Peanut Allergic child moving to HK

[hk2006]

My family is moving to Hong Kong from North Carolina (USA) and my 2 year old has a severe peanut allergy (also allergic to eggs, but not so severe). I'm nervous about taking him out to eat around here, much less in a new country. Does anyone have any info on living in Hong Kong with a peanut allergy?

[jimbo]

No different from any other country to be honest.

If in doubt then always ask the waiter/waitress

[KnowItAll]

Not as easy as Jimbo makes it out to be .. most staff here in HK are not as paranoid about peanut allergies like they are in the US, simply because it tends to be less prevelant here in HK.

I'd strongly recommend bringing this up on geobaby as we have a fair number of western mums who might have encountered this problem.

[z754103]

Also be careful about eating out, as peanut oil is commonly used for cooking in HK. Awareness here is lower than in the US or UK.

[dicesix]

Indeed the awareness of food allergies in general is so low because they're not as widely spread as in other Western countries. For instance I'm the only one in my office who's allergic to some kind of food. In Germany every third colleague was allergic to something.

I fear hk2006 you will have to refrain from eating out much with your child. At least don't go to local restaurants because, as already pointed out by z754103, they use peanut oil.

There are definately reliable restaurant out there who can prepare meals without traces of peanuts. But it's still safer if you cook the food by yourself.

[deleteduser]

HK would be a VERY dangerous place for your child, IMO. As people have said, it doesn't seem to be as big a problem here, and peanut oil is used a LOT in cooking.

If the allergy is severe, you may want to never eat out, at least until you find some places that can assure you 100% that they don't use peanut oil or anything else.

[KnowItAll]

Or, pack the kid's lunch / dinner with you. Most restaurants we go to don't seem to mind if we bring our kid's special meal (he's a fussy eater at times) with us.