Children's Museum Under Fire For "Misguided" PB&J Restaurant

Peanut allergies affect one to two percent of children in the United States—and, as parents know, the allergy can be severe. That's why families are up in arms after the Boston Children's Museum welcomed an adjoining restaurant called the PB&J Cafe, which serves a "family-friendly" menu that includes a few twists on the classic sammie.

The museum announced the opening of the adjacent PB&J Cafe via Facebook on November 27. The restaurant's menu does offer some non-PB&J foods, and according to Yahoo, the café is not inside the museum (it's accessible through a separate museum entrance). Still, many parents said the opening was "unsafe" and "misguided," potentially endangering those children with deadly peanut allergies who could inadvertently come into contact with the legume, whether via hands-on displays or through other museum visitors. "We are huge fans of the museum and were members for years but having a child with a life threatening peanut allergy means we can't navigate the museum safely anymore," wrote one follower. The museum later released a statement on Facebook:

"We weren't expecting this type of reaction, in part because the café is not inside the museum, and also because the cafe isn't really all about peanut butter," a Stonewall Kitchen spokesperson told Yahoo Life. "We just thought that 'PB&J Cafe' was a cute name, not realizing that some would think that that's the only item, or even the primary item on the menu. We were certainly not intending to be insensitive to those with allergies."