why did the cheese make my mouth itchy?

The weirdest thing happened the other day....I ate a bite of some appelenzer (spelling?) and my mouth almost instantly felt itchy and then after a few minutes it felt like it had many tiny cuts in it. I am not allergic to cheese, and I've eaten tons of different kinds of it in the past. My throat didn't close up nor did I have any other signs of anaphalactic shock. Significant other tasted it and said it was "weird" but he didn't have the same reaction. The feeling went away after I ate some plain crackers and rinsed my mouth out a lot.

Any ideas?! Has this ever happened to anyone else?

A close friend has a similar reaction with pretty much all hard cheeses, although not if they are cooked, including fondue. She's stumped so if you have any insight, I'd love to pass it along to her.

i get a similar reaction sometimes to lamb. I'm pretty sure it's not the lamb but some seasoning involved. I haven't a clue what it is. Mine is contained in my mouth and feels exactly the way you described. No throat closure. I'm not allergic to anything but mosquito bites.

-ed

I have the same problem with walnuts. It kinda feels like an itchy-burning sensation, similar to when you eat too much pineapple. It goes away after about 10-15 minutes.

I grew up thinking that everyone got this feeling when eating walnuts, it wasn't until college that i mentioned it and someone told me that it wasn't normal, and that I had a mild allergy.

Two things to note is that food allergies can be mild like that, and that they can develop over time. Just because you weren't once allergic to something, it doesn't mean that you can't develop an allergy.

You should be careful. Just because you have never had an allergic reaction to cheese does not mean that you do not have one now or will have a more severe reaction in the future.
A relatively minor reaction to food(bumps, rash, swollen eyes etc) is telling you to slow down and look at what you are eating. Many food allergies occur later in life.
A suudden food allergy makes sense if you have any other allergies. Be careful. Mention it to your doctor.

EMB

Cheese is a very quirky product. In some places and times in medieval Europe, people who made cheese were considered witches because it was not understood how cheese formed. Having cheese about the house was, shall we say, not considered politically correct.

There's molds, yeast, all sorts of chemistry involved in cheese production, many things that could trigger an allergic reaction.

Thanks everyone for the ideas and the concerns. I will definitely try to figure this out and be careful while I'm researching...I'll report back anything I find - good, bad, or itchy

I get the same reaction to eggplant and very ripe cantalope, honeydew, pineapple, and sometimes cherries. I also had it once from Williams and Sonoma margarita mix. Wierd, I know.

I hope to meet a cheese witch some day.