& Delimiter within other Functions

When using any environments that use a & as the delimiter (align, tabular, array etc. ), it is not possible to delimit from within another function, eg.

begin{align}
   boxed{this & that} 
   boxed{& and this aswell}
end{align}

Some commands, like text allows you to break such that it isn’t an issue, but if I wanted to have a boxed{} environment stretching over these delimiters, the environment ceases to register them.

Is there a way to correctly delimit within a command (in a simple manner)? Or is it best to find a different way to display the data?