‘Unhinged’ mum sneaks mushrooms into every meal she cooks for daughter-in-law despite her deadly allergy
GOING over for a meal at your in-laws usually involves complimenting them repeatedly on how delicious their food is while subtly keeping an eye on the clock before calling it a night at the earliest possible moment. Right?
Well one woman has more reason to dread these awkward occasions more than most - as her mother-in-law keeps sneaking mushrooms into every meal even though she is deadly allergic to them... yes, really.
Writing in to for advice on the, erm, awkward dilemma, the woman revealed that her food allergy is so severe that she has to carry an EpiPen everywhere she goes and has been hospitalised several times after being exposed to mushrooms.
She wrote: "My husband politely explained this to his parents when we started dating and I was invited to family meals."
Frustratingly, the woman claims that "most meals we have shared at my in-laws' house have had very limited options for me" as her mother-in-law likes to add it into every side dish going.
Along with making a special plate of mushrooms, the mother-in-law has even been known to add mushroom powder to mashed potato and got angry at her daughter-in-law when she couldn't put any in a salad "because SOMEBODY has problems with it."
Mushrooms are extremely dangerous for me. That food could kill me. What's worse is my husband told me that mushrooms were not a common dish served by his parents before he started dating me.
The woman was also horrified to discover that her husband's parents barely ate them before he started dating her.
Unsurprisingly, the couple refused to take part in family meals when the woman was pregnant - but her father-in-law insisted that they would "not change what what we eat for one person".
Even her sister-in-law has previously told her that "mushrooms are not poison" - despite being well aware of her deadly allergy.
Needless to say, the dilemma has "caused a huge wedge" in the family and the woman claims she rarely speaks to her in-laws and they hardly ever see their grandchildren as a result.
Asking for advice on how she could fix the rift, the woman concluded: "Short of taking them a doctor's note, telling them my allergy is real, I'm not sure what to do."
Equally as baffled by the situation, the agony aunt Heather Havrilesky replied: "You're not the cause of this rift. The cause of this rift is TRULY TERRIBLE HUMAN BEINGS.
"Your letter is a pitch for a dark comedy on premium cable."
She then went on to say that it was the worst letter she'd ever received in the column's history and speculated whether her husband's family had become "so utterly confused and gaslit by each other that they will enforce the will of the group and nod along with bizarre opinions."
Although the agony aunt doubted whether the woman would ever have a harmonious relationship with her in-laws, she recommended sending a note from her doctor outlining how serious the allergy is and then asking her husband to "write down his feelings in a letter to them, if it will bring you both closure."
Symptoms of a food allergy:
- tingling or itching in the mouth
- a raised, itchy red rash – in some cases, the skin can turn red and itchy, but without a raised rash
- swelling of the face, mouth , throat or other areas of the body
- difficulty swallowing
- wheezing or shortness of breath
- feeling and lightheaded
- feeling sick (nausea) or vomiting
- abdominal pain or
- -like symptoms, such as sneezing or itchy eyes
- In children, the most common food allergies are milk, eggs, peanuts, soy, wheat, nuts, fish and shellfish
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The outraged columinst then tweeted: "This is the most unhinged Ask Polly letter I've ever received, hands down."
One horrified user replied: "Good Lord. Clearly the mother-in-law hates her daughter-in-law and is bending over backwards to try and kill her."
Another replied: "I would consider her in-laws disregard for her food allergy by purposely hiding mushrooms in prepared foods or just plain out-in-the-open serving mushrooms as ATTEMPTED MURDER. Plain and simple."
"Still can't get over this poor woman's in-laws," a third wrote. "The internet collectively lost it at the part with the mushroom powder."
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