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Severe shellfish/seafood allergy

Severe shellfish/seafood allergy

Old Mar 3, 2014, 5:40 pm
  #1  
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Severe shellfish/seafood allergy

Hey all
Looking for advice or anyone who may have some insight.
Will be traveling overseas for the first time ever. Tokyo and Taiwan.
I am severely allergic to shellfish and seafood. Like death within 30 minutes if no epi pen or hospital. I know asian culture involves a lot of seafood in dishes and things are cooked with fish oils. Just looking for some tips on my travels to stay alive or if anyone has had any similar experiences
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Old Mar 3, 2014, 5:53 pm
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Severe shellfish/seafood allergy

Here's some other forum threads

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+71724

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1818583
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Old Mar 3, 2014, 6:29 pm
  #3  
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Awesome. Thanks!
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Old Mar 3, 2014, 7:43 pm
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Just watched David Cheng's Mind of a Chef over the weekend so this is fresh in my mind - a few of his episodes are based on Japan.

It seemed like almost all of the food contained some sort of fish product, from obvious things such as fish/sushi to less obvious things such as soups and marinades which have fish sauce, shrimp paste, etc.

So just be on the lookout - "no seafood" be a useful phrase to learn to check with the waiter before eating.

Best of luck and safe travels!
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Old Mar 3, 2014, 8:31 pm
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Severe shellfish/seafood allergy

Have massive allergies myself. For Japan, stick with Robatayaki - basically grilled meats, although do bear in mind they do marinate quite some of it, but stick with the salted grilled meat sticks. Be very careful with the rest of the food except rice and green salads which are fine.

Taiwan is a trickier proposition, as mentioned by others, Chinese cooking can involve fish stock, less so fish oil and sauce which is more SE Asia cooking. Best to be prepared there and be aware that, with most Asian cultures, they will say 'yes it should be fine' even when they are not sure - perhaps best stick with 5-star hotels and have western food offerings, this is what I unfortunately have to do a lot of.
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Old Mar 3, 2014, 11:31 pm
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Ask the hotel staff, or anyone you know that speaks the language of the area you'll be in, to write out that you cannot have any seafood or shellfish and that includes no shrimp paste, brother, fish eggs ect ect so you can show that to the staff. That way you can avoid any error in translations
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Old May 8, 2014, 10:53 am
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Originally Posted by supergriff34
Hey all
Looking for advice or anyone who may have some insight.
Will be traveling overseas for the first time ever. Tokyo and Taiwan.
I am severely allergic to shellfish and seafood. Like death within 30 minutes if no epi pen or hospital. I know asian culture involves a lot of seafood in dishes and things are cooked with fish oils. Just looking for some tips on my travels to stay alive or if anyone has had any similar experiences
Not sure if you've already finished your trip, but it would be great if you could let us all know how it went!
DWooderson is online now  

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