“My desire is to be part of the solution and a bridge to more understanding surrounding the severity of food allergies.”
When I was in elementary school I broke out into hives all the time. My mother thought this was due to anxiety, and so, I continued to break out in hives. I remember my mom being particularly annoyed with me when I broke out in hives “coincidentally” just moments after eating vegan Macaroni and Cheese made with cashews. For a minute one summer it seemed like they connected the dots between the ongoing hives and pistachios, but then my mother concluded it must be due to the saltiness of the nuts. No one in our family had ever had an allergy, and so this conclusion kept being pushed to the side. It wasn’t until my fourth grade year where I went into full anaphylaxis after eating dairy free ice cream made with cashews and almonds that my family finally realized I had a Tree Nut Allergy. I went to an Allergist and was officially diagnosed with a life threatening allergy. I was prescribed an EpiPen that I had to carry with me at all times.
As a pre-teen girl, I had a new, seemingly insurmountable, mountain of anxiety to climb surrounding asking about and telling about my Tree Nut Allergy. I was acutely aware of the fact that if I did not ask people if food was nut free (and then always explain that tree nuts are different from peanuts) I could die. However, being looked at as odd was an even worse fate to a young girl. On top of the constant inquiries, I became afraid to try new foods. I had always been an adventurous eater before this tree nut awareness, and found myself sticking to Peanut Butter and Jelly or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Because of my allergy, the ability to explore new tastes had been severely limited. All of a sudden it seemed that everything had Almonds or Cashews in it!
Eight years have passed since my Tree Nut Allergy has become a daily piece of my existence. EpiPens are significantly cheaper, and I have a much easier time talking to waiters, friends’ parents, cafeteria workers and teachers about my allergy. I have said the words, “I have a severe life threatening Tree Nut Allergy” so many times that it is like a personal mantra. Even as I have become more comfortable, the memories of those first navigation and fear have stuck with me. My hope is to start a Foodie Blog with ratings of how different restaurants address food allergies. I think it would be a great resource for parents and children to quickly search up my video about a particular restaurant and their accommodations. My desire is to be part of the solution and a bridge to more understanding surrounding the severity of food allergies.
- Anonymous