UNE students raise awareness in first allergen-free cooking class

University of New England junior Chantal Cyr (Nutrition, ’26) has navigated celiac disease and several severe food allergies since she was a child. She toted coolers of allergen-safe food with her throughout high school and read food packaging carefully since she learned to read. 

So, Cyr was proud to be the one charged with kicking off UNE’s first allergen-free cooking class on Oct. 22 when she offered a 10-minute, Ted-Talk-style culinary presentation on how to approach allergen-safe cooking in UNE’s Teaching Kitchen on the University’s Biddeford Campus.  

Cyr transferred to UNE her second year, in part, because of the University’s nationally ranked dining halls that prioritize a safe, communal dining environment for students with severe allergies in order to provide a more inclusive dining experience for all. 

When Angelina Jacobellis (Nutrition, ’26) shared with the cooking class that her list of severe food allergies was too long to recite, Cyr’s response was instantaneous. 

“We’ve got you. We can relate to you,” Cyr said. “What’s nice about everyone learning to cook and bake allergen-free foods, is that so many people today are gluten-free or dairy-free, so you can cater to everyone if you’re going to bring something to a family dinner.”  

The class was the brainchild of Emme Perry (Cellular and Molecular Biology, ’27), who founded UNE’s College Advocates for Food Allergy Education club (CAFAE) last summer and, soon after, was joined by Cyr, who is now the club’s vice president.  

Last week’s allergen-free cooking class was their first event in a monthly series that will continue into the spring, featuring recipes free of the top nine food allergens (which account for most food allergies): eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, sesame, shellfish, soy, tree nuts, and wheat. The two students teach the class with support from the club’s advisor, UNE Director of Catering Kayla Maniery. 

Last year, Perry, who has six severe food allergies, helped UNE achieve the national Silver Status administered by the Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) nonprofit, making UNE the only college or university in Maine and one of only a handful in New England to achieve the food safety standard.   

Even before Maniery sought the prestigious food-safety status, UNE already had a separate kitchen and serving area, known as “Inspired Eats,” that are free of the top nine food allergens. 

The eight students who registered for the first class, which was purposely kept small, learned to make chocolate chip cookies free of the top seven common food allergens. But, in the future, Perry said, the allergen-free cooking class will venture into elaborate dishes, and possibly whole meals.  

With oversight and encouragement from Maniery, and a few key cooking tips from Emily Estell, M.P.H., RDN, LD, the UNE Teaching Kitchen coordinator, the eight students worked in three teams on different recipes, each using either applesauce, a plant-based egg replacement, or flax seed as the binding agent.   

Estell, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Health Promotion Studies, noted that two of the students were nutrition majors and two others were studying nutrition as a minor, while three had food allergies — so the class provided a notable intersection of different life experiences for a group learning about food allergies together.  

As Maniery observed the club’s first cooking lesson in her capacity as club advisor, she let Cyr and Perry take the lead — until it came to taste- testing the three different allergen-free cookie recipes. Then Maniery jumped in. And, as she held up all three samples, she weighed in. 

“You could put these out at the Ripich Commons, and no one would know they are allergen-free cookies,” she said.