Menu words that signal non-halal ingredients
You can read the photos on the menu, but not the words under them.
A small set of words appears again and again on menus, labels and signs: pork, lard, bone broth, gelatin, wine and rice wine. If you can spot them, you can ask the right question instead of a general one. This page gives the words in four languages, grouped by what they warn about, with a question for each.
How should you use these lists?
Treat a match as a reason to ask. Treat a missing word as “not yet checked”.
Screenshot the table for your country. When a word matches, show the staff the question beside it. If you want the question written for you, the dietary enquiry brief generator prepares it.
Japanese
| Word (sound) | Means | Ask |
|---|---|---|
| 豚 / ポーク (buta / pooku) | Pork | Is there pork in this dish or the broth? |
| ラード (raado) | Lard | Is lard used for frying or in the dough? |
| 豚骨 (tonkotsu) | Pork bone broth | Is the stock pork-based? |
| 酒 / 料理酒 (sake / ryouri-shu) | Sake, cooking sake | Is cooking sake added to this dish? |
| みりん (mirin) | Sweet rice wine for cooking | Does the sauce contain mirin? |
| ゼラチン (zerachin) | Gelatin | Is the gelatin from pork? |
JNTO warns that cooking sake and mirin are used in Japanese dishes and that some miso contains alcohol unless labelled additive-free (mu-ten-ka)1. Also watch for エキス (ekisu, extract) and だし (dashi, stock), which can hide pork or alcohol.
Korean
| Word (sound) | Means | Ask |
|---|---|---|
| 돼지고기 (dwaeji-gogi) | Pork | Is there pork in this? |
| 라드 (radeu) | Lard | Is lard used? |
| 육수 (yuksu) | Meat stock | Is the stock made with pork bones? |
| 청주 / 맛술 (cheongju / matsul) | Rice wine, cooking wine | Is rice wine added to the marinade? |
| 술 (sul) | Alcohol | Is alcohol in the sauce? |
| 젤라틴 (jellatin) | Gelatin | Is it pork gelatin? |
Thai
| Word (sound) | Means | Ask |
|---|---|---|
| หมู (muu) | Pork | Is there pork in this? |
| น้ำมันหมู (nam-man muu) | Lard | Is lard used for cooking? |
| กระดูกหมู (gra-duuk muu) | Pork bone | Is the broth from pork bones? |
| เหล้า (lao) | Liquor | Is liquor used in this dish? |
| ไวน์ (wai) | Wine | Is wine in the sauce? |
| เจลาติน (jay-laa-tin) | Gelatin | Is the gelatin from pork? |
Chinese
| Word (sound) | Means | Ask |
|---|---|---|
| 猪肉 (zhūròu) | Pork | Is there pork in this? |
| 猪油 (zhūyóu) | Lard | Is lard used to fry or in the filling? |
| 高汤 (gāotāng) | Stock | What is the stock made from? |
| 料酒 / 黄酒 (liàojiǔ / huángjiǔ) | Cooking wine, rice wine | Is cooking wine added? |
| 米酒 (mǐjiǔ) | Rice wine | Is rice wine in the marinade? |
| 明胶 (míngjiāo) | Gelatin | Is it pork gelatin? |
On a Chinese menu, look also for 叉烧 (chāshāo, barbecued pork), which is pork unless the stall says otherwise.
What do you do when a word does not match?
Ask the general question anyway, in plain wording: “Does this dish contain pork, lard, wine or gelatin?” If the staff answer vaguely, treat the dish as unknown and choose something plainer, such as grilled fish or steamed rice with the sauce on the side. For a country-specific view of labels, see Korea halal certification, Thailand halal certification and the China qingzhen label.
More explainers are in the halal terms hub.
Send us the cities and the dishes you expect to eat, and we can help you pull out the words most worth learning for that part of the route.
Common questions
Do I need to learn these words by heart?
No. Save this page, or screenshot the table for the country you are visiting. Point your phone at a menu word you recognise, then show the staff the question next to it. A short list you can see beats a long list you must remember.
What if the menu has no pork words but I am still unsure?
Pork can be a seasoning, a stock or a filling rather than the named meat. Look for words for broth, extract, fat and sauce, and ask about those. A menu with no pork word is only pork-free on paper, not confirmed.
Are these words enough to judge a dish?
They help you spot warning signs. They cannot prove a dish is clear, because a dish can be unsafe without any of these words on the menu. Use the list to ask better questions, and treat a missing word as 'not yet checked'.
Can I trust a translation app on a menu photo?
Use it for a first read, then check any ingredient it cannot translate confidently. Apps can turn a word for pork fat into 'oil' or 'seasoning'. If an item matters to you, confirm it with a person or with the ingredient list on the packet.
Sources
- JNTO warns that cooking sake and mirin are used in many Japanese dishes, and some miso contains alcohol unless labelled additive-free (mu-ten-ka). JNTO (japan.travel), Muslim travelers
Keep planning
Send us the cities and the dishes you expect to eat, and we can help you pull out the words most worth learning for that part of the route.