Multiple allergies + going on holiday = headache

[fretaway]

21 month old dd just got allergy tested today to see if there was any change from last year but nope, still allergic to dairy, egg, nuts (cashew not peanut) and fish.

We are going on holiday next year to Australia with stop offs in Singapore and Tokyo. I've already planned to bring our own food on the flights but the problem I think is going out to eat while abroad, especially in the far east where a lot of things are nut based. Anyone had any experiences out there or just general advice? I really want us to eat together as a family as dd loves her food, it would be such a shame if she ended up with a bland meal in a box every time we went out.

I've never been to Singapore but I think they use a lot of fish based ingredients (fish sauce, oyster sauce, dried shrimp)in their cooking. I think you need to be quite careful.
I think rice noodles and rice is fairly common.
How long are you stopping over? CAn you stay somewhere with a kitchen and prepare some quick food yourself to take out for dd?

2 nights in each, I think fish and nuts are going to be a problem as they can sneak in. I have a feeling that we'll either have to find a supermarket to get some safe food or ordering from a hotel where we can specify exactly what we need.

Hello,

I have nut and fish allergies and I'm currently living in Japan. You might find this website useful

www.selectwisely.com/selectwisely/content_pages/traveling_with_food_allergies.htm

You can get cards printed in different language explaining what you are allergic to and the severity of the allergy.

Japanese food is not nut-based so that shouldn't be a problem. If you have any more detailed questions about Japanese food please ask me!

In Singapore you can eat western food very, very, very easily, though I realise you might not want to.

It might not be the nightmare you think, finding out what goes into the meals. In Singapore I think there is quite a high allergy awareness.

I should also say, you will find places to eat where you can eat Asian and your dd eats something safer and more familiar.

We went on holiday to Australia this year and lots of the food in supermarkets said "may contain nuts". The nuts were unspecified. We were only 3 hours in Singapore and chose not to eat there as nuts are common in their cuisine. Someone brought a pound bag of peanuts onto the next flight -luckily they spoke English and agreed not to eat them when I explained it could affect one of my children.

In Tokyo we had a friend who spoke Japanese, luckily. We found few restaurants where staff spoke English. Food in supermarkets was labelled only in Japanese, not English and in such small print that you'd need a magnifying glass to check the ingredients. I recommend the Wendys burger bars and eating in your hotel!

If you haven't yet booked flights we found BA much more helpful than Qantas.

Sorry to be so negative. We did survive and we did manage to eat but it was probably the most difficult holiday we've had.

Bakecakes thanks for the link, I was thinking of having to get translation cards. dh and I love our Japanese food, especially sushi;I think Miso soup is not safe as it has kombu which is fish based, is that right?
Is interesting to hear about everybody's different experiences. We have already booked our flights, most with Qantas except tokyo to Heathrow with BA. They did ask about how allergic dd was to nuts when I booked. Just have to be extra careful.

Kombu is a type of seaweed so it should be alright. You would need to be careful though of dashi which is the basic stock used for various meals. There are different types of dashi, one of which is fish-based. I'm able to havefood cooked with fish-based dashi as I can eat fish which has been processed.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashi]

Katuobushi is dried, shaved fish.

Basic misoshiru should be fine although of course you should ask if any other things have been put in it.

We had translation cards but in Tokyo although staff like to appear helpful they don't take allergies seriously. Also there is still a lot of dislike for foreigners. Make sure they take allergy cards to the kitchen to check with the chef.

One thing you could consider is that many Japanese people wish to improve their English and will act as guides for free. You might be able to get a guide who would accompany you to a restaurant. Obviously it would be polite to pay for their meal.

We found this website good www.tokyowithkids.com/

The translations on this website are free, although not perhaps the most helpful around
www.killerpeanut.com/