I am planning to go travelling to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam for three months. I am allergic to sesame seeds and all nuts, as well as being a vegetarian (no fish either)!

I was planning on buying food to eat from supermarkets (or such like) whilst out there, as I assume there will not be much luck when eating out in restaurants. Do you know if they have suitable foods available in any supermarkets? Or if this is even a good plan at all?

Thank you!

Hello Javi,

I’m also traveling to Thailand & Burma, and also allergic to SOY.
Can you tell me how your travel did go, and what to avoid & ask?

Greetings from Belgium

Watch out for tofu and soy sauce! Learn the names for Thai dishes that you can eat, as you discover them, so you can ask for them by name. The street stalls are amazing in Thailand, but they usually don’t have menus and it is hard to point at what you want, they have so much hidden away in their stalls. Ask friendly locals who speak English for help (but watch out for con-artists! Unfortunately many apparently friendly and English-speaking Thais are con artists in tourist areas.)

Shrimp is fairly common in Thailand. The definition of ‘unlikely’ is probably more cultural than anything, so the answer to that question is probably ‘yes’. On the other hand, don’t expect it to be in everything.

Cooking styles seem to vary around the country, although when I was last there, there was plenty of sea food well inland.

Allergy guy,

We were cooking ourselves! It was the food labeling that cause the problems for us. In Thailand they seem to only have to state the MAIN ingredients so if there is only a trace amount of an ingredient the local brands don’t mention it on the labeling.