Food Allergies And Asthma During The Holidays

This year, all of our holidays have been very different and very small.

When it comes time to cook a "big holiday dinner," what's the point? There are only 3 of us! Daughter comes home sometimes, but wears a mask and eats in another room. Do I really want to go to all the trouble of cooking a holiday feast? That's a lot of work for 3 or 4 people. Usually, we have a large group because we open our home to anyone who can't go home for the holidays.

Ordering a catered meal with food allergies

My friend said she was just going to order a catered holiday meal this year. That sounds so tempting and would save a lot of work... but like the majority of people with asthma, we also have allergies. Our family all suffers from environmental allergies (cat dander, dust, flowers, etc.) But Middle Son and I also have food allergies.

It's very hard to trust other people to make your food.

Years ago, I attended a banquet and sent an RSVP listing my food allergy. When I arrived, I saw a BBQ style dinner. I should be safe, right?! The food wasn't labeled, but BBQ style food is usually safe for me to eat. I scooped up some baked beans and noticed a strange shape - curly shrimp in the big serving bowl. WHAT?! I was so angry! What if I hadn't seen the shrimp in the bowl and ate the beans?

Do I dare try this again?

Another banquet was at the same place, only a few years later. My family was attending the banquet to see me get an award. I again sent an RSVP, listing my seafood allergy and my son's tree nut allergy. This time, it was a fancy dinner and menus were included with the list of awardees. I carefully scanned the menu (because I didn't trust them). No tree nuts and no seafood were listed on the menu. Phew!

But I crunched something in my salad - and saw tree nuts on the plate. WHAT?! I told my son NOT to eat his salad, but too late - he already had a bite. I grabbed our epinephrine auto injectors and stepped out to the lobby, where we met the wait staff - and the paramedics. We carefully checked my son, but he said he didn't eat notice any pine nuts, he had only had lettuce. Luckily, it was a minor allergic reaction since he hadn't yet swallowed a pine nut, just a piece of lettuce with pine nut protein on it. Did you know that a simple cross-contact like that can cause anaphylaxis?¹

I was so angry that I had sent an RSVP and with food allergies, checked the menu, and yet they still put my son in danger. You can be assured that I had a little "chat" with the catering manager after the event.

We'll avoid catering this year

We decided to just cook our own holiday meal with food we bought ourselves. Dinner was delicious and allergen-free! We also delivered part of the meal to our elderly neighbor (with masks on of course)! We will do the same thing for Christmas, because sadly, it's hard to trust other people to cater our dinner.

Even in restaurants, we have had careless staff contaminate our drive-thru order by cross-contact. They didn't know that using the same pan, spatula, etc for different foods can cause allergic reactions. Middle Son and I have both had anaphylaxis from take-out food.

Does anyone else struggle with asthma, environmental allergies, and food allergies? It can be a challenge!