Cooking Class with Allergies

[MidniteScribbler]

If you had a child who had allergies to egg, wheat, shellfish, any nut product, milk, and sesame, and they also have a vegetarian diet, would you sign them up for a cooking elective at their school? They would like to do cooking, but there are also 39 other activities on offer at the same time by the school. Would you let them sign up for cooking?

Surely the mother can't push for vegan only food in the cooking club.

Technically you could make in your class:

Flapjack- use gf oats and block storm

Crazy cake- use gf mix

Pancakes- gf mix and soaked ground flax seeds

Beanburgers

Tomato sauce with pasta

Bean chilli

Vegetable curry with df cream

Apple strudel- use gf pastry

Jam tarts- gf pastry

Rice pudding- use alternative milk

Chocolate brownie- gf mix, block stork and soaked ground flax seeds

Aquafaba meringue

However seeing as the ingredients are coming from your house and I can't see the mother putting her hand in her pocket for gf df ingredients for the whole class somehow (gf oats are around £3/500g) then I would consider cancelling the club.

Shame because there are lots of children who are missing out because of one person

I'd second the idea of asking her to provide the recipes but within the current budget.

I'd cancel the club. Absolutely stunned the parents would see cooking at primary school with airborne anaphalatic allergies as suitable.

My DS who has nut allergy did cookery club at secondary school but they have facilities for people with allergies to cook at a separate work station.
At primary school he was not allowed to join nature club as they fed the birds with peanuts. I did think this was unfair as they could have fed the birds with some thing else. But I didn't make a fuss about it as I could appreciate the needs of the other children

If I were in your position I wouldn't run it - the risks are just too high. I'm surprised the parents don't think so too. Will your principal not put her foot down? As PP have said, you should be expected to make reasonable adjustments, not any adjustments.
It's really sad for this kid, especially if his/her friends are in the club - but unfortunately either this child misses out or they all do.

Cancel, especially as you're paying!
Vegan, dairy free, gluten etc i take it parent won't be contributing?
It's a shame for the other kids but you have no choice.

I'm presuming the club also needs to be financially viable.

LOL I am the finance!

If the head teacher isn't outright saying no to this woman, do they realise that they will either have to clean or pay to have the entire area cleaned thoroughly to ensure no allergens are present, plus clean all of your equipment or buy new utensils? Obviously you clean them, but they have to be super clean before letting them near someone with such serious allergies. In fact, to be really safe, there would need to be a ban on what staff could bring into the kitchen.

If you make it their problem to solve, are they likely to back you up and tell the mother she's being ridiculous?

In that case I cannot see any way forward other than canceling the club, it isn't going to be safe for the dc or practical for you.

Update: Principal has told parent that child is not able to participate and has offered them their choice of any other club (most are already full but will make an exception and fit an extra in). Parent is spitting mad and claiming human rights violation. I feel sorry for the Prin, she's been dealing with the mother all morning.

I do have sympathy for the child, but it's just not reasonable to make the adjustments needed for him to participate. Parent also wanted all canteen food to cater for her child's allergies (we don't have school lunches here, just a canteen which is optional. Most children bring a packed lunch).

Parent has been told by the Principal that it's not the right choice for their child, but are kicking off that they want their child to participate and that all meals must be suitable (as in, I can't have a separate recipe for their child, they don't want them to feel 'different')

I'd cancel the club.

The parent is unbelievably selfish and unreasonable.

She wants to risk her child's life/health in the case of accidental exposure to an allergen.

She wants the entire club to now be vegetarian/vegan to fit in with her lifestyle CHOICE (not allergen/medical reason) - way to go about pushing your(her) beliefs on other people.

She wants you to be massively out of pocket having to source the expensive ingredients her kid can have.
She wants you to do the extra work involved in coming up with all these recipes.

If I was the parent of another child in the class, I'd be pissed off that all the meals were centered around one person's diet.

Cross post with your update.

Glad to see the principal has some common sense and balls to stand up to this woman.

Parent also wanted all canteen food to cater for her child's allergies (we don't have school lunches here, just a canteen which is optional. Most children bring a packed lunch)

I assume she includes her vegan/vegetarian lifestyle choice as well. I hope the principal stands firm on saying no to this as well. It's completely unreasonable.

Most schools (where I am anyway) use the canteen as a source of funds for the school. I can see orders drying up very quickly, not to mention parent volunteers dropping off, and the canteen closing down, if they had to adhere to all these restrictions. That would have a long-term knock on affect for the entire school.

Parent also wanted all canteen food to cater for her child's allergies

What protein that doesn't involve nuts, eggs, meat, fish or dairy will the majority of primary children eat and be able to give a variety of foods? You are basically down to beans or lentils. It is completely reasonable to expect to have one meal the child can eat if there are a selection or a meal made especially for the child but the whole canteen? That is unfair on the rest of the school.

And this is from someone who has food allergies and also has a child with them.

...and if you have a kid with soy allergies (not unlikely) that is another thing off the table.

I would be very tempted to tell the mother that we would avoid cooking any of the foods her daughter is allergic to but that there is a good chance that you will be cooking meat and fish.

Dailymail, some of those would be way too challenging for a primary school staff kitchen with young children. How on earth are you going to do aquafaba meringues?

I really feel for you, sadly there are a lot of entitled parents these days

We run the whole range here, 4 vegetarians, 3 coeliacs, 1 shellfish allergy, 1 nut allergy and one oat sensitive coeliac

Do we expect everyone to eat like us? Not a chance! Our diet is choice and necessity

My ds and dd learn to cook at home in a safe dietary environment, that is MY job as a parent

School do not provide any food options in the refectory so I send packed lunches because I am an adult and realise that it’s MY responsibility to provide safe food

There are too many parents out there who have special little snowflakes these days

What would she do if another child was allergic to the items her child could cook and eat? Insist they were used?

I'm glad your principal is sticking up for your OP.

My daughter has a lot of those allergies mentioned and attends the school cookery lessons, they take it in turns and she cooks once a month, when it’s her turn the cookery teacher uses a recipe that avoids the ingredients she is allergic to, I send wipes in with her so she wipes her work station down thoroughly before starting and she has been fine, really enjoys taking part

Parent is being completely unreasonable.

As a parent of a yr6 DD who is anaphylactic to milk and dairy products there are times when I am so angry that she can't eat/do things that all her friends take for granted. And it is tempting to irrationally take that anger out on people as there's nothing that be done about it.

I wouldn't want to put DD in an optional cooking class - not fair on anyone. I'm currently worrying about how compulsory cooking classes will be managed when she moves up to her next school in September!

I guess with airborne allergies, the parent is proposing that the whole canteen goes vegan, GF and nut free then, just to cater for her child?

I feel sorry for your Principle but they do have to stand up to unreasonable demands.

Dear Awkward Parent
Unfortunately we have had to cancel the cooking class as we feel unable to cater for your child’s dietary requirements with the given limitations on budget, time, facilities and equipment.
However if you would like to run such an activity where you could enable all children to participate we would very much welcome you to do so.
Kind Regards

Alternatively, could you do a couple of dishes that would meet those requirements and invite the child to attend on those weeks.

Dd has anaphylaxis to all fish both contact and airborne. In secondary school she did participate in cooking but fish was banned for all students. I wouldn't have signed dd up for an optional after school cooking class though purely because whilst I appreciate a willingness to make adjustments I don't feel that in non compulsory situations I have the right to demand them.