It Was Probably Something You Ate: A Practical Guide to Avoiding and Surviving Food-borne Illness by Nicols Fox

by Nicols Fox

From the preeminent journalist and authority on contaminated food, a one-of-a-kind guide for safeguarding against food hazards. Slight fever. Nausea. A rumbling in the stomach. Diarrhea. What you might think is the flu was probably something you ate. Food-borne illness afflicts 81,000,000 Americans each year, killing 9,000 annually, and yet too many people ignore the fatal hazards lurking in our markets, restaurants, and kitchens. Now food-pathogen expert Nicols Fox offers a useful, informative guide to preventing, diagnosing, and surviving a food-borne illness. Far more serious than a slight discomfort in the abdomen, food-based pathogens can have long-term physical consequences, leaving victims with lifelong impairment of the digestive system and damage to the lungs, ears, kidneys, brain, and heart. Fox surveys the complicated terrain of food-borne disease, profiling common and uncommon pathogens such as Salmonella, hepatitis A, E. coli, Campylobacter, and Cyclospora. She also outlines practical advice for dealing with common symptoms and illness-prevention techniques for the home and restaurants. Combining the real stories of victims of food-borne illness with the most up-to-date information about emerging food-borne pathogens, It Was Probably Something You Ate is a sourcebook you may not be able to live without.

Genres: Science

Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Nicols Fox is an author and bookseller. Her book AGAINST THE MACHINE: The Hidden Luddite Tradition in Literature, Art, and Individual Lives is now out in paperback.

She is also the author of the essay found in ALONE TOGETHER, a book of David Graham's photographs of Placentia Island.

Her first book, SPOILED: Why our Food is Making us Sick and What We Can Do About It, is in a Penguin paperback edition and now out of print, as is IT WAS PROBABLY SOMETHING YOU ATE: A Practical Guide For Avoiding and Surviving Foodborne Disease.

OTHER WORKS:
Fox's articles, essays and reviews have appeared in THE ECONOMIST, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, LEAR'S, NEWSWEEK, THE BOSTON GLOBE, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, ART IN AMERICA, THE NEW ART EXAMINER, THE HUNGRY MIND REVIEW (now THE RUMINATOR REVIEW), WASHINGTON JOURNALISM REVIEW (now AMERICAN JOURNALISM REVIEW) WASHINGTONIAN, MAINE TIMES, DOWN EAST, and many other publications.

A graduate of Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, Fox received an MFA in creative writing and literature from Bennington College in 1999. Born in Virginia, she now lives on the coast of Maine.

Reviews

[Kipahni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the who's who of food borne illnesses. I started reading it back in January and would have finished it very quickly had I not also been a victim of food poisoning! Let me just say that my gut flora will never be the same after getting the twin shooters from unpasteurized milk. (shudders)

Needless to say I had a hard time wanting to read the rest of the book after going through it all. However given enough time to forget the trauma of having your intestines turned inside out, I finally completed the book and found it both informative and concise.

[Wendi Lau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outdated as to some statistics but very good introduction into foodborne diseases. Liked the summary block after each diseases described. Would have preferred if epidemiology terms were used, such as mortality and morbidity, but death rate makes the material more accessible. Grabbed author's other book on food as well.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Profiles" of common food-borne bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter and Cyclospora. Good advice included for how to be safer and avoid/prevent some of the illnesses.

[RunRachelRun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dad's an epidemiologist... so I'm always fascinated by what makes people sick.