An Ill Wind

Word of Mouth
by Vicki Reich

We were at dinner the other night with friends when one of the men, aged 28, belched. He immediately apologized (with a bit of a devilish grin on his face). He then asked if it was true that in some cultures burping after a meal was a sign of respect to the chef, or if it was just a fantasy of boys from age 6 to 60?

A long discussion ensued but with no definitive answer. I, of course, needed to find out if it was indeed true that some countries out there aren’t as prudish about their bodily functions as we are. When I got home, I looked it up on the Web.

As I guessed, there wasn’t really any reliable answer to be found. There was some indication that chefs in China appreciate small polite burps. Maybe the Inuit people in Canada think a good belch is a compliment. And it’s possible that some people in the Middle East and India won’t be fazed by your ructus. Mostly, I found lots of people out there wishing everyone could prize their burps as much as those fantasy chefs.

Burping and farting (we might as well bring that other “gas” into play) were not always eschewed in polite company. There are lots of historical references to both. Chaucer and Shakespeare enjoyed making their audiences laugh with burp and fart jokes, and these were not 8-year-old boys on the playground jokes. These were grand literary burp and fart jokes. I can imagine the Middle Ages dining halls were full of “wind”.

Whatever your take on the politeness or impoliteness of passing gas at the dinner table, it’s because we’re at the dinner table that it happens. Burping and farting have two separate causes but they are both food and beverage derived.

Burping is caused when air is swallowed along with your food or drink. It also happens when the carbon dioxide trapped in your carbonated beverage needs to escape.

Flatulence is a more complex process. Some of it comes from the same process as burping; it’s air swallowed with our food. Joining this swallowed air is gas produced from the digestion of the food itself. Food that is hard to digest or that passes partially digested from the stomach and small intestine to the lower intestines meets up with yeasts and bacteria in the large intestine. The yeasts and bacteria ferment rather than digest this food and give off gas as a byproduct (kind of like how beer gets carbonated by the byproduct of the yeast in it, but not nearly as appetizing).

There are several foods that are notoriously hard to digest and therefore excellent gas producers. The best known is, of course, beans (the magical fruit). It is the raffinose, an oligosaccharide, in the beans that are the culprit here. Our bodies have a hard time breaking down these complex carbohydrates so the bacteria in our lower intestines get to feast on the undigested remains. Cruciferous vegetables also contain large amounts of raffinose and may cause you to toot. Jerusalem artichokes can be blamed on an occasional ill wind, but in their case it is the complex carb inulin that our bodies can’t digest.

Other foods that can cause a bit of bloat include: cheese and milk, especially if you are lactose intolerant and lack the enzyme to break down the lactose before it hits your colon; onions, garlic and other members of the allium family; and fiber-rich foods.

All this gas isn’t something to be embarrassed about; we all produce, on average, a quart of gas a day. However, you can work on eliminating some of it by increasing the intestinal flora that does all the digesting in the small intestine. Taking probiotics and adding live culture yogurts to your diet can accomplish this. Digestive enzymes also help your body break down those pesky complex carbohydrates.

However, there is always fun to be had with all that extra gas (in the company of close friends or alone, please). You could try to unseat the current Guinness Book of World Records holder for the loudest belch, Paul Hunn, whose loudest burp was 109 db (about as loud as a car horn). Elisa Cagnoni isn’t far behind with 107db for the women’s title.

You could also spend a day seeing just how much gas you could produce like author Stefan Gates who, in his book The Gastronaut, spent the day eating as many foods that made him fart as he could and lived to tell about it.

Or you could just politely burp behind your hand at your next dinner engagement and hope your host is one of those mythical creatures who believe it’s a compliment.


Eggplant Parmesan
Serves 4

My dad would always exclaim that we were “having gas” for dinner whenever my mom served her delicious eggplant parmesan. It never had the same effect on me. None of the main ingredients appear on any of the gas producing food lists I came across so I thought it would be safe to share the recipe with you.

2 large eggplants
2 tbls olive oil

1 cup Italian herb flavored breadcrumbs (I make my own but storebought works fine)
1-2 egg
1 can tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
¼ tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb part skim mozzarella

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Slice the eggplant into ¼- ½ inch slices. Place the breadcrumbs on a plate. On a separate plate, scramble one egg. Dip each slice of eggplant into the egg, coating on both sides, then into the breadcrumbs. Place the slices in a skillet with the olive oil that has been heated to medium high and brown the slices on each side. You will have to work in batches and may need to use another egg and more oil.

Place the browned eggplant on a baking sheet. Thinly slice the cheese. In a medium bowl, combine the tomato paste, herbs, salt and pepper. Spread a spoonful of the tomato mixture on each slice of eggplant. Top each eggplant slice with a slice or two of mozzarella. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Serve immediately.