I thought the questions were interesting as well.
CM, I might guess that it's because she's an adolescent...my allergy set makes most things pretty difficult, but most of the time at family events and such, it doesn't bother me that much. Why? Because I just don't care anymore. It bothers everyone else way more when I don't eat than it bothers me. Sometimes it annoys me that in some circles EVERY event is food centered, or that people insist on having something with apples - because if you're preparing something with apples, I'm not eating anything and am going to be wary of anyone touching me...but other than that, I just do not care. I'm mostly adult-onset, but I don't think that I would have felt that way as an adolescent had I had food allergies then to the extent that I do now.