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Eating out with a food allergy abroad, without the anxiety

By Cody 2 min read

If you travel with a serious food allergy, you know the specific knot in your stomach that has nothing to do with hunger. It shows up at the door of every restaurant that looks wonderful, and it asks the same question: can I be completely sure they understood me?

That knot is reasonable. “A little” of the wrong thing is a real problem, and “I think they got it” isn’t good enough when the stakes are an emergency room in a country where you don’t speak the language. So let’s make being understood the easy part.

Be specific, and be repetitive

Vague gets lost in translation. Precise survives it.

  • Name the exact allergen, not a category. “Peanuts,” not “nuts.” “Shellfish,” not “seafood,” if that’s what you mean.
  • State the severity plainly: “I will get very sick,” or “this is a serious allergy.” It changes how seriously the kitchen takes it.
  • Ask about the things people forget: cooking oil, sauces, garnishes, shared fryers, the broth.

Repetition isn’t rude here. It’s responsible.

Watch for the hidden sources

Some of the riskiest ingredients are the ones nobody mentions because, to a local kitchen, they’re invisible, they’re just how the dish is made.

  • Peanuts hide in oils, sauces, and as a finishing garnish across much of Southeast Asia.
  • Shellfish shows up as fish sauce and shrimp paste in countless dishes that don’t look seafood-y at all.
  • Gluten travels in soy sauce, thickeners, and batter.
  • Dairy appears in places butter and cream like to hide, sauces, breads, even some “plain” rice.

Knowing the usual hiding spots lets you ask the right question instead of a general one.

Confirm what was actually understood

This is the step most advice skips, and it’s the one that matters most. Saying the words is not the same as being understood. With something this important, you want the loop closed: you said it, and you confirmed it came through correctly before the food is anywhere near you.

When you communicate an allergy through RoamSpeak, it treats those turns as high-stakes. For the moments that carry real weight (an allergen, a “very serious,” a specific dish) it shows you what it heard before it speaks, so a single misheard word can’t slip through. You get to see “peanuts” and “serious allergy” confirmed, out loud, in the other language, before it matters.

That’s the difference between hoping you were understood and knowing it.

A simple pre-meal routine

  1. State the allergen and severity clearly, the moment you sit down.
  2. Ask specifically about oils, sauces, and garnishes.
  3. Confirm the key words came through correctly, don’t assume.
  4. If anything feels uncertain, choose a simpler dish or a different place. There’s always another restaurant.

A serious allergy is a reason to be careful. It was never a reason to eat every meal at the hotel. With the right preparation (and certainty that you were understood) the whole table opens back up.

RoamSpeak confirms the details that matter before it speaks them. It’s on the App Store.

Part of the series The conversations you cannot get wrong

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