Allergic Intimacies: Food, Disability, Desire, and Risk

Simultaneously stigmatized and privileged, food intolerances and allergies have taken on an amorphous space in current wellness trends. This book provides a much-needed corrective lens that acknowledges that racism, classism, and ableism impact everything from nut allergies to cross-contamination and pandemic-driven issues of scarcity. Gill (disability studies, Syracuse Univ.; Already Doing It: Intellectual Disability and Sexual Agency) argues that those who are disabled, or BIPOC, or living in nursing homes, or in impoverished conditions, or incarcerated in prisons disproportionately face danger and death. Ultimately, the book provides a powerful call to action for readers to collectively work to undo patterns of exclusion. The author offers important information for consumers, individuals impacted by allergies, and others concerned with social justice in food systems and the medical field.