Allergic Students Navigate D-Halls

For the small population of Harvard students with severe food allergies, every meal requires weaving through a maze of hidden ingredients and airborne allergens—a process made significantly easier through the help of Harvard University Dining Services staff, these students said.

National statistics suggest that 4 percent of people are allergic to some food, but college dining services are unable to get exact statistics  about food allergies among their student bodies because that information is protected by medical privacy laws, according to the Boston Globe.

Other colleges in the Boston area, including Boston College and Holy Cross, have entire kitchens dedicated to serving students with serious food allergies, but Harvard students report that menu variety in the dining halls has allowed them to choose from existing HUDS options.

Some students with allergies, even a few who described their allergies as very severe, said they decided not to inform HUDS and instead to navigate their food decisions alone. But students who have contacted dining hall staff said that HUDS has accommodated their needs.

Tal Oppenheimer ’12, who has an airborne allergy to peanuts, said she met with the Annenberg staff before her freshman year began. They gave her a tour of the kitchen, showed her an ingredient list that she could check daily, and pointed out the location of the peanut butter so that she could avoid the entire area. Oppenheimer said she is careful not to attend meals when peanuts are a main ingredient in the entrees, because even the presence of peanuts can be dangerous for her.

Oppenheimer described a recent incident at lunchtime when she forgot to check the ingredients in a new soup—which happened to contain peanuts. A member of the Mather dining hall staff immediately approached her, notified her about the soup, apologized, and even removed it from the day’s dinner menu.

For Theodore A. Peng ’13, who is allergic to all nuts, as well as kiwis, strawberries, raw carrots, parsley, sesame seeds, soy, corn and whole grains among other things, food contamination is potentially problematic.

He said that he trusts the kitchen staff to scrupulously separate ingredients, but said he worries that other students are less careful about mixing foods in the servery.

“I’ve seen it before where people want some other type of food, but they won’t use another scoop,” Peng said.

The allergic students interviewed for this article said they agreed that the University was doing as much as it could to facilitate their dietary needs.

“As long as student are proactive about checking the ingredients online, I think Harvard is doing everything it needs to,” said Jeremiah B. Glenn ’11, who is allergic to peanuts.