Eating Thai food with allergies

Thai cooking leans on peanut, fish sauce and shrimp paste as base seasonings rather than as toppings, which makes it demanding for peanut, fish and crustacean allergies and comparatively straightforward for milk and gluten if the soy sauce question is handled.

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Thai guides by allergen

Each guide covers typical dishes, what to ask, and where the allergen hides.

  • Thai food with a peanut allergy — In a Thai kitchen peanut is both a garnish and a thickener, and the two need different answers: asking for no peanuts on top does nothing about the ground peanut in a massaman or satay sauce, so ask what is in the paste as well as what is on the plate.
  • Thai food with a crustacean allergy — Shrimp paste is a foundational Thai seasoning, present in many curry pastes, sambals and dressings where no shrimp is visible — so a crustacean allergy in a Thai restaurant is mainly a question about the paste jar, not about the protein you order.
  • Thai food with a fish allergy — Fish sauce is the salt of Thai cooking — it seasons curries, salads, stir-fries and dips, including dishes with no fish in the name — so a fish allergy in a Thai restaurant depends entirely on whether the kitchen can cook with soy or salt instead.
  • Thai food with a soy allergy — Soy is easier in Thai cooking than in Chinese or Japanese, because fish sauce carries much of the salt — but soy sauce, soybean oil and tofu are all common, so a soy allergy needs the oil question answered as well as the sauce one.
  • Thai food with coeliac disease — Thai cooking is naturally rice-based, so gluten-free Thai food is realistic — the exceptions are soy sauce and oyster sauce in stir-fries, wheat in some noodles and spring roll wrappers, and the shared fryer.

Advisory, not medical advice

MealSafe is a planning aid, not medical advice. AI-generated assessments can be incomplete or wrong, and ingredients and kitchen routines change without notice. Always confirm with the kitchen, the producer or the label before you eat, and follow the advice of your own clinician.