Toyosu Fish Market Allergy and Dietary Guide

A fish market is the hardest room in Tokyo to eat in with an allergy, and it is also one of the easiest to enjoy without eating anything at all. This page sets out what is in the food here, what to say, and which of these mornings can work around a dietary requirement and which say plainly that they cannot. Toyosu Fish Market guided tours all include time to eat.

What a raw seafood market means if you react to fish

Watching the auction is entirely safe. It happens behind sealed glass, you are above the floor rather than on it, and nothing is cooked, handled or sampled in the corridor. Somebody with a serious fish or shellfish allergy can do the whole auction, the wholesale floor, Uogashi Yokocho and the rooftop without difficulty.

Eating is the part that needs planning. The restaurants inside the market are almost all seafood restaurants, every counter handles raw fish, and the same knives and boards work across species. Airborne protein from cooking fish is a real trigger for a small number of people and this is a building full of it.

The allergens that are everywhere here

Fish and shellfish — in the obvious dishes, and also in the dashi that underlies almost every soup, sauce and simmered dish. Bonito flakes and kombu make the stock; a bowl of miso soup at a market counter contains fish.

Soy — in soy sauce on every table, in miso, in the sweetened sauce brushed over grilled eel, and in the marinade on tuna served as zuke.

Wheat — in soy sauce, which is the fact people miss most often. Japanese soy sauce is brewed from soy and wheat together, so a gluten-free traveller cannot simply avoid the bread.

Sesame — in dressings, in the oil used for tempura at some stalls, and sprinkled over rice bowls without being mentioned.

Egg — tamagoyaki is one of the market's signature things to eat and it is exactly what it sounds like.

Soy, wheat and the sauce nobody mentions

If you avoid gluten, the single most useful thing to know is that ordinary Japanese soy sauce contains wheat. Tamari, which does not, exists but is not what sits on a market table. Carry a small bottle if this matters to you; several Tokyo pharmacies and department stores sell one, and no counter will object.

The same applies to ponzu, teriyaki and the glaze on grilled eel, all of which are built on soy sauce. Sashimi and plain sushi rice are the reliable things to eat, and rice vinegar in the rice is not a wheat product.

Sesame, buckwheat and the noodle stalls

Soba is buckwheat, which is a serious allergen in Japan and treated as one: Japanese food labelling law requires it to be declared on packaged food. A soba stall boils its noodles in water that has boiled buckwheat all morning, so a shared pot is a real problem rather than a theoretical one.

Sesame turns up in dressings, in the seasoning shaken over rice bowls and in some tempura oil. It is worth naming explicitly rather than assuming a fish restaurant will not use it.

Shellfish and crustacean cross-contact at a market counter

A sushi counter is a single working surface. The chef moves between tuna, prawn, scallop and sea urchin with the same hands and often the same knife, and there is no separate preparation area. A restaurant will usually be able to leave shellfish off a set, and no restaurant here can promise that a plate has never been near it.

If your reaction is severe, the honest plan is to watch the auction, skip the market breakfast and eat somewhere you have chosen in advance. That is not much of a loss: the auction is the reason to come.

What to say, and how to write it down

Write it on a card and show it. Spoken English is patchy at a market counter at six in the morning, and a written line in Japanese is understood instantly.

Vegetarian, vegan and halal at a fish market

Vegetarian — workable with warning, difficult without one. Dashi means most soups and simmered dishes contain fish even when nothing on the plate looks like it. One operator here states that vegetarian and vegan guests are welcome and that the guide will help find suitable ingredients.

Vegan — the produce halls in Block 5 and the pickle, seaweed and tea shops in Uogashi Yokocho are all straightforward, and so is a rice bowl without the fish. The restaurant floor is not.

Halal — alcohol is used in cooking widely, including mirin in sauces, and one operator states plainly that it cannot accommodate halal, gluten-free or vegetarian diets. Buying to take away and eating later is the reliable route.

Which tours can work with a dietary requirement

The listings differ sharply, and this is one place where the difference is worth more than the price.

Where a fare does not include the food, a requirement is far easier to manage: you order for yourself and the guide translates. Where lunch is inside the fare, ask before you book.

Toyosu Fish Market Tours lists them all, and the FAQ page covers what is included on each.