Cultural Clashes: Food Allergies

Food allergies seem to be drastically less common in Mexico compared to the U.S.  So, I often run into people who aren't familiar with food allergies and who don’t understand that I’m not just being choosy, I really can’t eat certain things.  Here’s how a recent conversation went:

Him: "Do you like Mexican food?"
Me: "I’m allergic to chilis, so there’s a lot I can’t eat."
Him: "Oh, so you don’t like spicy food."
Me: "No… I’m allergic to chili. …It hurts my body a lot if I eat it."
Him: "Do you like chilis rellenos?"
Me: "No.  I’m…  If I eat chilis my throat closes up and I can’t breathe."
Him: "But you know what chilis rellenos are, right?  Because they're delicious."

Face-palm

I then promptly tried to change the subject :).  Usually it's not quite so frustrating as that recent conversation.  People tend to just nod and smile at me, whether they understand or not.  What bothers me most is that people might think I'm just being picky - I don't want them to think I'm like that.

However, this got me to thinking - this is just one thing I bring from my own culture to where I'm living in now.  Living in a foreign culture is no cake-walk, and I cringe to think of the amount of things I must still get wrong - even after having lived here for several years.

Hopefully I can be more aware of the faux paus I make as an American in the Mexican culture, change my behaviors as needed, and make less people want to 'face-palm' when I'm around ;).