I'm going to embellish on my personal experiences and explain further the struggles I have experienced not only as an allergic person but also as a die hard foodie. I love food; I am insanely passionate about it in every aspect imaginable. All I knew growing up was that I wanted a career involving food. Med school? HR? No way. Food and only food. Imagine if I had said that to my allergist-- he would have laughed in my face. It was the most impossible career for me to have pursued. I took three years of culinary arts in high school and food was the heart of my program in college. I have never held a job not revolving around food. I have worked in cookie factories, small bakeries, cafes, and large scale kitchens. I even went to culinary school. Each experience has only deepened my fervor for food. However, I always felt like my allergies were holding me back, inhibiting me from fully reaching my potential. I could only do the patisserie program because my seafood allergies are too severe to have completed the cuisine program. I can't be the food critic I always dreamed of because I can't eat most of the food. I even had to stop working in kitchens-- being so close to so many allergens on an every day basis was detrimental to my health. There are so many jobs that I cannot pursue, and it is quite possibly the most difficult thing for me to accept. So, I sought out one of the only graduate programs in the nation that entirely focuses on the study of food. I am a grad student where my primary purpose is to look at the world through the lens of food. It's perfect and I am optimistic that it will lead to a career where I will no longer be hindered by my allergies.
It still seems so unfortunate that I had to fall in love with something that could kill me. It's a tragic love affair.
