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the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Tokyo, 2010.02.13

When I went to Shanghai, I knew that I'd be buying food in places where people don't speak English or Japanese. And yet I have food allergies.

I solved this problem by asking a Chinese-speaking friend to provide a translation of two sentences:

"I cannot eat milk products or wheat."

and

"Does this contain milk products or wheat?"

I then printed a small card with the translated sentences and had that laminated. It did the trick: I presented it everywhere and was warned off of some foods that I'd guessed would be okay.

Turns out that there's a company that provides such laminated cards in various languages. Chinese, Hungarian, Japanese... if you're lactose intolerant or diabetic, check them out.

rand()m quote

...and when you try to get some, it surely can be hard. There's always trouble waiting, when you leave your own back yard.

—Motorhead, Lost Johnny (lyrics by Mick Farren)