Foods you have discovered as a Nurse

[FlorenceNtheMachine]

What are some great or not so great foods that your fellow coworkers have introduced in your life?

For me it has been hummus ! Such a convenient food to have around, and really filling.

[itsmejuli]

I supervise health care aids from India, Philipines, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Nepal, and Nigeria to name a few.

We had a Christmas potluck a few days ago....the food was amazing. Yum Yum Yummy!

And just as important as the food, they're from all religions and all participated. The world should take notice of how well we can all get along.

[shamrokks, ADN, ASN, RN]

We just had this at a work potluck yesterday. It is a favorite of mine and my mom makes it alot (so do I). I was glad to see someone bring it into work.

A favorite of mine is the big bags of frozen fruit. It's a variety mix of peaches, mango, strawberry, and pineapple. I buy mine at Sam's Club or Walmart. About $8 or $10 for a huge bag and it lasts since it's frozen. Good for a sweet healthy snack. I usually sprinkle a packet of Truvia over the top for some added sweetness.

Also sugar free jello with sugar free cool whip on top..yummy low cal dessert.

Buffalo Chicken Dip... it has brought all kinds of amazingness into my life.

[shamrokks, ADN, ASN, RN]

One girl I work with brings lychee fruit. They have a pinkish red rind that you peel off and you eat the white flesh inside.Very tasty.

I also had a fellow student bring these into school one day. They were yummy!

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I work in NYC with a ton of coworkers from the Caribbean. The most adventurous thing I tried at a party was curried goat-- not terrible, but I don't know that I'd ever have a craving for it. Also tried fried oxtail, Haitian rice and beans, and a lot of other cool stuff. I've learned so much about the diverse cultures that exist in the Caribbean from working with them and eating their food!

Check out Sophie's on 23rd St just below B'way. Great cuban food including goat and oxtail stew.

[monkeybug]

THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT WAS !!! Ha, i've been wondering for eons what was that fruit called! Oh thank you!! They were delicious, so long as one knew the proper way to eat one!! ha ha!!

You haven't lived until you've had muscadine wine!

[monkeybug]

Steamed shrimp spring rolls provided by a Vietnamese nurse. Delicious! I also discovered cherimoya fruit while doing a travel assignment. It was a pain to eat, but wonderful.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

I work with a lot of African CNAs (as in from Africa, not African American) and they keep trying to get me to try their food..... sadly I'm apparently a redneck philistine or something cause I have to admit I hated all of it. Especially the "fufu" which is like mashed bananas and squash or something. I thought I was gonna die....

[mclennan, BSN, RN]

I used to work SNF with a bunch of CNAs from Somalia and Eritrea. One night I was bragging, shooting my mouth off how I could handle any level of heat from spicy food. (Usually true). One of them unpacked her lunch, a container of meat swimming in bright, almost neon red sauce. She said "you won't handle this" and the other ladies just chuckled. I was instructed to use "fufu" - a doughy glob of starch that you grab a handful of - to scoop it up. I scooped up a mighty handful and shoved it in my sneering mouth.

Aw, man. I'll never forget it. At first it was warm. As I chewed, I started seeing all white. INSTANT diaphoresis. I felt like I was falling, down, down with nothing to hang onto or stop me. Water poured from my nose, my scalp, my neck. I gasped for breath and it felt like my entire thorax was being doused in hot bleach from the inside out. My eyes crossed. My ears curled. I think I saw God, or more likely, Satan. I REFUSED to spit it out, I ate the whole bite while the African ladies practically had to hold each other up to keep from falling down laughing. I was hypoxic. Water only made it worse, no fufu or bread or crackers could put out that hellacious Somalian fire. I never, EVER, bragged again and still chalk it up to being the hottest food item I have ever dared to taste. These ladies drank that stuff down like water. I really got put in my dumb, American place that day!

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

I didn't dip the fufu in the sauce.... Now I'm glad I didn't. :)

[mclennan, BSN, RN]

Haha, the fufu was the bland starchy part that's supposed to COOL the heat! Either way - NEVER again! Do you work in MN? That's where I was - big African immigrant population.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

Panzit (a Fillipino dish). Yuck. Just yuck. It was noodles, pork or shrimp, and some spices. I wont ever try that again.

[msjellybean]

I have a pretty adventurous palate on my own, so most things that most people would consider to be new, I've tried. I have had some delish traditional Ugandan food, from one of our former onco nurses. No idea what it was called though.

The one thing that I've tried that has thrown me for a loop was the pasta dish, "wagon wheels." Reminded me of Spaghetti-O's.