I will start off this post with a warning. I could literally write a book on the topic of food in schools. Throw in food allergies and I could write an encyclopedia. I will however, try to keep it as concise as I can. I am actually going to break it up into a series of posts.

Also, I can only write on this topic in relation to our allergies, tree nuts. Every allergic family has to do what is right for their own family.

O.K., here it goes. Lets start looking at food in schools. Our first stop is the cafeteria, an obvious place to start I think.

As far as I know most public schools have a breakfast and lunch program. My daughter does not participate in the breakfast program so I can not comment on it. She does however eat lunch in the cafeteria every day. The decision is left up to her as to whether she brings from home or buys from the cafeteria. All of the food is tree nut free. Yay! A small victory. She can even have ice cream because it is all prepackaged with labels. The seating arrangement at lunchtime is strategic. She sits surrounded by kids that buy lunch as we know that school food is safe. We are unable to control what kids bring from home, if a student brought in almond butter and not next to our daughter, there could be a problem.

Some schools will have a nut free table. This is where all the kids with nut allergies would sit so that there would be no risk of coming in contact with nut products. I understand this strategy in theory but not in practicality. What if she is the only nut allergic child in the class? Then she would eat alone. I have to think about her mental health along with her physical health. I believe that eating alone would not be what is best for her. Well, that’s what it is like to be food allergic in the cafeteria. Next up, I will share what it is like to deal with food allergies, schools, and parties. Get ready!

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