{"id":9466,"date":"2020-04-30T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T13:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/?p=9466"},"modified":"2020-04-28T15:54:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T19:54:42","slug":"pickles-and-transfems-hormonal-and-cultural-food-craving-in-gender-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/2020\/04\/30\/pickles-and-transfems-hormonal-and-cultural-food-craving-in-gender-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Pickles and Transfems: Hormonal and Cultural Food Craving in Gender Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week we are featuring work from students in Val Ryan’s class The Science of Food and Cooking (MET ML619). Today’s post comes from Michelle Samuels.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Figure 1: Image from the Gender Spectrum Collection, a stock photo library featuring images of trans and nonbinary models (with modification by the author).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Craving pickles is a commonly reported experience among transgender women and other transfeminine people undergoing hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The commonly held explanation involves a potential sodium-wasting side effect of one of the HRT drugs, but this relationship has not been formally studied. Further, it remains unclear why pickles have taken primacy as the object of this common craving.<\/p>\n

To better understand this relationship between transfeminine people and pickles, I have examined existing research on other hormone shifts and food cravings, hunted down early mentions of the phenomenon, and conducted short, informal interviews with transgender and cisgender peers and with the primary care physician who has overseen my own medical transition.<\/p>\n

In the end, I have concluded that some transfeminine people experience food cravings during hormonal transition, some of these cravings are from HRT-related sodium wasting, and this sodium-wasting sometimes leads to craving pickles over other salty foods\u2014but that this alone does not account for the communal narrative about pickles and cravings.<\/p>\n

Instead, it appears that the pickle has taken on a complex symbolic importance: as a common experience in a community in need of commonality; as an expectation and touchstone for those undergoing an uncommon, understudied, and underrepresented medical process; and, perhaps above all else, as validation.<\/p>\n

1) Pickles and Transfems, an Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2017, Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender author, received a jar of pickles from a fan at a book signing. \u201cAs the night wound down, a transgender woman approached the signing table and handed me an enormous jar full of kosher dills,\u201d Boylan recalled two years later. \u201c\u2019I made you these pickles,\u2019 she said somberly, \u2018in solidarity.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Boylan was baffled, but quickly caught up:<\/p>\n

Apparently the meme began because transgender women in transition often take the drug spironolactone, an anti-androgen that has the side effect of making people crave sodium. Which is where the pickles come in; if it\u2019s salt you\u2019re after, pickles will definitely do the trick. (Boylan 2019<\/a>)<\/p>\n

First, what is spironolactone, and how might it contribute to pickle cravings?<\/p>\n

2) \u201cSpiro\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spironolactone, popularly called \u201cspiro\u201d in the trans community, is a diuretic most commonly used to lower blood pressure via its effect on the water- and salt-regulating hormone aldosterone, causing the body to absorb less sodium and more potassium. (When I began taking spiro, I was told to limit my intake of potassium-rich foods; why has pickle craving taken off as a trans symbol, but not banana avoidance?)<\/p>\n

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Figure 2: 50mg spironolactone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aldosterone is also one of the androgens, a set of hormones associated with \u201cmasculine\u201d characteristics in hair distribution, skin texture, muscle mass, genital formation and function, and other areas. In the 1970s, doctors treating hypertension in cisgender women noted that spiro also reduced their androgen levels, leading to spiro becoming a standard medication for treating the symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) (Ober and Hennessy 1978<\/a>). With the discovery that spiro in doses of 100mg daily and above can also directly inhibit testosterone production, the drug became a standard part of transfeminine HRT (Tomlins 2019<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Transgender medicine has long operated outside of the medical mainstream (Safer and Tangpricha 2008<\/a>), so there is limited research and understanding of the finer points, such as food cravings. However, a patient handbook on PCOS notes that patients taking spiro should be wary of sodium loss, and recommends “eating saltine crackers,\u00a0a small sour pickle<\/em>, or any other salty snack before exercise.” (Futterweit and Ryan 2006, 181<\/a>; emphasis added)<\/p>\n

Pickles may \u201cdo the trick\u201d for the sodium-craving side effect of spironolactone, but so might saltines, potato chips, or salted peanuts. Why, then, has the pickle become so central that a fan would somberly present a jar to Boylan?<\/p>\n

