I’m unfortunately allergic to shrimp (no anaphylaxis but still have a pretty uncomfortable reaction; not allergic to any other seafood), and I’m totally unsure about navigating eating out. For things like ramen and other soups I think I’m just going to go to chains that I can find ingredients listed online for, but are there other foods that potentially contain shrimp (ie possibly anything with dashi?) that I should avoid?
Anyone with shrimp allergies have restaurant recommendations (tokyo area) you know are safe?
4 comments
In the simplest form: Sorry, I have a shrimp allergy. Does this have shrimp in it?
Sumimasen, ebi arerugī ga arimasu. Kore wa (point to the menu item) ebi ga haitte imasu ka?
And then err on the side of caution based on their reaction.
海老 エビ えび are written variants of shrimp. Anything with シーフード seafood will almost certainly also contain some.
Dashi isn’t always comprised of shrimp, if you’re in Tokyo, you can usually ask the restaurant if it has shrimp or shellfish because you have an allergy. It’s becoming common enough that it’s not an wholly unusual question.
Same issue here but I just make sure to ask. I also carry Benadryl with me incase of mistake
I have the same and it’s anaphylaxis level..
My advice is, depending on how bad your reaction is, you might want to just avoid if you are unsure.
The problem in Japan is, being different from western food, there are a lot of hidden dangers….A lot of soups, sauces and such. And most employees while they might be able to look at the main ingredients and check if there is shrimp or not, for the sauce its a bit trickier.
Basically most chains like Matsuya, Yoshinoya and even some konbinis will have some details about the ingredients. Might have to look up their website in advance though.