The hungry years

A campaign to rescue declining tastebuds

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  • Published 20200427
  • ISBN: 9781922268761
  • Extent: 264pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

LIKE FALLING OVER, choking in public is always a little embarrassing. When it happens, people feel the need to apologise once the episode is over, as if it were a sign of weakness or social gaucheness instead of an involuntary malfunction.

It is a sad fact that as we age, eating becomes more hazardous. A person older than sixty-five is seven times more likely to choke on their food than an infant. My elderly mother-in-law always loved to chat while enjoying one of the feather-light scones that were her trademark. Inevitably, crumbs caused a sudden coughing episode as she struggled to clear her passageways, inducing heightened anxiety because of her chronic asthma and weakened lung capacity.

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About the author

Caroline Baum

Journalist and former broadcaster Caroline Baum is the author of Only: A Singular Memoir (Allen & Unwin, 2017), and a contributor to the anthologies...

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