3) The Research: Hormonal Shifts and Food Cravings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Could other changes from HRT also contribute to food cravings, perhaps giving pickles an edge with their qualities beyond saltiness, such as sourness?<\/p>\n

Again, while transgender food cravings are unstudied, there is some research available for cisgender women.<\/p>\n

In a review of 14 studies of taste and preference in pregnant women, Weenan et al. found that many women experienced some change in their sense of taste during pregnancy, including a decrease in the perception of saltiness later in pregnancy, and an increase in liking and consuming salty snacks in the second and third trimesters. The review also identified a higher threshold for bitterness in the first trimester and a preference for sweet snacks in the second trimester, but no significant or consistent change in perception or preference for sourness (Weenan 2018<\/a>), and so, no answers for the popular trope of pregnant women craving pickles, when, again, saltines would do the trick.<\/p>\n

Faas et al. trace hormonal appetite changes to estrogen and progesterone levels during pregnancy and in the ovarian cycle: Appetite decreases when ovulation boosts estrogen, and increases during the high-progesterone luteal phase (i.e., the time between ovulation and the beginning of menstruation) as well as during pregnancy (Faas 2009)<\/a>. Transfeminine HRT almost always includes estrogen, and in some cases, includes progesterone to aid in breast development and counter some cardiovascular, cancer, and bone density risks of estrogen and reduced testosterone (Prior 2018<\/a>).<\/p>\n

So, based on the findings of Faas et al., and perhaps of Weenan et al. as well, the usual transfeminine HRT cocktail containing estrogen much more often than progesterone would reduce<\/em> appetite and associated cravings. In other words, the apparent parallels in food cravings in HRT and in the ovarian cycle and pregnancy are not so parallel after all. However, these parallels may still have a cultural<\/em> role in the experience of transfeminine HRT; more on this later.<\/p>\n

The diuretic side effects of spiro, then, remain the best physiological explanation for pickle cravings in transfeminine HRT. However, as discussed above, spiro does not explain why pickles have surpassed other salty foods to represent this phenomenon.<\/p>\n

4) Let\u2019s Have a Kiki: A Qualitative Survey of Trans and Cis Hormone-Related Food Cravings<\/strong><\/p>\n

I contacted my own primary care physician, Dr. Joseph Baker at Fenway Community Health Center in Boston, who has overseen my entire medical transition, and asked him about cravings for salty foods, or pickles in particular, in patients undergoing transfeminine HRT. \u201cI have observed some anecdotes,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any reliable sources of information on food cravings with hormone therapy. This may be an area that needs to be investigated further.\u201d He also checked in with colleagues, who similarly noted hearing anecdotes about food cravings and increased overall appetite, but no published research.<\/p>\n

To at least gather more anecdotes, I conducted an informal, qualitative survey of friends and acquaintances to gather reports of cravings associated with any and all hormonal shifts. I used Instagram to conduct this survey, with initial questions on Instagram Stories and follow-up questions in Instagram direct messages, in February and March of 2020.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2: The author’s original inquiries for the qualitative survey, disseminated via Instagram Story in February 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Respondents included four cisgender women, six nonbinary transmasculine people, and five people across the transfeminine spectrum (two of them identifying as trans women), all in their 20s and 30s; one transgender woman was African American, one cisgender woman was Asian American, and the rest were white. They shared experiences during both transfeminine and transmasculine hormonal transition, pregnancy, and ovarian cycles. Because of varying levels of comfort sharing such personal information, here I identify all respondents by their initials for consistency. See the Supplement after the Works Cited section at the end of this paper for all of the responses.<\/p>\n

