Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tooseoulful]

Hi everyone!

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with food allergies (specifically shellfish and really seafood in general) in Korea. I'll be living in Daegu, if that matters. I've done a number of searches, and haven't come across anything on this topic.

I know the Korean diet is quite seafood-based, and I'm learning words in Hangeul for fishy foods so I can avoid them. Since I'll be eating lunch with other teachers at my school, I want to make sure that I don't offend anyone, while keeping my own safety in mind. When I worked in Argentina, people didn't always understand my allergy to seafood...they thought it meant I didn't like their cooking or that I was just a picky American, which occasionally caused some awkward situations, despite my fluency in Spanish.

Any recommendations on how to field situations where I have to explain the allergy? Or what specifically to mention? (Ex. Some countries don't consider shrimp to be seafood...does Korea have any quirks like that?) I do have Epipens but it'd be great if I didn't have to use them during my time in Korea.

Thanks, all!

Note: The severity of my allergy is such that cross-contamination in restaurants could be a problem, but that I only have noticeable reactions if I ingest seafood or am in an area with a super strong smell for long periods of time. I definitely won't pass out if I walk past a fish market, but won't be hanging around, either!

[rayne]

I heard that Korean dishes tend to "hide" some meat/seafood. For example, if you order something without seafood, the soup or something may be made from a seafood base.

Your allergy seems quite severe so you might have to go to extremes such as researching the ingredients of Korean dishes and maybe writing down which ones you can eat and avoid everything else just in case. Most (if not all) restaurants probably wouldn't bother making substitutions/changes.

I remember reading somewhere (maybe on this forum) about a guy who had a peanut allergy and suddenly started getting a reaction after he came home from dinner. He figured that something he ate was cooked with peanut oil. So you have to be really careful in case things like that may happen.

[Underwaterbob]

You will face a lot of the same misunderstandings you did in Argentina. For whatever reason, severe food allergies aren't common here. As a result, people will think you are just being picky, or stubborn. There will be awkward situations.

Do not take Koreans' words for what ingredients are in their dishes. When questioned, if they don't know the ingredients, they may just say there is no seafood when in fact the dish is half squid. It's part of Confucianism that "I don't know" simply does not exist in many of their vocabularies. Couple that with lack of awareness about food allergies and you really have to watch out for yourself.

To give you an idea of what it's like: As many vegetarians have discovered when trying to order kimbap: ham is often not considered to be meat.

Seafood is extremely common here. Even kimchi contains some seafood ingredients. Kimchi is served with approximately every meal and is a common ingredient in many others. You will have to be very choosy about what you eat. You will grow sick of eating nothing but sticky rice for lunch at school (and even then you'll have to keep an eye out for the occasional anchovy.)

Do your research and most of your own cooking and you'll be OK. You may end up being a bit of a social outcast, (eating together is a very big part of Korean culture) but hey, you'll fit in well with most of the foreigners here.

[northway]

[cronolegs]

Not sure I have an allergy, but if I smell seafood I feel like throwing up.
I wont touch the stuff and will avoid it at all costs.
So walking into the lunch room everyday for me is a challenge...

Basically if you actually have a problem with seafood (like people do with peanuts) then don't come. Seafood appears to pop up in everything. Its impossible to completely avoid. Even dishes with "no seafood" I can taste/smell the fishy smell so easily that I have to stop eating.

If your like me and you strongly strongly hate it then you can probably just about cope. Put simply there is no way to avoid it. Smell the food, try it.... recover from your throw up urges and chuck it in the bin.
Half the time the Koreans have no idea if it contains seafood or not. Learning the words wont help much.

For me my co-workers picked up on my hatred towards seafood quite quickly. This coupled with me saying, no seafood, no fish, no squid NOTHING that comes from the sea a few times over at every lunch.
Saying "no seafood" isn't enough. For some reason random food from the sea sometimes isn't classified as seafood.

I can only speak for my school. They find me strange but not offensive. They offered for me to bring my own lunches into school a few times which I rejected. Said I was happy eating rice (which I am) on those disastrous seafood days where every dish has an element of the sea in it.

Be prepared to throw your diet down the drain. I've been here six months and I've never eaten so unhealthily. Seafood is everywhere and meat tends to be expensive/bland tasting. You will find yourself eating lots and lots of rice

[Mr. BlackCat]

I have a pretty bad seafood allergy and manage to survive here fine. As others have said, you can let your Korean co-workers and friends know but DO NOT TRUST THEM when it comes to food. Yes, many of them simply don't know what's in the food (which is a bit odd considering they eat the exact same things their whole life), but I've also been in situations where they intentionally lie to me to 'prove' that I don't really have an allergy. Koreans don't like any deviation, anyone who stands out, and your allergy is seen as a selfish choice to many of them. I've been scolded at school dinners for not eating along with everyone else even though everything on the plate would result in an emergency visit to the hospital. I have never once complained or demanded an alternative, and frequently even being in these places will cause me to start choking and break out in hives.

But, really, even after having said all that, it's not the end of the world. Avoid ALL soups, no matter what. Smell unfamiliar side dishes before digging in. Many places use fish oils and such on their kimchi, it depends what kind and how much for myself but it would depend on you. For myself, the 'crab' they use here in kimbap is fine but I have to be careful with other dishes. If you go on a trip to the coast, any coast, understand that you will likely be eating ramyeon all weekend, unless you can find a Lotteria or something. Korean towns tend to specialize in one thing and that's it, so on the coast it's seafood restaurant after seafood restaurant, although if you're lucky you'll find some fried chicken. If your school provides lunch you may want to consider opting out of it because there will be loads of seafood based dishes. At my current school I still do it, but usually once or twice a week I have to run out for something else due to the seafood on offer.

