Food allergies in Japan

Hi all,

In April I will visit Japan, which I am really looking forward to.
However, I have a quite severe food allergy foor (all types of) nuts, peanuts and sesame. This is always difficult in a place where you don't speak the language. So I was wondering If you could help me with the following:
- I want to make a card which I can hand over to (e.g.) waitors that says something like " I have a food allergy for nuts, peanuts and sesame " In order to politely ask them if I could eat the food they are selling.
- Also, are there in general some meals that I should be avoiding, and what Japanese culinairy stuff should I be less worried about?

Thanks you in advance, much appreciated.

J.

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I want to make a card which I can hand over to (e.g.) waitors that says something like " I have a food allergy for nuts, peanuts and sesame " In order to politely ask them if I could eat the food they are selling.

Great idea. And don't rely on anonymous internet posters like me. Be sure your card is proofread by real-life people such as doctors, flight attendants or concierges. And be sure the cards have pictures of the allergens on them so that nothing would be lost in translation.

For example, the other poster posted a translation, but it's only about nuts, peanuts and sesame, and it doesn't mention anything about extract such as soup or cooking material.

Also, are there in general some meals that I should be avoiding, and what Japanese culinairy stuff should I be less worried about?

When OPs say "Japanese culinary stuff", posters tend to think about authentic traditional Japanese food, but you hardly get that in real life. Most restaurants serve dishes from all over the world, and even authentic Japanese restaurants invent new dishes using international ingredients.

That said, a lot of traditional Japanese food do not use nut extract, so with precaution, you can try a lot of things unique to Japan. But do keep in mind that many Japanese dishes, including tempura, use sesame oil. Also, grinded sesame or nuts are often hidden even in traditional dishes like goma-doufu and yubeshi.

When my family used to have severe food allergy, we spent our money for hotels and restaurants we can truly trust on, and made reservations through people who we directly spoke to and learned that we could trust. I encourage you to do the same.

Just for reference, here is a Google search result under the key phrase "allergy card".

https://www.google.co.jp/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=&oq=allergy+card...

Direct link to the allergy card:

http://www.justhungry.com/japan-dining-out-cards

Japanese foods in supermarkets and konbinis all have basic allergy information on the packaging (in Japanese), so if you know what to look for, you'll be able to see if it is there or not.

In all honesty, if you have a severe allergy, I'd suggest self-catering, and only visiting an eaterie that had featured on a nut allergy forum or website as being run by people who understood the issues inside out. Food allergies and restrictive diets are not well understood in Japan, and you are buying a lottery ticket if you have a severe allergy. If Japanese people don't really understand what you are saying, they may well smile and nod - it is part of the culture of politeness. It doesn't mean 'I understand what you are saying and our chef never uses any nut-based products in his sauces'.

Even using the cards I linked to is not a guarantee. There simply isn't the awareness of allergy issues in food products here.

The cards might be useful to show to the doctor in the hospital's Emergency Room. They're worse than useless in actual restaurants though, unless you're at a restaurant in an international hotel.

You know, I just noticed that the cards on the link just provided doesn't tell anything about how severe (or not) the holders' allergies are.

Actually, I don't know about others, but as a consumer I find that most licenced chefs I've met in Japan (as a Japanese) are indeed aware of food allergies. And when you tell them you have food allergy, the first thing they ask you are things like whether you can have soup stock or whether it's okay to have your food prepared on cutting boards that were used for your allergens. But those cards can't help you answer those questions, so you need to arrange something else in advance.

I also encourage the OP to look for shizen-shokuhin (natural foods, not to be confused with "kenko-shokuhin" which can be translated as health foods). Shizen-shokuhin stores such as F&F, Natural House and Kodawariya are more aware and informed about food allergy and often carry special foods for people with allergy. Same goes for shizen-shokuhin restaurants.

I think that, with enough precaution and preparation, traveling is possible, and it's great to know your possibilities.

Uco what do you think is going to happen when OP shows their magic allergy card to their waiter?

Do you think the waiter, who may very well be a part-time worker making minimum wage, who may or may not even know how to read Japanese, will run into the kitchen in the middle of a busy dinner service and quiz the cook about all the ingredients being used in the kitchen?

Do you think that the line cook, who may or may not speak fluent Japanese, will know all the ingredients in all the dishes on the menu?

Or do you think that maybe the waiter will simply nod their head when they look at the card for the sake of being polite?

I certainly wouldn't rely on an allergy card under these circumstances to protect myself if I had a severe allergy.

Umami Dearest,

Are you sure you're addressing me, on this thread? Didn't I clearly write that the cards aren't helpful? And again, I'm just posting here based on my personal experiences anyway.