Consistent with the research on pregnancy described in the previous section, two cisgender women and one nonbinary transmasculine person reported pregnancy-related pickle cravings. \u201cI already loved pickles, it just intensified\u2014also kimchi, sauerkraut, etc.,\u201d said AB, a cisgender mother of two. JC, another cisgender mother of two, reported that she craved pickles because she craved salt, but at the same time pickles were \u201calso kind of fresh? Refreshing?\u201d WR, a transmasculine person who had been pregnant, raised the possibility that their own pickle craving came in part from cultural depictions of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Respondents also reported pickle cravings linked with their ovarian cycles: AE, a cisgender woman, reported craving pickles during ovulation, while CF, a nonbinary transmasculine person, said, \u201cUsually [I crave pickles] as a, \u2018Damn, I\u2019m going to get my period I guess.\u2019 Pickle dinner is a near ritual thing when I\u2019m PMSing.\u201d Because AE\u2019s experience is of a craving during an increase in estrogen, while CF\u2019s is during an increase in progesterone, it is difficult to draw any physiological conclusions from these reports.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, several transmasculine people reported an increased desire for pickles after beginning to take testosterone, popularly referred to as \u201cT.\u201d AG said, \u201cMy boyfriend and I are both trans masc on T and crave salty vinegar things more than anything now. I didn\u2019t think much of it until he [my boyfriend] brought it up as a hormonal possibility.\u201d Likewise, GJ, who began taking T four or five years ago, said, \u201cI\u2019m not sure, but within that time I definitely noticed I started to crave salty things more, especially pickles.\u201d While transmasculine people may experience some suggestible craving from hearing that other transgender people crave pickles, AG\u2019s experience of a craving beginning before hearing about the trans-pickle connection raises the possibility that some other mechanism may also be at play for individuals taking testosterone, which could also be explored by looking at cisgender men with naturally and medically lowered or raised testosterone levels.<\/p>\n

Most interesting for the purposes of this paper, the transfeminine respondents showed no consistency in cravings, with two reporting cravings consistent or semi-consistent with the narrative and three reporting no cravings.<\/p>\n

DT, a nonbinary transfeminine person, said, \u201cIt was constant for the first six months for me, then kind of died off, and now I don\u2019t crave [pickles].\u201d Those six months began around the time DT started taking estrogen in the form of estradiol, at 2mg\/day, when they had already been on spiro at 100mg\/day for two months; both dosages were doubled in September, with no reported change in pickle cravings until three months later.<\/p>\n

SS, a transgender woman who has been on the same 400mg spiro and 4mg estradiol dose as DT for the last year, reported craving \u201cpickles, capers, and olives.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s the brine. I\u2019ve always loved pickles, but [now also crave] olives! I have no idea [why], I think it might just be the salty\/vinegar taste of the brine, but olives leave this slightly slick mouth feel. Before HRT I couldn\u2019t stand them [olives], but now I can eat a whole jar without hesitation. It feels like I have no self control, I find myself eating things I literally couldn\u2019t stand before, and binging whatever craving comes to mind.<\/p>\n

SS\u2019s experience raises interesting questions about the physiological nature of HRT-related cravings; while she reported an increased desire for salt, she also notes a change in liking olives, which she previously disliked because of their oiliness.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the other three transfeminine respondents reported no noticeable change in food preferences or cravings associated with HRT. These three non-cravers included two nonbinary transfems and one trans woman, and were within the same age range as the two transfems who did report cravings.<\/p>\n

The five transfeminine respondents reported varying feelings about the pickle craving narrative and experiencing or not experiencing such cravings. \u201cIt felt a little validating?\u201d said DT. \u201cI think it was one of those things where it validated my identity as a trans femme person and made me feel like I was being let into a secret club. I knew it was a shared experience among trans femme people and that felt really important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

KG, who reported slowly increasing doses of spiro and estradiol from the same starting dose as DT, echoed this sense of a \u201cclub\u201d in describing not experiencing the craving herself:<\/p>\n

I heard about this a lot but never experienced it\u2026. I guess I didn\u2019t really mind; I never felt like my gender aligned with what I heard or saw from the broader transfeminine community\u2026 and I still don\u2019t, to this day, which is both empowering around my own identity and in some ways feels othering.<\/p>\n

Similarly, KT, a transgender woman, did not notice a change from HRT\u2014noting she has always loved pickles, and drank \u201csips of the juice\u201d even before starting HRT. \u201cI wondered if the whole pickle craving thing was kind of a joke or a social psychological effect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The range of experiences reported by the respondents, cis and trans, transfeminine and transmasculine, show the complexity of hormonal changes in human bodies and their relationships with food cravings and preferences. To elucidate these complexities, further research could draw from a larger pool of respondents, with greater cultural, racial\/ethnic, and age diversity, and gather prospective data rather than relying on respondents\u2019 recall.<\/p>\n

