URL: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030613.html
Dear cecil,
Yes indeedy peanut allergies are for real!
I should know since I been a sufferer for all of forty three years.
I first discovered this when I was three (1965). After eating peanut butter on Saltines my mouth broke out in hives and my throat closed up enough for me and my parents to be alarmed (I still remember). The really sad part of this story is that I became the odd duck on the block. While everybody else was happily munching on PB&J, I was relagated to baloney and cheese (I still hate baloney). It was always embarrasing having to explain to my friend’s moms that I couldn’t eat the stuff. It wasn’t until my sophomore year in college that I met someone else who suffered the same affliction as I did and as I remember, he also had not met anybody else who was in the same boat. These days I two small children and the school where they attend always has a ready supply of epi pens for kids who suffer the same.
You may recall that a few years ago Southwest Airlines had to offer a peanut free zone to those folks who were so allergic that the mere smell of peanuts would make them ill. While I am not that bad off I can certainly understand. I find the smell of peanuts unpleasant. Of couse both my kids are fine with the nasty legume and love PB&J sandwiches. I liken making those on par with changing a dirty diaper (It certainly looks the same). Oddly enough I can eat anything cooked in peanut oil so it must be something in the meat.
At anyrate, I never eat a strange cookie without smelling it first.
Jay Buzzini