Appetite for Life

Traveling with food allergies can be a challenge. But, as Miranda Mullings found, with a little planning, the world is within reach.

- Rachel Chang

I HAVE HAD SEVERE nut allergies since birth. I can get hives by touching peanuts or tree nuts, and if I eat them, I'll have an anaphylactic reaction, where my throat closes. When I was a kid growing up in southern Missouri, avoiding nuts wasn't a big deal, since I was speaking English in a culture I understood well.

But I was desperate to travel internationally, so when I turned 18, I got my passport and drove to Quebec City. That's when I realized just how challenging it would be to travel with my allergy outside the United States. There were a lot of restaurants where the staff didn't speak English, and even though I'd been taking French in school, they didn't understand me. I needed to figure out how to communicate to avoid a hospital visit.