Do Japanese Women Eat Sushi, Do French Women Eat Soft Cheese/Pate

[Bathsheba]

You'd think there'd be quite a significant number of pregnant women in developed countries that drink milk fresh from cows... especially in Europe (France). And to be honest... if I lived in a French village I probably would too... and be waaaay more concerned about a bottle of pasturised milk that been left out all day which i wouldn't touch. Japanse women might not consume sushi every day but rice would still be their staple... do pregnant women there avoid using rice if it has cooled down and been kept for a day? I think I'm sounding argumentative LOL I suspect deep down I'm a food purist... who can easily imagine a time when we all may have to 'resort' to living off their own locally available and grown foods (yay!). If society crumbled tomorrow and we couldn't get our wide choice of safe foods then there's going to be helluva lot of scared women. Even if we had to sustain a long blackout (like they did in SE QLD recently)... if pregnant women can't bring food to boiling point then there could be mass alarm. I guess what I'm saying is that YES the foods on the Best Avoided list are there for a reason, I don't think it should necessarily cause a sleepless night if a woman inadvertantly injests an "Avoid" food.

[Inanna]

I totally agree Bath - it shouldn't cause emotional distress - but it usually does - especially when one has experienced loss. It does make one hypervigilant - for better or for worse!

I too am a purist - however we cannot avoid the reality that listeriosis is a caause for fetal death and we can choose if we will risk it or not understanding the risk... I hope that made sense!

[Kaydee]

You'd think there'd be quite a significant number of pregnant women in developed countries that drink milk fresh from cows... especially in Europe (France).

My mother-in-law was brought up on a German (mainly dairy) farm. They would only drink the milk straight from the cow. Her mother and brother's family (DH's Oma) still live on that same farm, and the family STILL drink the milk like that. I was so careful everytime (during pregnancy) I visited the farm and made sure i had nothing with milk in it.
Funnily enough - Oma had 8 kids (i think) and almost all of them are lactose and wheat intolerant. only finding out in their late teens/adulthood.

[MantaRay]

Bath, when I lived in Japan, the rice was cooked daily. I don't think I ever saw rice reheated. It never lasted that long TBH, they ate a lot of rice! So it would be kept warm in the rice cooker and served as needed. Then another batch cooked, probaby 2 -3 times a day.

[sushee]

I don't know about Japan, but we have never keep rice overnight either. My mum has probably never even heard of listeria but whenever I was pg I was only allowed to eat rice piping hot too. She would have a fit if I ate cold rice. Even now she insists that her younger grandchildren cannot eat rice that been left sitting until it's gone cold (as compared to cooled after being served hot).