How to Say You're Allergic in Thai (Food Allergies and Peanuts)

แพ้ pháe means allergic. Say it, then say the thing: pháe plus ถั่ว thùa is "allergic to peanuts."

This is the most important word on the entire survival list. If you learn one word before you land, learn this one.

pháe is understood immediately and taken seriously

Thai kitchens deal with allergies routinely and pháe is the word they know. It is not a polite preference — it reads as medical, and staff respond to it accordingly. That's exactly why you should keep it for real allergies and use different words for dislikes.

For a dislike, ไม่กิน mâi-gin — "I don't eat" — is the honest one. For a single ingredient you want left out, ไม่ใส่ mâi-sài, "don't add it," is the surgical one.

The peanut problem, specifically

ถั่ว thùa covers peanuts and beans together, which cuts both ways. It's a broad net, so pháe thùa will get peanuts kept off your plate — but it may also remove things you were fine with.

The harder issue is that peanuts appear in Thai food in places you don't see them: ground into sauces, in the base of a curry paste, in the dressing rather than on top. If your allergy is severe, a written card in Thai script is worth more than any spoken phrase, and it's worth having your accommodation write one for you on day one.

What does the yellow-and-red jee sign mean?

เจ jee is strict vegetarian in the Buddhist sense — no meat, no fish, no animal products at all. Traditionally it also leaves out the pungent vegetables, garlic and onion among them, which is why a jee version of a dish tastes noticeably different from the everyday one. During the annual vegetarian festival you'll see yellow flags with a single red character on them all over the country, and those stalls are cooking jee.

jee is stricter than what most Western vegetarians mean, which usually works in your favor. Be aware, though, that ordinary Thai food is full of fish sauce, and a dish that looks vegetable-only very often isn't. If you're vegetarian for ethical reasons rather than allergy reasons, jee is the word that gets it right.

Milk and dairy

นม nom is milk. Dairy is much less structural in Thai cooking than in Western food, so avoiding it is usually straightforward — the place to watch is drinks, where condensed and evaporated milk go into coffee, tea and desserts as standard.

Takeaways

• pháe = allergic. Say it, then the ingredient. It is taken seriously.
• Keep pháe for real allergies; use mâi-gin (I don't eat) for dislikes.
• mâi-sài = don't add it — for leaving one ingredient out.
• thùa covers peanuts and beans. For severe allergies, carry a written card in Thai.
• jee = strict vegetarian, no animal products. Ordinary Thai food usually contains fish sauce.