The Bungalow - Like Food Poisoning?

1151 Rivercrest Rd. N. Lakeland, MN

I haven't gone to "The Bung" (what it should be renamed) for many years, and there is a legitimate reason why..

The last time I went there was a few years when back I ordered a grilled chicken salad; as did my older brother.  We were the only two in a table of about twelve people that ordered the grilled chicken salad, and also the only two that got violently ill for the next two days.  So you do the common sense math.

Shortly after we had gotten sick, we cataloged our food consumption for the previous day to see if we had eaten anything similar besides the grilled chicken salad and we had not, so it was pretty easy to narrow down the culprit.

Let me say I have had food poisoning a few other times in my life, but only two are indelibly etched in my stomach and taste bud's traumatic memory bank..  Once from a single McDonald's hamburger in 8th grade that turned my face green, and another from a "grilled" (I don't think the meat was ever cooked in hindsight) chicken salad from "The Bung."

Unfortunately, I remember that fateful day at "The Bung" many years ago as if it were yesterday and I will retell the story despite my traumatized tasty bud's plea to forget it ever happened..

The extended family was in from out of town, and we had gathered at "The Bungalow," (as it was respectably known at that point in time.)  We had a large table and the place was bustling.  The familiar clink of wine glasses was heard every few seconds, the bar was talkative and happy, and the staff were attentive.  The ambiance was fine, as was the waft of food that passed by every now and then from a plate of food that was hurriedly brought to a nearby table.  After we had chatted and ordered some drinks, we placed our food order.  I don't remember the circumstances, but for some reason I ordered the grilled chicken salad; as did my brother.  We waited the requisite time for the food to arrive and when it did I hungrily dug into my plate, but.. I immediately noticed with the first bite of the chicken that it was colder than it ought to have been.  Being a gullible eater, I assumed that the chicken had all ready been cooked, and maybe it was refrigerated after the fact just for the salad..  But at the same time I hoped that the chicken would have been freshly cooked to order and then put on the salad.  In hindsight, I stupidly trusted that they were practicing responsible food safety practices in the kitchen, and ignored my paranoid instincts.  I ate only a few bites of this chicken, (as it was not tasty at all-or warm,) and then pushed the rest of the cool chicken off to the side, and ate all of the greens, ignoring the bland chicken on the side of the plate.  Looking back, had I ate all that chicken I would probably have been in a coma.  At least if I go by the logic that if I only ate half the chicken and felt half dead, then surely if I had ate all of it, I would have been fully dead; or at least close to it.

As I remember, my brother ate most of his chicken on his plate, (if not all) and he was sick for a few more hours than myself, if not a full day.  But keep in mind he is jokingly known for having the stomach of a billy goat, and could probably drink water from a Tanzanian feet washing puddle and not get sick.  In fact just two months ago, up at the Gorka cabin, he was eating slabs of raw caribou meat because he couldn't wait for the fondue pot to heat it properly, (or maybe he can't tell the difference between raw and cooked meat.)  Whatever the case, the fact that he got violently sick and was crying for Mama is a testament to how bad the food poisoning was.

I won't go through the horrific details of what we both experienced during those many painful hours that followed shortly after eating at "The Bung," but if you were take all the worst stories of food poisoning you have ever heard or suffered yourself and multiplied that by 12 pieces of salmonella chicken you may have an idea of the agonizing pain we suffered through.

I had forgotten all about "The Bung," for a few years now, assuming it had been shut down, but after driving by it last Sunday with a few friends, one mentioned how sick he had gotten from eating there, and we went into a mutual discussion of how disgusting the place is.  He went on to say that he knows many that have gotten sick there as well.

If your one of them, speak up.