Fermented Food Fears

Dr. Nello:

I need advice. I have an adult son, he's at least over 21 and lives on his own. Quite regularly he calls around dinner time and asks, "Can I eat this rotten food?" It may be moldy cheese, spoiled tomatoes, stale cookie dough (as if that can ever go bad; sugar is a preservative isn't it?) or even a box of spaghetti he left on the floor of his car for six months. While it's good he keeps in touch and wants my opinion (at least on rotten food), is this normal: the desire to eat spoiled food? We didn't feed him rotten tomatoes when he was growing up, so I'm not sure from where this comes.

-- A True Epicurian

Dear Epinephrine:

Your son's behavior is perfectly normal for a young man with multiple taste buds. He probably just wants to try new foods and experience new taste sensations, and you should encourage his efforts. Be pleased that you don't have a picky son who requires you to make special meals.

However, we do know that mold, like Prozac, can lead to fever, nausea, diarrhea, dry mouth, vomiting, headache, nervousness, insomnia, drowsiness, anxiety, tremor, dizziness, fatigue, excessive sweating, hair loss and death. Therefore you should steer him towards trying new foods that won't ill/kill him. If he's earlytwentysomething and living on his own, I doubt he'll want to cook too much, and he probably doesn't have the money to dine out, I recommend befriending a French rat.

One question I can't answer about moldy foods (so I'm glad you didn't ask it) is if bleu cheese is mold, how do you know when it's gone bad? Isn't it by definition already bad?

-- Dr. N