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How common is shellfish in Ramen broth/soup? 2014/11/1 15:06
Hi All,

I'm travelling to Japan soon with a relative who has an allergy to shellfish. We've printed off the allergy card to present at restaurants, so know about them but I'm also sorting out the easiest types of food to have to avoid shellfish as much as possible (I'm a request traveller to Japan, so we'll focus on tonkatsu, yakitori etc).

The one food I'm not sure about is Ramen. Can anyone tell me how common it is that the broth/soup contains shellfish/shrimp/ebi etc? I know it can often be seafood based but from what I can find that is typically more fish related than shellfish/shrimp.

Thanks in advance.
by WB21 (guest)  

Re: How common is shellfish in Ramen broth/soup? 2014/11/2 11:47
This may be 'impossible' to answer accurately as many 'Ramen' chefs create their own 'secret ingredients' soup bases, in fact they can be very competitive and closely garded secrets. You may infect order a 'beef or chicken' flavour Ramen but the base 'may' have traces of shell fish. To be absolutely sure, show your Japanese Language page to the staff showing that you cannot eat any food with shrimp or shell fish and that they have understood. If you are in doubt...do not try!. There are plenty of delicious vegetarian and other foods to enjoy in Japan that will be obvious to you that no shell fish in includes. 'Just a suggestion'.
by Barrieaw rate this post as useful

Re: How common is shellfish in Ramen broth/soup? 2014/11/2 13:26
If your relative is severely allergic, then I would definitely not rely on a printed allergy card - there's simply not the same level of awareness of food allergies that you might be used to. A waiter isn't going to bring your card into the kitchen and quiz the chef on ingredients during a busy service - they'll nod and smile and pretend that they understand. So bring your epipen, or stick to food that you understand.

Shellfish is a very common in ramen broth, so you might want to just avoid ramen altogether. Showing a printed card isn't going to do you much good outside of major international hotel restaurants.
by Umami Dearest rate this post as useful

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