The responses also demonstrate the importance of a social element to the idea of pickle cravings among transgender people, including a sense of validation and being let into or finding oneself outside of a \u201cclub,\u201d with even some transmasculine people\u2014perhaps having heard generally about transgender pickle cravings but not the spiro explanation specific to transfeminine people\u2014reporting sharing the experience.<\/p>\n

5) Trans Archeology and the Evolution of HRT Cravings<\/strong><\/p>\n

The current state of the transfeminine pickle phenomenon appears somewhat muddled, with many trans people reporting familiarity with it, but only some describing actually experiencing it.<\/p>\n

However, the origins and underlying mechanisms of the phenomenon may become clearer by looking to the past. Here, we discover what may be the strongest piece of evidence suggesting the transfeminine pickle phenomenon is not strictly physiological: The pickle only rose to prominence within the last decade.<\/p>\n

In her seminal 2007 memoir\/manifesto Whipping Girl<\/em>, Julia Serano describes a strong craving after starting HRT\u2014not for pickles, or any other salty food, but rather for eggs:<\/p>\n

I immediately attributed this to the hormones until other trans women told me that they never had similar cravings. So perhaps that was an effect of the hormones only I had. Or maybe I was going through an \u2018egg phase\u2019 that just so happened to coincide with the start of my hormone therapy. Hence, the problem: Not only can hormones affect individuals differently, but we sometimes attribute coincidences to them and project our own expectations onto them. (Serano 2007, 66\u201367<\/a>)<\/p>\n

What Serano describes is the frustration with a common refrain in trans medicine: \u201cMileage may vary.\u201d Myriad individual factors influence the effects and experiences of HRT, as well as hair removal, surgeries, social transition, and so on. Add to this the lack of accurate popular representation of these processes and the scarcity of \u201celders\u201d who have gone before; no wonder trans people would grab on to any commonly-reported touchstone, any narrative of what to expect, even one as trivial as craving pickles.<\/p>\n

The earliest mention of transfeminine pickle cravings that I could find using English-language Google is from a 2010 message board (much has been written on the astonishing difference the last ten years has made in trans culture and the complexity and brevity of trans \u201cgenerations,\u201d see, e.g., Lavery 2019<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The original poster asks:<\/p>\n

why do I crave salt so much\u2026.?<\/p>\n

Is it the spiros highish doage that does it? Or do I just like salt\u2026<\/p>\n

I feel like I\u2019m never satisfied with it but I always have way too much\u2026.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll put sea salt on my had and freaking lick it off\u2026<\/p>\n

WWHHHHYYYY? ( \u201cSpiro and Salt Cravings?\u201d<\/a> 2010; sic)<\/p>\n

She is answered by a dozen other trans women, all echoing the same explanation: Spiro is a diuretic.<\/p>\n

However, pickles are just one of many foods discussed in the ensuing thread. One responder writes: \u201cMmmmm, kosher dill pickles, olives, pickled herring, bacon, miso soup, those crazy expensive sweet and salty granola bars\u2026 the list goes on and on.\u201d Another reports loving olives stuffed with anchovies. A third respondent is hopefully joking when she writes, \u201cDon’t eat rock salt unless it’s actual salt, I nibbled a chunk of some chemical labeled \u2018de-icer\u2019 and it was vile and not fit for woman nor beast\u201d (ibid).<\/p>\n

This message board conversation from 2010 shows that the transfeminine community was already familiar with the sodium-loss side effect of spiro, but that pickles had not yet taken primacy. We have to assume, then, that pickles have taken primacy for cultural, rather than physiological, reasons.<\/p>\n

6) Chocolate, and an Answer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is a tangent in the 2010 thread about salt cravings that may offer the most insight\u2014a tangent about chocolate.<\/p>\n

The tangent begins with one poster writing, \u201cchocolate is amazing. I eat it and I can feel the rush all over my body. Mmmmm, chocolate! Orgasmic! It’s not just the taste, but how it makes you feel… I don’t know how to explain that. LOL\u201d (\u201cSpiro and Salt Cravings?\u201d<\/a> 2010; sic).<\/p>\n

