That Food Allergy Scene in Netflix's "You" & Food Allergies Portrayed in the Media, a List — Everyday Allergen-Free (2024)

In Netflix’s 2019 premier of the drama series You, we all got to cringe as Dan Humphrey (as he shall always be known) murders a man who is allergic to peanuts by poisoning his drink with peanut oil. In all fairness, I didn’t watch the show. I read the book several years ago, and aside from that one terrifying moment, I thought it was a compelling thriller. Part of me wants to watch the series, but the other part of me is torn. I’ve already seen some negative reactions from allergy bloggers and Instagrammers who I will assume did not read the book beforehand. Had I not already known, I would also have been shocked. The scene is basically our (and I use the word “our” as in, us as the food allergy community) worst nightmare. And while I lamented that a show I otherwise would have already binged was still sitting in the suggested carousel, another thought came to mind; what if this is a sign of progress?

*2020 update: I ended up watching both seasons of the show and loved it just as much as I loved the book

*This post was updated in January 2022 with further film and TV references. It’s amazing to see how much the culture around food allergies has changed in the media. Skip down to Boiling Point for the best example of how far we’ve come.

Hear me out.

But here we are in 2019, with a show that doesn’t portray the allergy guy as a social outcast. He’s good looking, impossibly hip, someone that the main character is jealous of. That’s not to say that every person with food allergy has to look a certain way, or that you have to be traditionally good looking to make up for your disease, but it is refreshing to see a character whose food allergy and perceived “frailty” is not their one defining characteristic.

Although its difficult to watch such a sad*stic crime that hits close to home, the allergic reaction plays out in a realistic way. It’s no laughing matter. His actions have consequences and they leave an impact.

SCROLL DOWN FOR A ROUNDUP OF CLIPS AND LINKS TO FOOD ALLERGIES PORTRAYED IN THE MEDIA

How Food Allergies are Portrayed in the Media These Days is a Sign That Times Have Changed

This isn’t the first time in recent years that a show or movie has depicted an allergic reaction in way that’s true to life (big shout out to the show Working Moms for their realistic depiction of a parent’s panic and fear at her daughter’s allergic reaction), but it is still a rarity (I think we’re all familiar with the Peter Rabbit movie issues). Scenes in movies like Hitch or Monster in Law that depict characters with comically swollen faces are hopefully becoming a thing of the past. I’m waving bye from behind my computer.

Truthfully, those movies irked me more than the scene in You. They made a mockery of my disease and I worried that their downplaying of the severity of anaphylaxis would register with viewers. There is no way I’d drink Benadryl through a straw instead of going to a hospital and using my Epi Pen, and if I had been intentionally poisoned with peanuts before my wedding you can bet I would have reported it to the police.

I can’t tell you how many people have asked me if my allergies “are like Will Smith’s face in Hitch”, or how annoyed I felt when a friend’s mom told me she thought Jennifer Lopez’s puffy lips were so funny in Monster in Law.

This leads me to wonder, why? Possibly because the massive cohort of 80’s/90’s babies with food allergies is all grown up (check out the Demetri Martin special on Netflix), there are more of us out there in the world sharing our experience and educating others. Nearly everyone knows someone with a food allergy, and it’s no longer just a kid thing. If you know someone who has had a reaction then you know how severe it is. You might not consider it a laughing matter because you’d know it’s not. TV and movies are getting better at reflecting their viewers in their content.

I actually paused the show and rewatched the scene in Grown-ish where Aaron says he’s wearing a wristband because he has a nut allergy (internally screaming but not out loud because I live in a condo!!). Did I ever think I’d see a first day of school scene where a character not only tells his new friends that he has food allergy, but also be immediately thrown into a love triangle because his allergy does not make him lesser than any of the other characters? I DID NOT BUT I AM HERE FOR IT. The scene is laid out in such a realistic way, with him shying away a bit as he delivers the line. Reflecting the viewers in the show! Incredible. I hope Kenya Barris includes more mentions and actions related to Aaron’s food allergy throughout the series. If he ever paused to not kiss another character because they had eaten PB, I think I would just cry.

