Living with a severe nut allergy in Hua Hin

[craigdiver]

We are visiting Hua Hin for a few weeks in December. My wife has a severe nut allergy and carries emergency epi-pens. Has anyone got any experience of eating out safely with a nut allergy or knows if restaurants can generally cater for nut allergy sufferers?

Any advice much appreciated?

Craig

[PeteC]

We have a friend (not local Hua Hin) whose son has a severe nut allergy. The mother is Thai so there is no language problem when ordering and insisting nothing at all with nuts in it is used to prepare the dish or in the dish. They've been successful. There are Thais with nut allergies so the condition is known here.

If your wife isn't Thai I would strongly recommend you ask your hotel front desk to write up a card in the Thai language that you can carry with you to show the restaurants when you order. Or, before you leave your home country write up something short and to the point and use Google Translate to convert to Thai, then print, cut out, and laminate. One of those methods should assure there is no confusion. Pete

[dtaai-maai]

Good advice from Pete. In case you're not familiar with Google Translate, one (or both) of these should fit the bill:
I have a nut allergy ฉันมีอาการแพ้ถั่ว
I am allergic to nuts ฉันแพ้ถั่ว

I'm sure someone better versed in the Thai language than I am will tell you if there's something better.

[Big Boy]

Thankfully, I don't have a nut allergy, but I'm not a great lover of nuts.

Last week Mrs BB ordered a birthday cake, and specifically requested, "No nuts." Thailand being Thailand, when she collected the cake, there were loads of nuts used as part of the decoration. Mrs BB protested, but was told, "I don't make the cakes "

Be careful, Thais often think they know best.

[PeteC]

Do coconuts count as a true nut in terms of a nut allergy?

If so that is going to be a tough one to overcome seeing the amount of Thai dishes prepared with it. Pete

[deepee]

Maybe also check that no peanut oil used in cooking the food you order. It's not in common use as it's a bit more expensive
than the good old cheap and nasty palm oil . I do recall seeing some of those big square 20 litre cans of peanut oil next to a favourite fried banana stall.

[Big Boy]

Do coconuts count as a true nut in terms of a nut allergy?

Again, not an allergy as such, but my body instantly rejects coconut (small amounts may take a little longer). We always check the ingredients of food, but again Thais know best. They assume because there's only a small amount in their food, I won't notice. Believe me, I don't always notice, but my body does.

TIT - a sale is a sale.

People ask why I eat so much Western food - coconut is the prime reason.

[Nereus]

We are visiting Hua Hin for a few weeks in December. My wife has a severe nut allergy and carries emergency epi-pens. Has anyone got any experience of eating out safely with a nut allergy or knows if restaurants can generally cater for nut allergy sufferers?
Any advice much appreciated? Craig

My advice would be to keep away from both street vendors and small Thai centric restaurants. If you are staying in a hotel you MAY be able to make them understand the problem, but anywhere else they will nod their head, smile and say yes, yes, no problem, then go right ahead and cook whatever it is the same way they always do.

[hhinner]

Good advice from Pete. In case you're not familiar with Google Translate, one (or both) of these should fit the bill:
I have a nut allergy ฉันมีอาการแพ้ถั่ว
I am allergic to nuts ฉันแพ้ถั่ว

I'm sure someone better versed in the Thai language than I am will tell you if there's something better.

I wouldn't necessarily rely on these translations. The Thai word ถั่ว (tua) would generally be understood to mean legumes such as beans, runner beans, peas, peanuts etc. Other things we refer to as nuts in English such as cashew nuts, almonds, etc. would not necessarily be understood to be included when saying "tua". So in Thailand, at least, it may be necessary to specify just which nuts need to be avoided. Although tedious, a comprehensive list may be safest.

Is it possible that an allergy support group in UK has a card or phone app for use by tourists?

[PeteC]

Some resources here to explore:

http://killerpeanut.com

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g ... iland.html

[nil]

With the vagueness of the Thai language i'd print out a sign with pictures of nuts with a banned sign on them or something.

And the Thai word for allergic is แพ้ which is pronounced similar to "pair or pear" with the pitch rising as you say the "air" part.

[PeteC]

e4187bd0c62adc985cd05d584b93b3fe.png (17.47 KiB) Viewed 294 times

[PeteC]

Below is the Google search result showing "no nut" images that can be printed up and carried with you. The above image came from this link.


https://www.google.co.th/search?q=no+nu ... 618#imgrc=_

[craigdiver]

wow! thank you all for your kind advice. We had looked at at getting a laminated card made saying something along the lines of (in Thai). “I have nut allergy, if I eat nuts I WILL DIE”. Hopefully this would be understood but I agree with replacing nuts with an actual list of nuts, peanuts etc.

[hhinner]

e4187bd0c62adc985cd05d584b93b3fe.png

None of these would be classed as ถั่ว/tua in Thai. So definitely best to be specific.