Korean Allergy Card: How to Say Your
Food Allergy in Korean

The one sentence structure to know

A reusable pattern used across AllergyPass's Korean guides is 저는 [allergen]에 알레르기가 있어요 (Jeoneun [allergen]-e allereugi ga isseoyo) — "I have an allergy to [allergen]." Swap in any allergen from the tables below, then show the written card and ask about the recipe and preparation:

For a severe allergy, five more lines matter — these are the exact strings printed on the AllergyPass Korean card:

Every major allergen in Korean

These are the highest-frequency allergens in the AllergyPass card. Packaged labels, menus, and restaurant recipes may use more specific wording, so use each term as a starting point and check the full ingredient list or recipe:

What other allergens and dietary terms does a Korean allergy card cover?

Direct answer: Beyond the common allergens above, the AllergyPass card builder includes additional allergies, medical conditions, sensitivities, intolerances, and dietary rules in Korean. 71 of AllergyPass's 71 tracked allergens and dietary restrictions currently have a Korean translation; any not yet translated fall back to English on the card. The complete list, grouped by category:

Allergies

Medical conditions

Sensitivities & intolerances

Dietary preferences

Religious dietary rules

Ingredients to avoid

These terms are communication aids. Before relying on any translation, compare it with the label, recipe, or medical wording relevant to your situation, and ask the restaurant how the food is prepared.

Does kimchi have shrimp, seafood, or peanuts?

Traditional kimchi is fermented with jeot, a salted seafood paste used in the brine — not an occasional ingredient but a default one, since kimchi accompanies most Korean meals. The two most common types are saeujeot (salted shrimp), a shellfish allergen, and myeolchi-jeot (fermented anchovy), a fish allergen. Which one a specific kitchen or product uses determines which allergy is at risk, and recipes vary by restaurant, region, and even batch — so a wrong guess here isn't a small one.

Peanuts and tree nuts are a different story: traditional kimchi doesn't contain either. Its allergen risk comes entirely from jeot, and nut allergens are generally uncommon in Korean cooking compared to Southeast Asian cuisines where peanut is a routine garnish or sauce base.

The Korean terms to carry in writing are 새우젓 (saeujeot, salted shrimp) and 땅콩 (ttangkong, peanut). Many restaurants in Seoul now offer vegan kimchi, made without jeot and usually substituted with kelp stock or a mushroom-based paste — worth asking for by name if jeot is a hard no.

Does gochujang have shellfish or soy?

Usually not shellfish. Gochujang is typically a fermented chili paste made from red chili powder, glutinous rice, and fermented soybeans, so its main allergens are soy — always — and, depending on the brand, wheat used as a thickener. That matters beyond the paste itself: gochujang is the base of both tteokbokki and bibimbap sauce, so a soy or wheat allergy meets it across a large share of a Korean menu rather than in one dish.

A restaurant's gochujang-based sauce can differ from the bottled paste, though. A kitchen may add its own seafood stock or anchovy base to a gochujang sauce, so the sauce is still worth asking about even though the paste itself is not usually a shellfish risk. In Korean cooking, the more common shellfish source is kimchi's jeot, not gochujang.

What to ask at Korean BBQ and about banchan

Plain, unmarinated samgyeopsal (pork belly) on a clean grill is the lowest-risk Korean BBQ option. The harder problem is everything that arrives without being asked for:

Stick to plain pork, plain rice, and plain salt if you need to minimize risk, ask for a clean grill plate, and hand over a written Korean-language card rather than relying on a verbal request in a busy restaurant.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say food allergy in Korean?

The AllergyPass Korean allergy card opens with 저는 심각한 음식 알레르기가 있습니다. 제 음식에 다음 재료가 포함되지 않도록 해주세요 — I have a serious food allergy. Please make sure my food does NOT contain the following ingredients. For a single allergen, a reusable spoken pattern is 저는 [allergen]에 알레르기가 있어요 (Jeoneun [allergen]-e allereugi ga isseoyo), I have an allergy to [allergen]. Show the phrase in writing, then ask staff to confirm the ingredients and preparation.

Does kimchi have shrimp?

Often, yes. Traditional kimchi is fermented with jeot, and the most common type is saeujeot (salted shrimp), a shellfish allergen — so kimchi containing saeujeot is not automatically safe with a shellfish allergy. Some batches instead use myeolchi-jeot (fermented anchovy), a fish allergen, and some restaurants now serve a vegan kimchi made without either. Because the recipe varies by restaurant and by batch, ask specifically: Kimchi-e saeujeot deureo innayo? — Does the kimchi contain salted shrimp? The Korean term to carry in writing is 새우젓 (saeujeot).

Does kimchi have seafood?

Usually, yes, in the form of jeot, a fermented seafood paste used in the brine. Depending on the batch, that's either saeujeot (salted shrimp, a shellfish allergen) or myeolchi-jeot (fermented anchovy, a fish allergen) — so the answer depends on which one a specific kitchen or product uses. Packaged kimchi labels should state which; at a restaurant, ask directly and check whether a vegan kimchi, made without jeot, is available.

Does kimchi have peanuts?

No. Traditional kimchi's allergen risk comes from jeot (fermented shrimp or anchovy paste), not from peanuts or tree nuts — those allergens are uncommon in Korean cooking generally compared to Southeast Asian cuisines. The Korean word for peanut is 땅콩 (ttangkong); carry it in writing on a card rather than relying on a spoken request, since a specific kitchen's recipe can still vary.

Does gochujang have shellfish?

Usually not. Gochujang is typically a fermented chili paste made from red chili powder, glutinous rice, and fermented soybeans, so its main allergens are soy and, depending on the brand, wheat used as a thickener. A restaurant's gochujang-based sauce can vary from the bottled paste, though, and a kitchen may add its own seafood stock or anchovy base — so the sauce is still worth asking about. In Korean cooking, kimchi's jeot is the more common shellfish risk, not gochujang itself.