Soy allergy, will I encounter problems eating in China?

[srcampana]

This is my first post (yay!). I recently began taking private Mandarin classes in Los Angeles and am now looking at studying in China (I was recently laid off from my Spanish teaching job so the timing is perfect). I haven't quite figured out where yet but hopefully soon. I know very little about Chinese cuisine (let's go with I'm ignorant) except that my teacher seemed to think that I'd have a bit of difficulty in China due to my allergy to soy. All soy: soybeans, soy sauce, soybean oil, soy lecithin, everything. Are most dishes made with soy sauce and/or soybean oil? Is there a way around this? I'm not deathly allergic but my stomach will cause me severe pain for about 12 hours, depending on the amount ingested. It's similar to lactose intolerance (I'm that too...lucky me) but worse. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[kdavid]

You'll be fine. Just don't eat soy.

Learn the names of different soy products, their characters, and how to ask, "Is this...?" or "Does this have...in it?"

[drencrom]

Picky eaters have a tough time in China. You can ask "does this have soy" and it's likely the waiter doesn't even know, but will answer according to what he thinks you want to hear.

[大肚男]

I would be careful with how much would I trust a waiter's word.

I'm Muslim, on more than one occasion, I ordered food after specifically telling the water that I don't eat pork, but when the dish came it still had pork.

I'm not sure if the waiter didn't know, or just didn't care.

In my case it was no big deal, because it is not a health issue.

If I were in your shoes, I would make a big deal out of it, i.e. tell the waiter that if I eat soy, I would immediately drop dead. That may put the fear of god in them

[Cat Jones]

If you plan to cook at home the majority of the time, you will be fine. I agree with others though - it's hard to know what is in restaurant food.

[WestTexas]

I'm sure you know this, but soy is in a LOT of products. For example, many meat products, like cheaper sausages, have soy. Also, in China, it wouldn't be surprising if many products that do not list soy as an ingredient actually do contain soy. It's China, after all. It wouldn't be the first unexpected ingredient to show up in food.

At restaurants, soy sauce goes on a multitude of items. Many (most?) stir-fried dishes include soy sauce. Soups or stews may have some soy sauce as well. I think that many restaurants might mess up and put soy sauce in the food even if you tell them not to. To deal with this, you have a few options:

(1)Cook at home

(2)Eat only certain dishes that don't have soy sauce (dumplings, for example, but don't dip them in the soy sauce)

(3)Always eat at the same restaurants, get to know the workers, and make sure they know you cannot eat soy.

(4)Eat western food (hope you like KFC)

I wouldn't consider it a reason not to move to China, though.

[gato]

All soy: soybeans, soy sauce, soybean oil, soy lecithin, everything.

No soy sauce? That's going to be tough. Soy sauce is used in most Chinese food. You better cook yourself or avoid eating Chinese food in restaurants.

[srcampana]

Thanks for your input! It's funny, even in the US, I don't trust the waiters really. They usually say, "Sure, there's no dairy or soy in that" but they have no clue. I tend to order things here that have no soy no matter how you cook them (unless you specifically use soybean oil instead of olive oil) so I usually don't have a problem. I plan on cooking for myself, as this is usually the cheapest option, but it'd be nice to have some great Chinese food at good restaurants. I'll wait until I have a few friends maybe that can take me to places they trust.

Now I just need to figure out where to study! Haha....so many options.