A
visitor to the kitchen asked about how to negotiate a peanut allergy and still
enjoy Vietnamese food. Below is a transcript of our 8/27/03 email exchange:
Question:
Hi!
I
am a Swedish guy who found your site on the internet. A friend and I are going
to Vietnam early next year. He is very (deadly) allergic to peanuts.
We
are hoping that you can help us translate some words such as peanut or peanut
oil to Vietnamese, in order for him to try to avoid it there. We are also wondering
if you know the names of any common Vietnamese dishes with peanuts or peanut oil
that he should avoid.
Grateful
for any help! Thanks!
My
response:
Yikes
on the allergy to peanuts! To help you on your trip, I put together the attached
.pdf document. It contains various ways to say "peanut" and "I
don't eat peanuts", etc. My phonetics are based upon English pronunciation
and so I apologize for that. But your English seems quite good so you shouldn't
have a problem with it.
As
for what to avoid eating... I recommend avoiding Viet salads ("goi"
or "nom"). They are so good but often contain peanuts. For the peanut
oil frying, you're going to have to handle it on your own. The attachment tells
you how to say it in Vietnamese, and you'll have to point to the oil and ask.
I'm not clear on the extent of peanut oil use in Vietnam.