Don't listen to people who tell you not to come. Just be careful and slowly learn what you can and can't have. Don't give in to pressure from co-workers but don't make a big deal out of it either. I've learned that if you just tell your co-teachers that you 'love' a certain type of meat they will understand better, and recommend dishes with it. But it's really not a big deal.

[fermentation]

[yodanole]

In all fairness, you would have to climb the cladogram quite high to find any relationship between Korean "ham" and 'SOUTHERN HAM".

[soomin]

My friend has an extreme allergy to shellfish and it can be difficult here. Always keep some emergency medicine with you... the year my friend was here, I think she had to use it at least twice.

해물 (hae-mool), 해산물 (hae-sahn-mool), and 조개 (jo-kae) are all words to keep an eye out for. As mentioned above, absolutely no soups or broths.

If you are very allergic, steer clear of kimchi as well, as it is often made with shrimp or shrimp sauce (though it is not too much, and most people are fine, better safe than sorry. You can always try some in small portions and go by that)

Be careful about eating out and try to go to grilled meat restaurants. You can see the slices of meat and you can avoid any side dishes you are unsure about. There are tons of meats to try and I don't think there will be any problem going to some place like that for team meetings and such.

Make sure to inform your boss and coworkers about what you can and can't eat so they can help you when you get your school lunch.

Lay out in VERY SPECIFIC terms that you are allergic. Even if you have to exaggerate, make sure they know you'll be going to the hospital if you ingest anything bad. A lot of restaurants will tell you "Oh, but it won't taste good without x ingredient," so make sure you put your foot down.

You'll be in Daegu, (yay!), so there will be lots of restaurants to choose from~ There are also several Loving Hut restaurants (vegan) here where you can get delicious foods that you can be sure have no seafood or shellfish in them~ There are also Western restaurants with English menus that are super easy, as well.

Since cross-contamination is an issue, I wouldn't recommend eating pizza here because most chains have seafood/ shrimp pizzas. Kimbap should be okay since they wear gloves and make them only in the front of the store and there are no seafood items (fake crab is made from fish, not shellfish).

Good luck!

[Zyzyfer]

I'm a little late to the party.

I don't have an allergy, but whenever I mention that I can't eat seafood, people ask if I do. Since I don't, and it's more the smell of seafood makes me gag, my experience is different from those with actual allergies, and so Mr. BlackCat probably has the most relevant advice for you. Nobody ever tries to trick me into eating seafood, but then again, I clearly explain what I am and am not capable of eating.

Having to worry about cross contamination would concern me a bit. Because there really is seafood in damn near everything. I want to ask, if a soup broth is made from boiling and then removing anchovies (bean sprout soups here), or if an oyster sauce is used in the cooking process, would it cause your allergies to kick in? I ask because, although I don't have allergies, I am very sensitive to the smell and taste of seafood, I pick up on it in some unexpected things. Some, like the bean sprout soup, I've overcome, but I regularly pass on the kimchi and other side dishes because I notice a fishy taste.

Not to make light of those of you with allergies, but it sucks for me, because I'm perfectly capable of eating seafood, and love the smell of the ocean, but the slightest whiff of anything from the sea and I'm about to spew.

[sml7285]

Be proactive. Get one of those metal medical bands made with an engraving of your medical allergies in Korean. Carry around anti-allergy medication. Tell everyone you are in close contact with about your allergy.

There are going to be two types of situations: situations where you'll be able to communicate directly to others about your allergy and situations where you won't be able to. Be prepared for both.

[Greekfreak]

Deep-six the medic alert bracelet idea unless you already have one. Koreans don't notice when people are burning alive, let alone some piece of metal that says you have an allergy, so it's about as useful as *beep* on a bull over here.

My wife is deathly allergic to shellfish and most seafood outside of cod, and sometimes a whiff of something is enough to get her hacking and phlegmed up, and her sniffers are pretty good at detecting what's got seafood in it (or fish oil, etc.).

By and large, you'll be okay, just exercise basic caution and FYI Korean hospitals DO NOT GIVE EPI PENS TO FOREIGNERS. The reason why was explained to me by one of the geniuses at a major hospital in Busan:

"No need, we will get you to the hospital in time". Thanks, Dr. Mengele. Bring a couple pens if you can.

Allergies are not that big in Korea, and so most Koreans are pretty ignorant to the symptoms.

[tooseoulful]

Thanks so much for the informative responses, everyone! I'll be sure to take extra care to carry my epipens with me. Sml7285, I've actually been looking for weeks for an allergy bracelet printed in Hangeul, and have contacted several companies -- all say that they can only print Roman characters.

Zyzyfer, I can (surprisingly) usually handle oils...Thai food cooked with shrimp sauce, for example, has never bothered me. But I definitely couldn't do an oyster soup or anything like that.

Mr. BlackCat, I'll take your advice and be sure not to take Koreans' word about no seafood at face value.

Soomin, it's good to know that there are vegan places in Daegu! I'm going to be looking up non-Korean restaurants in Daegu this week to see what my choices are. I actually really enjoy Korean food (I have a lot of Korean friends), but just wish they used something besides seafood as a base.

Again, thanks all!