Food/entres to avoid during a flute session?

[Tweeto]

I had the chef add extra jalapenos to my quesadillas at a recent session, but when I tried to play my flute after eating, my mouth was still salivating. It was a struggle to play my flute, although I'm not sure exactly how to describe the problem. I've experienced this on previous days but it wasn't as bad then, so I suspect that it was the extra jalapenos that made it particularly worse this time.

I've also heard an annecdote that the mere smell of popcorn is enough to cause problems for a flute player. When I was playing near people who were eating popcorn, I think I imagined what it would taste/feel like, which then caused a problematic sensation.

Does anyone here have experience with foods that have detrimental effects on playing the flute? Care to elaborate on it?

[tin tin]

When I was learning classical flute, growing up, I was always told not to eat or drink (water excepted) before or while playing. In fact, for years, I brushed my teeth every time before playing the flute.
Then I fell into the dark world of Irish music and threw caution to the wind. Now, I even use my flute as a straw to drink beer during tunes I don't know. Not really, but I'm much less fastidious. I haven't noticed anything of major concern, although sometimes a bit of gunk forms on the far side of the embouchure hole.
However, while eating and drinking are often a part of sessions, I try to keep clean when I'm playing at home.
Dale shares a related anecdote about the Clarke Sweetone on the main C&F site:

Norman Dannatt, with Clarke, wrote me a fascinating and entertaining letter that includes the history of this whistle. It was intended to be marketed for children (thus the colors). "What we needed was an inexpensive whistle especially for children," Norman writes, "It also needed to be one without a wooden fipple as children tend not to take care of their instruments...Nothing ruins the wooden fipple more than being blown soon after eating burgers or drinking coke."

[bradhurley]

Chocolate makes me salivate so I avoid that while playing. Potato chips (crisps to those on the other side of the Atlantic) are another thing to avoid, famously...see here:

http://www.firescribble.net/flute/disgusting.html

[Guinness]

...extra jalapenos...salivating...

Or was it swelling lips? Struggled to play flute after very hot Pad Thai once. Yum, but lip numb and flute dumb.

[Gabriel]

Sparkling water and other beverages can cause funny effects when the gas says hello again...the tuning can sink significantly when you burp while playing

Crisps are also a no-go for me when playing the flute.

[TheSpoonMan]

chocolate
popcorn
pop
salt
sugar
cats
spices
cookies
butter
ammonia

[Nanohedron]

Buffalo wings for the salivary floodtide, big time. Never again.

[bradhurley]

cats
ammonia

Okay, I can understand eating a cat, but ammonia?

[Nanohedron]

cats
ammonia

Okay, I can understand eating a cat, but ammonia?

Maybe he's talking about hákarl. Are there sessions in Iceland?

[Akiba]

Avoid everything but water.

There is a time to eat, and a time to play, a time for peace, I swear it's not too late (sorry, flashback there...).

I have lots of opportunities to eat but few opportunities to play; hence, water will do.

[Unseen122]

I try not to eat while I am playing so this has never been a problem for me, but there is something that does affect my playing. Mouthwash, if I try to play the Flute after 30 seconds with some Listerine (usually what I use) it hurts my mouth to play. It doesn't really affect the sound, but it sure does make it harder to play.

[Denny]

after switching from colgate to Tom's that went away for me

[Wormdiet]

Up here in the People's Republic, most of the sessions seem to take place in coffeehouses. I had the BEST iced coffee ever yesterday in Montpelier, but for the first hour of the session I kept over-salivating Most unpleasant.

[MTGuru]

...

I imagine that a worm diet is not good for fluting either. The wiggly bits get in the way of your embouchure.

[Terry McGee]

There's an old story (17th or 18th century I think) set in England. A composer is working in his office at the front of his downtown house, when a busking band sets up outside his window, their rough music making it impossible to concentrate on his own work. Noting that the band is lead by a flute-player, the composer pays a small street urchin to stand right in front of the flute player and noisily suck on a lemon. The flute player's embouchure dries up and within a few minutes, the band has moved on.

There's a nice period engraving of the story somewhere, showing the composer arguing with the street musicians through his open window.

Apple cider and red wine are my weak points. Love 'em, but find their tartness badly affects my embouchure. Fortunately, Guinness and Whiskey are reliable standbys with no (immediate) side effects.

Terry