I would get a second opinion. My sister in law is Japanese, and is currently breast feeding her son (3 months old), and she is sushi weekly, as well as spicy foods. I don't think it's the same as when you are pregnant. It takes about 12 hours for the food you eat to be processed into the breastmilk. I think that you would know if you ate some bad fish long before Ella had a taste.