Avoid the Allergen

Have your friends ever wondered what it would be like to live with a food allergy? Tell them to try it for a day!

Project Directions

  1. Have three of your friends help you with this project. Assign each of them an allergen, such as wheat, milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, or soy.
  2. Challenge them to stay away from that allergen for one whole day.
  3. Provide your friends with the scientific names for their assigned food (if you need help, e-mail us).
  4. Have your friends read every ingredient label for every single thing they eat for one day. They shouldn’t eat anything that doesn't have a label. If they want to eat a food prepared by someone, they must ask about the ingredients first.
  5. After your friends have each finished, have them answer these questions.
    1. Who avoided the food for the entire day?
    2. Who cheated?
    3. What were the toughest parts about avoiding the food allergen?
    4. Did they find the allergen in a place where they didn't expect it?

What You Learned

Did your friends have a harder time staying away from their food than they thought? Make a display board with the pictures of the foods that your friends learned they could not eat to share your findings.

Print This Page Print This Page