Phrases to show restaurant staff, the hidden pork, beef and seafood in common Korean dishes, and the safest meals to order on a ski trip with allergies or restrictions.
Reading a Korean menu with an allergy or a religious restriction is hard. Translation apps often miss specific ingredients like salted shrimp (saeujeot) or beef stock powder, and many travelers end up eating plain rice because they are not sure what else is safe.
You can do better than that with a few phrases and a short list of dishes to watch.
Save these in your phone's notes, in Korean script, and show the screen. Staff can read them faster than they can follow pronunciation.
| What you need | Korean | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Without pork, please | 돼지고기 빼고 주세요 | dwaeji-gogi ppaego juseyo |
| Without meat, please | 고기 빼고 주세요 | gogi ppaego juseyo |
| I am vegetarian | 저는 채식주의자예요 | jeoneun chaesikjuuija-yeyo |
| I have a peanut allergy | 땅콩 알레르기가 있어요 | ttangkong allereugi-ga isseoyo |
| Is there pork in this? | 이거 돼지고기 들어가요? | igeo dwaeji-gogi deureogayo? |
Kimchi is usually made with salted shrimp or fish sauce, so standard cabbage kimchi isn't vegan. Some restaurants and brands make vegan kimchi, but you have to ask.
Sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew) sounds vegetarian. It is often cooked with pork or beef and seafood such as clams. Ask what goes in, or choose a different dish.
Soups in general may use beef bone, anchovy or pork stock even when the visible ingredients are vegetables. "Yuksu" (육수) means stock, and it is worth asking what it is made from.
Gimbap (seaweed rice rolls) is sold at snack bars, food courts and convenience stores, and you can see the fillings. Tuna gimbap (chamchi gimbap) and cheese gimbap are common. Most rolls include a strip of ham, but kitchens that roll to order can leave it out if you ask for "haem ppaego" (햄 빼고, no ham).
Products at CU, GS25 and 7-Eleven list ingredients and allergens on the back in Korean. Use the camera mode in Papago to scan the list, and look for these words:
Korean labels also flag allergens produced in the same factory, which helps if your allergy is severe.
Restaurant staff in Korea are usually willing to help, but they may not know why you can't eat something, and "a little" meat stock may not seem like meat to them. Be firm, show the written phrase, and stick to simple dishes where you can see the ingredients. Our Korean food phrases post has more sentences, and the convenience store guide covers label reading in more detail.