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No-Pork Chinese Ordering Cheat Sheet
A compact guide to common pork signals in Chinese restaurant menus and questions to ask before ordering.
Cheat sheet
| Term or zone | What it usually means | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Char siu | Cantonese barbecued pork. | Avoid unless pork is acceptable. |
| Dumplings and wontons | Often pork or pork-shrimp. | Ask about filling. |
| Broths | May use pork bones or ham. | Ask about soup base. |
| Lard | May appear in pastry, rice, noodles, or stir-fries. | Ask about cooking fat. |
| Sausage and ham | Common in fried rice, turnip cake, clay pot rice. | Ask about hidden pork products. |
Cross-contact can happen through shared fryers, prep surfaces, tongs, and ladles even when the ingredient list looks safe. Packaged foods follow formal allergen-label rules, but restaurant dishes often depend on staff knowledge and recipe consistency instead of standardized labels. Sauces, broths, marinades, and garnish blends are some of the easiest places for allergens to stay undeclared on restaurant menus.
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