Suggested ways to eat out in a Chinese restaurant

FYI:
Peanut oil is not allergenic to peanut-sensitive individuals.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7299001

Randomised, double blind, crossover challenge study of allergenicity of peanut oils in subjects allergic to peanuts
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/314/7087/1084

I guess it is because the allergen is always a protein but peanut oil is a fat. Peanut oil as used in catering should not cause an allergic reaction unless it is crude or cold-pressed which retains many more proteins.
(but read the related articles in the above page too, as the study is a bit old now)

If you really want your DD [or DS] to try some Chinese dishes and you are worried;

- ask for some dishes that do not involve much sauce; esp. fermented red beancurd 南乳, tomato sauce 蕃茄醬, Chinese cheese or soybean cheese 腐乳, oyster sauce 蠔油, soy sauce 豉油, etc. as they contain lots of salt. Alternatively, ask them to put the sauce on a separate plate (汁另上).
- do not ask for dishes that involve stir-frying (炒) and esp. deep-frying (炸), as they involve more oil; (but stir-frying greens is tasty isn't it :-) ?)
- ask the cook to add less salt, "少鹽", no msg, "走味精".
- rinse the food you are going to offer to your DD [or DS] with a bowl of hot water first. This removes some of the salt, "msg" and oil (hopefully :wink: ).

I usually bring my own food (e.g. broccoli, baby corm, baby carrot, fruits, rice cakes, etc.) with me if taking DS to a Chinese restaurant, but you may let your DD [or DS] taste some white rice, steamed beancurd ("tofu" but not deep-fried beancurd), steamed mixed vegetables/ stir-fried mixed vegetables with less oil no salt thank you (炒雜菜少油走鹽謝謝), steamed fish and steamed chicken there. Steamed 蒸 food (with less or no sauce and salt) is usually quite eatable.

I hope this reply also helps others enjoy Chinese food and deserves more attention.

(If you cannot read the Chinese characters above, change your browser decoding setting to UTF-8)

tip: the highchairs provided in local Chinese restaurants in my city always do not contain safety seat belts - I don't know why. I always bring a luggage belt with us and tie DS on the highchair ;-).