Photo Credit: James Yu

We all remember the days when lunch was a time to bargain chips for cookies, or trade whatever your mom had packed with the hope of improving your lunch. I was never able to participate in swapping food unless it came with a label.

I have severe allergies to peanuts, and along with having to endure countless questions like, “You mean you’ve NEVER eaten a Reese’s?” (No, clearly not) and “Don’t you ever want to eat peanut butter?” (Well, not unless I feel like killing myself that day) I also spent a good five years of lunches at the “peanut-free table.”

Basically, no one eating at this table could have any traces of peanuts or peanut-products in their lunch or they would be banished by the yard-duty.

The peanut-free table was wonderful for a while, and it really is the perfect way to keep young children with allergies safe. However eventually, the peanut-free table ceased to exist, a victim of sad neglect.

I still to this day wonder what actually killed the peanut-free table. Peanuts, you may ask? Not exactly.

It seemed as the years progressed, the classic PB&J was eaten less and less. Could it be that the palettes of my fellow classmates have simply become more sophisticated? Maybe.

In my case, the extinction of the peanut-free table is most likely due to the fact that eventually, my friends decided they wanted to spend their precious hour of lunch at another table, and I of course followed suit. Once I was able to manage my allergies better, a whole separate table sequestered from peanuts seemed unnecessary.

Of course, within the halls of M-A, there is no such thing as the peanut-free table (or, for that matter, many lunch-tables in general) and though I sometimes have to be careful about who I sit next to, it seems as though I’m still alive.