Originally Posted by Annerk

Personally I have developed allergies over the past 20 years that I didn't have in the past. I was told that with the nut allergy I shouldn't eat peanuts, but I love them so I kept eating them. Until the day I broke out in hives and my tongue swelled. No more peanuts for me. Same thing with shellfish. I've been allergic to scallops since I was a toddler. Ten years ago I had an anaphylactic reaction to clams. And five years ago I reacted to lobster. No more shellfish or squid for me. After a lot of hit and miss to determine what was causing hives, I finally figured out I was reactive to coconut. And then I reacted to beets. Not once, but three times before I figured out the common ingredient.

I was in F on an AA flight and the FA came to serve me the nuts, which I said, "No thanks" to. She looked at me with panic and said, "Are you allergic?" I told her yes, and then stopped her as she was trying to scoop up all of the nuts she had served and convinced her I'm fine with others eating them. I've never seen a more relieved look on an FA's face. That said, I don't understand why they don't serve something far less reactive as a snack. Chex Mix or something along those lines.

Allergies are on the rise, and they aren't sure why. But so are helicopter moms and special snowflake kids. It's a brutal combination in any type of service industry.