What is notable about this is not so much that she reports craving chocolate, but the emphatic and decidedly feminine way that she reports a craving especially common among American women. This craving is likely cultural, given that the gender difference in chocolate craving in other countries is much narrower (Hormes 2014<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Figure 4: A still from the 1987 Tom Rubnitz video ‘Pickle Surprise,’ which has sparked both transphobic and queer memes in recent years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here, we see food craving as gender performance, with the poster enacting and emphasizing her female identity through a culturally gendered, commonly-reported food craving (for more on gender performance, see Butler 2011<\/a>). Considering that women are much more likely than men to report any kind of food craving, at 97% percent of women compared to only 68% percent of men by one estimate (Weingarten and Elston 1990<\/a>), it seems appropriate that food cravings would hold a special, validating importance for trans women and other transfems. This would seem to explain why, of all of the experiences associated with HRT, a food craving would rise to the top as a symbol, unifying cultural touchstone, and meme.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, why the pickle? Of the salty food cravings, it is the one most popularly associated in this country with pregnancy (for more on the rise of the \u201cpickles and ice cream\u201d narrative see Onion 2018<\/a>), making it perhaps the most powerfully feminine of all already-feminine food cravings. The pickle is also meme-friendly, with a long association\u2014via the absurd and the phallic\u2014with drag culture (see, most famously, Rubnitz 1989<\/a>).<\/p>\n

7) Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we have seen, pickle cravings in transfeminine HRT have a likely physiological cause in the salt craving effect of the diuretic spironolactone. However, while sodium deficiency from spiro can contribute to craving any number of salty foods, the common narrative about the shared pickle craving experience is fairly new, arising within the last decade.<\/p>\n

Rather than a purely physiological phenomenon, this craving has gained prominence in the trans community as a shared touchstone experience, an expectation in a still-mysterious medical process, and as a validation of gender identity through the feminine associations of food craving in general and of pregnancy cravings for pickles in particular. Throw the comic nature of the fermented cucumber into the mix, and the pickle is the perfect candidate for a unique role for a food. Perhaps no other community has, or has quite the same need for, a food role like the craving of the transfeminine community for pickles.<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boylan, Jennifer Finney. 2019. \u201cWhy the Pickle Became a Symbol of Transgender Rights.\u201d New York Times, September 18, 2019. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/18\/opinion\/transgender-rights-pickle-boylan.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Butler, Judith. 2011. \u201cJudith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender | Big Think.\u201d June 6, 2011. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc<\/a><\/p>\n

Faas, Marijke M., Barbro N. Melgert, and Paul de Vos. 2009. \u201cA Brief Review on How Pregnancy and Sex Hormones Interfere with Taste and Food Intake.\u201d\u00a0Chemosensory Perception <\/em>3 (2010):\u00a0<\/strong>51\u201356. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s12078-009-9061-5<\/a><\/p>\n

Futterweit, Walter, and George Ryan. 2006. A Patient\u2019s Guide to PCOS: Understanding\u2014and Reversing\u2014Polycystic Ovary Syndrom<\/em>e. New York City: Henry Holt and Company.<\/p>\n

Hormes, Julia M., Natalia C.Orloffa, and Alix Timkob. 2014. \u201cChocolate Craving and Disordered Eating. Beyond the Gender Divide?\u201d Appetite <\/em>83 (December): 185-193. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.appet.2014.08.018<\/a><\/p>\n

Lavery, Grace. 2019. \u201cTrans Kids These Days.\u201d April 15, 2019. https:\/\/grace.substack.com\/p\/trans-kids-these-days<\/a><\/p>\n

Ober, K. Patrick, and John F. Hennessy. 1978. \u201cSpironolactone Therapy for Hirsutism in a Hyperandrogenic Woman.\u201d Annals of Internal Medicine <\/em>89, no. 5 (Part 1): 643-644. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7326\/0003-4819-89-5-643<\/a><\/p>\n

Onion, Rebecca. 2018. \u201cHysterical Cravings.\u201d Slate<\/em>, April 18, 2018. https:\/\/slate.com\/human-interest\/2018\/04\/pickles-and-ice-cream-how-the-crazy-combo-became-iconic-for-pregnant-women.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Prior, Jerilynn C. 2019. \u201cProgesterone Is Important for Transgender Women\u2019s Therapy\u2014Applying Evidence for the Benefits of Progesterone in Ciswomen.\u201d The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism<\/em> 104, no. 4 (April): 1181\u20131186.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1210\/jc.2018-01777<\/a><\/p>\n

Rubnitz, Tom. 1989. \u201cPickle Surprise.\u201d Accessed March 15, 2020. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N733Ofj2cVQ<\/a><\/p>\n

