Allergies are mostly a North American and European thing aren't they? I had never heard of allergies until I came to the US from my slice of third world hell.
That's not necessarily true. Kids might be dying of food allergies frequently in poorer countries but it's simply not reported or the local hospitals (assuming they're taken to a hospital) might be unable to diagnose the cause of death.
That's what I wonder every now and then, too. Like a couple of comments noted here, I have never heard of peanut allergies in my country (Myanmar) until I came to the US. Myanmar people eat a lot of peanut-based snacks (including the famous national salad called "Lahpet", which has peanut. It could entirely be due to genetics (i.e. south east asians are genetically immune to peanut allergies?), but I really would like to know the answer one day.
There is a hypothesis[1] that it's a developed, hygienic world thing.
I wouldn't call the place I came from is a third world , but same here. I have never heard of "peanut allergies" until I came to US.
I still wonder if we don't over process some foods to where the end result is not quite the food it should be thereby increasing sensitivity. Top that with parents who think they know more than they actually do. I always laughed at friends who could not come over to my house because I had dogs because their kids or even unborn baby might get something.
I'm 25 and grew up in rural England, played in the mud, grew up around animals and my parents cooked from fresh every day; yet I have a severe nut allergy and suffered in the past from asthma and hay fever. I'm the only one in both my immediate and extended family to have ever suffer from any of the above.
I don't think processed food was the cause of my problems, just random genetic flaws.