Saturday, December 30, 2006

Phrases for Eating Out

I have been here for four months and (except for veg restaurants in tokyo) have only eaten at one restaurant--a sushi place where the owner speaks English. I think it is hard enough to make my dietary needs understood at home in English. (It never seems to dawn on people that butter is a dairy product or that that little peice of pork in the broth will matter.) I mostly rely on grocery store/conbini bentos (where I can read the ingredients) and cooking for myself at home.
However, I am posting this list to help any of you who are brave enough to try eating at regular (ie. not veg) restaurants in Japan:

~I don't eat meat: "niku o tabemasen"
~I don't eat fish: "sakana o tabemasen"
~I don't eat eggs: "tamago o tabemasen"
~I don't eat milk: "gyunyu o tabemasen"
~I don't eat honey: "hachimitsu o tabemasen"
~I don't eat meat, fish, eggs, milk, or honey: "niku to sakana to tamago to gyunyu to hachimistu o tabemasen"
~I don't eat any animal products: "doubutsu sei no mono wa subete tabemasen"

~Do you have any vegetarian dishes?: "bejitarian no ryori ga arimasu ka?"
~What kind of stock is in this soup?: "kono suupu no dashi wa nan desu ka?"
~Does this have __________ in it?: "kore wa __________ ga haitte imasu ka?"
~Does this dish contain meat?: "kono ryori ni niku ga haitte imasu ka?"

~What kind of oil do you use?: "abura wa nani o tsukatte imasu ka?"
~Do you use animal fat?: "doubutsu sei abura o tsukatte imasu ka?"
~Do you use vegetable oil?: "shokubutsu sei abura o tsukatte imasu ka?"

The phrase "watashi wa bejitarian desu" (I am a vegetarian) has not been nearly as useful as I was promised. Everytime I try to make myself understood using this phrase, it leads only to confusion and I am forced to resort to saying simply "I don't eat meat." It's possible that this one "watashi wa saishokushugi desu" (which means I am a vegetarian based on beliefs and refers historically to Buddhism) would be more familiar to people but I have never been able to remember it and find it easier to just list what things I don't eat. Besides, in Japan "vegetarians" almost always eat fish.