Sydney Hankin

I’m a freshman at Swarthmore College with allergies to peanuts, most tree nuts, and sesame seeds. I also have FPIES to broad beans, a type of food allergy that affects the gastrointestinal tract. I was diagnosed with food allergies before I was eating solid food, so I quite literally cannot remember a time before I knew I had allergies and was responsible for all the condition entails: reading and re-reading labels at supermarkets, asking waiters and chefs to check menu ingredients, and bringing homemade cupcakes to childhood birthday parties. All that to say: living with food allergies is a genuine challenge!

I’m grateful for the many allergen-friendly companies that have emerged over recent years, making my allergies easier to handle. But rare thought is given to the fact that food-insecure or pantry-reliant families face just as wide a variety of dietary restrictions, and thus are in need of these same specialty resources—ones commonly produced by small, start-up or family-owned businesses and using more esoteric ingredients, leading to higher and often unaffordable price tags. Hearing from pantry visitors that Securing Safe Food’s work is filling a key void in the food pantry sector, leading to more equity within the system, has added tremendous value to my life. I strongly believe that alleviating hunger in this country will depend on a shift in mindset, one that zooms in to the individual level and focuses on ensuring that every person is able to access foods that are personally, uniquely safe for them.