And there are more realistic food allergy mentions much like this in other shows too, like season 2 episode 3 of Lilyhammer, where a man is killed by peanut. Again, sad*stic, but realistic. Also in Dollface, an amazing must-watch show geared towards young adults.

So back to that anaphylactic reaction scene in Netflix’s You. Maybe the portrayal of food allergy as a real and serious thing with potentially grave consequences, in a mainstream TV show, is something worth noting. A sign that we’re making progress, that educating others about the severity of anaphylaxis is getting somewhere, and finally sinking in.

A Somewhat Exhaustive List of Notable mentions of food allergies in film and TV:

I have embedded the videos wherever possible, but in some cases the video or article is hyperlinked in the title. These clips are arranged in no particular order as this is not a ranking chart, it is just a list of notable mentions documented for the purpose of interest.

• The Itch Podcast episode 40: Food Allergies Portrayed in the Media

• May Contain blog: Has the Film Industry Failed the Food Allergy Community?

• Nutritionally Nicole: Reacting to Food Allergy/Anaphylaxis in TV/Movie Scenes

• Top Chef season 19, episode 4: one of the chef contestants decides to make a shrimp dish despite being allergic to shellfish. She is eliminated from the show when her dish demonstrated she did not know enough about the ingredient.

• Here Today, a Netflix movie where in the first part of the movie, Tiffany Haddish orders an exorbitant amount of seafood in a restaurant and then goes into anaphylaxis, and is sent home shortly after. She no longer has any visible symptoms and Billy Crystal gives her an Epi Pen in her butt cheek.

• Boiling Point, 2022, shows the most realistic depiction of an allergic reaction that I have ever seen. It takes place in a restaurant. This is a fantastic movie that will have you on the edge of your seat (and not just because of that one scene; it’s just an incredible movie).

• Love Hard shows a poorly managed allergic reaction to kiwi

• Curb Your Enthusiasm, talcum powder allergy in Season 10 Episode 1

• The Office, “Training Day” episode, new manager Deangelo Vickers has a peanut allergy

• Nate Bougatze stand-up - several mentions of child with peanut allergy and millennials having peanut allergy! I could not find the clips

• Black AF - Kenya Barris’ family has allergy troubles at the bowling alley S1 E4, scene begins at 28:50 - 30:48

• Workin Moms - there is an anaphylaxis scare at a mom and child event

• The Babysitter movie: Bella Thorne’s character accidentally-on-purpose gives her rival (who has a nut allergy) a smoothie with almond milk

• Stella on How I Met Your Mother accidentally eats peanuts

  I couldn’t find the clip, but I did find this recipe for Ted’s Peanut Pesto on Hello Giggles, so there’s that lol.

• Rotten docu-series about peanut allergy and peanut farmers

• The Simpsons season 18 episode 3, Bart discovers Principal Skinner has a peanut allergy

• Squared Love - epinephrine is given by syringe

• Arthur - Binky has a nut allergy

• JLo has an allergic reaction peanuts in Monster In Law

• Milo Ventimiglia interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (acting out his tongue swelling up)

• Peter Rabbit blackberry allergy

• Hitch anaphylaxis scene

• That’s So Raven mushroom allergy

The scene starts at 2:46

• George Lopez on food allergies and peanuts in Mexico

• Ricky Gervais on food allergies on airplanes

• Louis CK on nut allergies

• Grown-ish character Aaron has a peanut allergy

• Emily in paris allergic to aubergine

• Cobra Kai - asthma peanut allergies are not tolerated

• Friends - Ross is allergic to kiwi

• The Boys - Black Noir (character) and the actor who plays him in real life both have a tree nut allergy

You can read an interview with the actor on how he felt about exposing his real food allergy on Cinema Blend.

• Horrible Bosses improper use of an Epi Pen

• Daniel Tiger - Daniel is allergic to peanuts