Published: April 13, 2011

I’m one of those people lucky enough to have an extremely severe, life-threatening tree nut allergy, which could kill me with every cookie, cake, salad and sauce I think of eating. After suffering three allergic reactions in 2010, all of which somehow required hospitalization in exotic locales, I can now boast to be the first medical case of the 2010 World Cruise of the Queen Victoria. After going into anaphylactic shock in the middle of the North Atlantic, I began to reflect on the impact that a severe food allergy has on my lifestyle and that of those around me.

I have tried over the past 21 or so years to keep my magical ability to burst into hives from inconveniencing others. Yes, I’ve had to pass on more amazing-sounding desserts than I can count, have starved at events where the box lunch is a sandwich on suspicious-looking whole-grain bread and have killed the mood at a restaurant several times when I’ve thought that I might be having a reaction, despite my best attempts. I have the ability to scare the living daylights out of any waitress when I rattle off my allergy speech; the risk of a “life-threatening, severe allergic reaction” is something nobody wants to hear. My overall goal is to keep other people from having to deal with my issues beyond necessity, though.

Thus, when I recently read about parents who are trying to keep nuts completely out of school cafeterias (specifically peanuts, an allergy which has similar conditions and consequences to tree nuts, although peanuts are in fact not nuts, but rather legumes and thus related to beans), I was a bit taken aback by the insistence on one child’s problems impacting the general population. I have many times passed up on eating things offered by friends at school due to my allergy, but I never thought of denying every kid in my third-grade class the pleasure of a peanut butter sandwich on some chock-full-of-grain bread because of my issues.

At some point since my elementary school days there have been all sorts of divisions made for the protection of allergy-riddled children. Peanut-free tables, allergen-free cafeterias and complete Butterfinger bans are becoming commonplace across America. Parents claim this is necessary, as any small exposure of their child to their allergen could trigger a reaction; this is true, of course, in extreme cases. But considering the reality of the presence of allergens in the world, is it reasonable to inconvenience the many for the benefits of the few? It is doubtless that one day, these separated children will walk past a bakery, grocery store, Thai restaurant or New York City roasted nut cart. Having been completely segregated from their allergen for their entire lives, what are the risks of isolation when an encounter with an allergen is inevitable later in life?

In the meantime, elementary school children with no allergies are being restricted in their already-limited diet. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a staple of the American diet; by removing it as a lunchtime option, what do picky eaters gain? It is, of course, important to protect yourself from allergic reactions when you have a sensitive allergy, and children are especially prone to making mistakes in their food choices with their inexperience with foods and their allergies. But is this reason to restrict the entire cafeteria for the benefit of one child? Is a peanut butter sandwich on the other side of the lunchroom really going to cause a reaction in a child a hundred feet away at a “safety table?”

The answer is no. While it’s important to protect your child’s livelihood, life will not adapt itself for your kid’s needs forever. School cafeterias may be a tightly restricted microcosm of society, but any child who doesn’t want to be the Boy in the Bubble is, at some point, going to have to have exposure to their allergen. With my personal experiences in the allergy realm, I’m all for protecting oneself against the dangers of a food allergy. It’s important to know your limits when it comes to foods, and know when to say “no” to a delicious-looking, possibly-deadly treat. But just because I have an allergy-restricted diet shouldn’t mean that everyone around me should have to adjust their lifestyles for my benefit.