Again, I'm not saying that it will be the same for everyone, but in all my visits to restaurants, the waiter or whoever was serving us always talked to the chef. Of course, mistakes happen, so we did the best to double-check, and when mistakes were made we simply ignored the food.

Also, we lived with allergy for years, so we were used to judging what we should trust and what we should not trust and what we should watch out for. For example, we didn't have to worry about cutting boards, but whenever a dish was served to our allergy-holder, we always verbally asked to make sure that there is "no (allergen)" in it.

I'm just saying that just because you're different (like how we were), that doesn't mean you are doomed. And I'm also sure that whoever is old enough to travel already knows what to watch out for in his/her home country, so what I want to do is to fill the gap between that and Japan. And I've already written the most important part about doing that, which is to not trust anonymous internet posters like me.

Here are more specific answers to your questions:

Do you think the waiter...will...quiz the cook about all the ingredients being used in the kitchen?

No, according to my experience, they just repeat what I said/wrote to the chef, and the chef comes out in the midst of their busy hours to make sure (s)he understands everything, because (s)he doesn't want to let someone die for his cooking.

Do you think that the line cook, who may or may not speak fluent Japanese, will know all the ingredients in all the dishes on the menu?

According to my experience, chain restaurants are now detailed on their ingredients. But I never really trust those so-called "family-restaurants" like Denny's and the convenience stores, so I always wonder why posters recommend those places to OPs with allergy.

Or do you think that maybe the waiter will simply nod their head when they look at the card for the sake of being polite?

That's possible. And it's impossible for me to trust that. I always make sure they speak something back. And again, I've always ended up talking to the chef or the manager, and again, I don't recommend relying on cards alone.

All I'm trying to do is to avoid using the word "give up" to people who have been giving up so many things.

For what it's worth, our family has members with shrimp allergies of various severity and one person with very serious soba allergies.

When we go out we often ask about shrimp in dishes (but not always since it's pretty easy to guess when shrimp is in a dish) and the waiters always go and find out from the chef. Sometimes there is doubt, and in that case we don't order the food.

The soba allergy is very severe, so we avoid soba/udon restaurants when going out with that person since there are few safe alternative foods that they could order at these types of restaurants. But soba has a relatively small cross-contamination risk with other dishes, so most non-soba/udon restaurants are fine.

An allergy to something as ubiquitous as nuts can be very difficult as they can be hidden and cross-contamination can be far more problematic. It has been my experience that chefs and waiters/waitresses in Japan take allergies seriously (as much as in the US for example), so I think taking the same precautions you use at home would be appropriate. Of course having familiarity with the cuisine is something that helps quite a bit, so be extra cautious if Japanese food is unfamiliar to you and avoid anything that you have doubts on.

A few further comments:

Do you think the waiter...will...quiz the cook about all the ingredients being used in the kitchen?

Yes, in my experience the waiter will inquire about your specific allergen. If there is doubt, you avoid the dish.

Do you think that the line cook, who may or may not speak fluent Japanese, will know all the ingredients in all the dishes on the menu?

No, and if there is doubt you avoid the dish.

According to my experience, chain restaurants are now detailed on their ingredients. But I never really trust those so-called "family-restaurants" like Denny's and the convenience stores, so I always wonder why posters recommend those places to OPs with allergy.

Probably because these places provide clear allergen information on their menus, in a relatively universal, easy to understand way whereas other facilities post no information at all. Whether or not you trust it is up to you, but I don't really see a reason not to.

Keep in mind, their food is much more conveyor belt construction than a regular restaurant, with probably more uniformity in the ingredients and less chance or cross contamination than a conventional restaurant. In other words, what you see on the label is probably what you get since a lot of it is pre-produced.

Or do you think that maybe the waiter will simply nod their head when they look at the card for the sake of being polite?

In my experience, restaurants in Japan take this stuff seriously. We have never experienced a "nod you head to be polite situation". Usually its a "let me check and get back to you", and then they either confirm the allergen is present, confirm its not present, or say they don't know. Preproduced translations are a good way to communicate, but always get confirmation if possible and when in doubt, avoid the food.

What yllwsmrf just wrote makes sense to me too :)

if I consider allergies as strictly as possible, I agree with Umami Dearest.
but, practically, allergy reactions of individuals have different threshold levels. no one can say the standard precautions.

Thanx for all the relpies. Even though cares might nog work.. Got to do something right.
Will use supermarkets, so they provide english ingredients information?
Thanx

so they provide english ingredients information?

Generally no, so you should probably bring an internet connected cellphone and use a translation app to help you decipher things. Google translate has a photo translator that should work pretty good for this.