Joseph spent his childhood dreading family gatherings. His Egyptian-American relatives would gather around the family table for traditional fare—pita, falafel, baba ghanoush—while Joseph sat by himself, eating food his parents had brought from home. With multiple food allergies, Joseph needed to maintain an exhausting level of vigilance to avoid potentially lethal allergens, and that often meant eating alone. Shared meals, normally a source of fellowship and connection, became moments of painful isolation.
Joseph’s experience is unfortunately not unique: Food allergies affect around 15 million people in the United States, including 6 million children. People with allergies as severe as Joseph’s, especially those allergic to multiple foods, have no options aside from avoiding trigger foods while carrying an epinephrine auto-injector in case of accidental ingestion…
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