Illustration by Hayden Carkner/The Griff

Forever the girl with the peanut allergy

When I was in elementary school, there was one thing I never left the house without: my EpiPen. 

As the kid with the peanut allergy, I remember constantly being toured around the school armed with my EpiPen, securely tucked away in my Barbie fannypack, as teachers and support staff looked for a place I could eat lunch. Sometimes it was the library, other times the in-school suspension room. A few times I even had to leave the school and eat my lunch in a portable. 

No matter where they put me, it was never in my classroom, and I was almost always alone. 

But after a few years of solitary lunches, something changed. It started to click with people that peanut allergies were actually a lot more common than people thought and a lot more dangerous. And suddenly, school classrooms were becoming peanut-free. 

According to Health Canada, peanut allergies are one of the most common allergies in Canada, alongside tree nuts, milk, eggs, soy, sesame, shellfish, mustard, sulphites, and wheat. 

I’m one of the lucky ones who’s allergic to most of the allergens on the list. But peanuts, peanuts are the ones that can kill me. 

I’m an adult now, and fully capable of managing my allergies on my own, and to many people’s shock, I no longer carry an EpiPen with me everywhere I go. I pride myself on being careful. I read every label, ask questions, and if I don’t know what’s in something, I don’t touch it. And for the better part of 20 years, it’s worked. 

In the last few years though, I feel like something’s changed again. 

I used to be able to go to events where food was provided and not have to worry about my peanut allergy. Sure I still had to navigate my other allergies, but I never had to fear I would accidentally go into anaphylactic shock. 

I was at a wedding when I realized I might have to start worrying about peanut allergy again. They had hired a food truck to cater the wedding, and everything served had been cooked in peanut oil. 

Then last year, I attended a catered event at MacEwan, and my suspicions were confirmed. During dinner, I waited patiently in the line of 50 people for my turn to get food from the catered buffet, only to be greeted by peanut-crusted chicken as the main course. Now, they did have options that weren’t crusted in peanuts, but after roughly 50 people had gone through the buffet line before me, there was no way I could trust that one of those people had contaminated the food with the tongs from the chicken.  

And then it happened again at MacEwan. 

And again, at a conference, despite them asking for a list of allergies three times. 

And it’s not just that I can’t eat at these events. I have to be careful of where I stand when I talk to people so the smell doesn’t make me sick. I have to be careful about what I touch so I don’t break out in hives.  

What I noticed though, was that every catered buffet all offered vegan and gluten-free options. And while gluten is a very common and very serious allergy, and I would honestly be vegan or vegetarian if it weren’t for my allergies to any form of protein other than meat, the one thing that those options have in common that the peanut allergy does not, is that they are, or have been, “trendy” food restrictions.

Gluten has always had a bad rep when it comes to diet culture. It’ll make you fat. If you want to lose weight you have to cut bread from your diet. 

Vegans are incredibly vocal on social media, flaunting the ethics and the health benefits of being vegan. It’s better for you, it’s better for the planet. You’re a better person because you don’t eat living things. 

I can’t ever remember a time where people on the internet flaunted being “peanut-free” as a diet or a more ethical way of life. 

It makes me wonder if people have forgotten common allergies in favour of trending and voluntary food restrictions. Sure, parents have been vocal about peanuts in schools, but there are millions of people on social media getting paid to promote and to influence others that their diet is superior, and because those are the voices we hear, those are the voices we seem to cater to. 

Whatever it is, I’ve started considering carrying around an EpiPen again. And I think I’ll just skip dinner at the next catered buffet I attend.  

I mean, better hungry than dead, right?