Safer, Joshua, and Vin Tangpricha. 2008. \u201cOut of the Shadows: It is Time to Mainstream Treatment for Transgender Patients.\u201d Endocrine Practice<\/em> 14, no. 2 (March): 248-250.<\/p>\n

Serano, Julia. 2007. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity<\/em>, 2nd ed. (2016) New York City: Basic Books.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpiro and Salt Cravings?\u201d Susan\u2019s Place, January 24, 2010. https:\/\/www.susans.org\/forums\/index.php?topic=71424.0<\/a><\/p>\n

Tomlins, Louise. 2019. \u201cPrescribing for Transgender Patients.\u201d Australian Prescriber<\/em> 42, no. 1 (February): 10\u201313. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.18773\/austprescr.2019.003<\/a><\/p>\n

Weenan, Hugo, Annemarie Olsen, Evangelia Nanou, Esm\u00e9e Moreau, Smita Nambiar, Carel Vereijken, and Leilani Muhardi. 2018. \u201cChanges in Taste Threshold, Perceived Intensity, Liking, and Preference in Pregnant Women: A Literature Review.\u201d Chemosensory Perception <\/em>12 (2019): 1\u201317. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s12078-018-9246-x<\/a><\/p>\n

Weingarten, Harvey P., and Dawn Elston. 1990. \u201cThe Phenomenology of Food Cravings.\u201d Appetite <\/em>15, no. 3 (December): 231\u2013246. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/0195-6663(90)90023-2<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Supplement 1: Results of a Qualitative Survey of Trans and Cis Hormone-Related Food Cravings<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

AB, cisgender woman: \u201cPregnancy! I already loved pickles, it just intensified. Also kimchi, sauerkraut, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

AE<\/strong>, cisgender woman: \u201cOvulation! Need salt\/sour to make good eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>, nonbinary transmasculine: said, \u201cMy boyfriend and I are both trans masc on T and crave salty vinegar things more than anything now. I didn\u2019t think much of it until he brought it up as a hormonal possibility. Being Jewish is an extra layer to this because if it\u2019s not a crisp dill I\u2019m not into it lololol.\u201d<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>, nonbinary transmasculine: \u201cUsually [I crave pickles] as a \u2018Damn, I\u2019m going to get my period I guess.\u2019 Pickle dinner is a near ritual thing when I\u2019m PMSing.\u201d<\/p>\n

DT<\/strong> nonbinary transfeminine: \u201cIt was constant for the first six months for me, then kind of died off, and now I don\u2019t crave [pickles]. It started about a month or so in. I started spiro in May of 2019, and was on 100mg\/day. Estradiol started in July 2019, 2mg\/day. They both got doubled in September. I\u2019d say cravings started over the summer, sometime just before starting estradiol, and then continued through the end of the year. I 100% had heard of it [the pickle craving]. [Experiencing] it felt a little validating? I think it was one of those things where it validated my identity as a trans femme person and made me feel like I was being let into a secret club. I knew it was a shared experience among trans femme people and that felt really important to me. I haven\u2019t felt that craving in a while, though I do still keep a jar of pickles in my fridge just in case\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

EL<\/strong>, nonbinary transmasculine: \u201cI\u2019m transmasc so I know I\u2019m not the target, but I\u2019m also an RN and we talked about the cravings when I was in school. We were literally told to provide clients with salty snacks, specifically pickles. I went to school at University of South Carolina, they have a campus in Greenville that I attended. We\u2019d discussed spiro in my pharmacology class but it was in a general medical\/surgical class that we went over real life side effects. The professor wanted us making care plans for patients on spiro, and the two patient scenarios we were given were for transfem HRT and congestive heart failure. I remember it really well because that was the first time we ever discussed any kind of queer health other than in psych class.\u201d<\/p>\n

GJ<\/strong>, nonbinary transmasculine: \u201cBriney crunch [is the appeal]. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s HRT or what but I crave salty pickled things all the time the past few years. Well, I started hormones four or five years ago, so I\u2019m not sure. But within that time I definitely noticed I started to crave salty things more, especially pickles. Official start date [i.e. age at beginning of HRT] is complicated but let\u2019s just say 26.\u201d<\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>, cisgender woman: \u201cPregnancy made me want something salty all the time. And pickles were salty but also kind of fresh? Refreshing?\u201d<\/p>\n

