Over the years, my posts have always been from the point of view of a mom and a caretaker. Today, my son is a Freshman in High School and I chanced upon an essay written by him (yes, he is a typical teen who does not want his parents to read his schoolwork!). With a lot of cajoling, he finally gave me permission to share the essay. Poignant yet humorous view into the mind of a child who has never known not to be afraid of food…
Happy Thanksgiving all!
I was nervous. Well, I usually am when I try new things, but this was different. All of my life and still today, I’ve had food allergies. Allergies to a lot of foods like nuts and soy, however, the one I was about to try for the first time were eggs. I never hated eggs just because I was allergic to them, and actually I thought they looked delicious. The ones that looked the tastiest in my mind were probably hard-boiled eggs and fried eggs. However, the thought of finally being able to eat those things was not on my mind right now, instead, I was scared. In my mind, I thought that I could die today. I was worried that I might have an allergic reaction, something I had never had. My mom had reassured me and told me countless times that if they thought I was going to have a reaction, I wouldn’t be taking the test, and that the reason they do this in the doctor’s office is to make sure it was safe. Still, I was worried. We walked into the office I had seen twice every year since I was born, and after the nurse called us in, we walked into a white room. The room had a bed with paper wrapping on top, like the type in most doctor’s offices. There were also three regular chairs and a table with a laptop. On one of the walls was a photograph of some nature related place with a motivational quote underneath. It looked like every other doctor’s office I had ever been in. We sat down and after what seemed like ages of waiting in the room, the doctor came in. She explained that she would give me an extremely small piece of a plain omelette then wait 15 minutes. Then she would give me a slightly bigger piece, and wait another 15 minutes, and we would continue this process for about three hours. I was starting to get excited now.
When the doctor handed me a plastic fork with a thin yellow square on top, I got scared. I nibbled off a piece and then slowly ate the rest. I remember thinking at the time that it tasted like string cheese, although eggs taste nothing like that to me nowadays.
I was happy when I finished eating, not because I had tried a new food, but more because it meant that I could go back to playing Pokemon on my 3ds for 15 minutes. This went on for a few hours until the end. I still eat eggs, especially omelettes, a lot. Funnily enough, I actually hated both boiled and fried eggs when I first tried them. I do have to say though, it was a pretty eggceptional eggsperience (sorry not sorry).
Allergy Foodie 