KG<\/strong>, transfeminine: \u201cYou know, I heard about this a lot but never experienced it. I\u2019ve always loved pickles, so there\u2019s that, but I never experienced any cravings. I guess I didn\u2019t really mind; I never felt like my gender aligned with what I heard or saw from the broader transfeminine community\u2014which at the time was primarily via Reddit\u2014and I still don\u2019t, to this day, which is both empowering around my own identity and in some ways feels othering. I started HRT when I was 25 and a half (actually on my half birthday!). I started quite low, 100mg spironolactone and 2mg of estradiol (orally) and slowly increased the dosages over a few months. It eventually settled at 6mg estradiol. My spiro dosage had increased to 200mg but I had many issues with dizziness and blacking out, but after two years, I wasn\u2019t feeling enough had changed so my doctor (after a lot of \u201cconsulting with colleagues\u201d) increased my HRT dosage to 8mg sublingually, which is what it still is today.<\/p>\n

KR<\/strong>, cisgender woman: \u201cI have PCOS but haven\u2019t been on [spiro]. But even when I\u2019ve taken things to ramp up estrogen and stifle T (birth control and\/or supplements), I haven\u2019t really had cravings I don\u2019t think. I\u2019ve had PCOS since I was 11, diagnosed at 22 and haven\u2019t taken birth control since then. I take inositol, it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

KT<\/strong>, transgender woman: \u201cI\u2019ve always loved pickles enough to drink sips of the juice. I honestly probably did that before starting HRT. I\u2019m on 6mg estradiol a day, and 100mg spironolactone a day which started (at much smaller dosages) in July of 2017, when I was 24 years old. I\u2019ve also been on progesterone (100mg) for about a year now, kinda on and off as I figure out if it\u2019s right for me. I feel and have felt fine about it [not experiencing cravings]. I\u2019ve never put too much thought into it. I wondered if the whole pickle craving thing was kind of a joke or a social psychological effect. Everybody\u2019s body is different, though! Happy for everyone who gets those pickle cravings. Pickles are amazing, and more trans folk eating pickles warms this Jewish trans femme\u2019s heart! I think I might go buy a jar of pickles now.\u201d<\/p>\n

LS<\/strong>, nonbinary transfeminine: \u201cI don\u2019t think that I ever experienced this phenomenon, at least not in a way that I noticed. I maybe first heard about it when I read Whipping Girl<\/em> in the months leading up to starting HRT. I can\u2019t remember if Serano actually mentions the salt\/pickle craving, but she discusses the effects of HRT and that was my primer for expectations. [I felt] indifferent I guess [about not experiencing any cravings]. I\u2019ve always liked pickles and always had a preference for salty\/savory over sweet. My starting dose when I was 25 was maybe 2mg of estradiol a day and went up to 6mg. I did that with 200mg spiro for a few years, and introduced progesterone about a year into HRT. I\u2019m now on 0.5ml estradiol injected every other week and 200mg of progesterone a day, and no anti-androgrens.\u201d<\/p>\n

SS<\/strong>, transgender woman: \u201cPickles, capers, and olives. I think it\u2019s the brine. I\u2019ve always loved pickles, but [now also crave] olives! I have no idea [why], I think it might just be the salty\/vinegar taste of the brine, but olives leave this slightly slick mouth feel. Before HRT I couldn\u2019t stand them [olives], but now I can eat a whole jar without hesitation. It feels like I have no self control, I find myself eating thing I literally couldn\u2019t stand before, and binging whatever craving comes to mind. I\u2019m on 200mg spiro, 4mg estro, and I started when I was 23, which was a year and a few months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

WR<\/strong>, nonbinary transmasculine: \u201cPregnancy. Cultural depictions, probably. Also nostalgia\/comfort? I ate pickles a lot as a kid. Crunch plus brine plus salt plus tang [was the appeal].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week we are featuring work from students in Val Ryan’s class The Science of Food and Cooking (MET ML619). Today’s post comes from Michelle Samuels. Craving pickles is a commonly reported experience among transgender women and other transfeminine people undergoing hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The commonly held explanation involves a potential sodium-wasting side effect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2776,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,10,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2776"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9466"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9473,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9466\/revisions\/9473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}