Eating Out During Pregnancy

Eating out is one of life’s pleasures, and pregnancy doesn’t have to change that significantly. With a few adjustments to what you order and an occasional question to the kitchen, you can eat at restaurants, cafés, and takeaways throughout pregnancy with confidence.

The Core Rules Away from Home

The same food safety principles that apply at home apply when eating out — but you have less visibility into how the kitchen handles things. The practical approach is to:

1. Order things that are cooked hot and served immediately — freshly cooked food is almost always safe.
2. Avoid specific high-risk foods regardless of where you are eating.
3. Ask when in doubt — good restaurants are accustomed to allergy and dietary questions and will tell you what’s in a dish.

By Cuisine

Restaurants in General

What to order freely: Anything cooked to order and served hot — pasta dishes, cooked fish, cooked meat, soups, risottos, curries, stir fries, roasted vegetables, pizza (as long as toppings are cooked). Well-done steaks and burgers are fine; ask for no pink if you are ordering beef.

Ask about: Dressings and sauces — in particular, ask whether Caesar dressing, hollandaise, béarnaise, or aioli is made in-house with raw egg (most aren’t, but it’s worth asking if these are key to the dish). Most restaurants use commercial versions of these sauces, which are made with pasteurised eggs and are safe.

Be cautious with: Steak tartare, carpaccio, or any other preparation explicitly described as raw or cured without cooking. Rare or medium-rare burgers (minced beef that hasn’t been cooked through). Soft-ripened cheeses listed as ingredients in sauces or on cheese boards — you can ask the staff which cheeses are served.

Sushi and Japanese

Japan has one of the lowest rates of foodborne illness from sushi in the world, partly due to strict fish handling standards. In the UK, sushi-grade fish intended for raw consumption is typically blast-frozen, which kills parasites (though not all pathogens).

Safe to order: All cooked sushi and rolls — tempura prawn, cooked salmon, teriyaki chicken, vegetable rolls, avocado rolls, California rolls (made with crab stick, which is cooked). Miso soup. Edamame. Gyoza (cooked). Yakitori.

Avoid or limit: Raw fish rolls and nigiri — not because of parasites (which blast-freezing addresses) but because of the small risk of Listeria and Vibrio in raw fish. Mackerel sushi (saba) has a higher mercury content than other sushi fish. High-mercury fish such as tuna (particularly bluefin) should be limited — up to two portions per week of regular (not bluefin) tuna.

A practical middle ground: Stick to cooked options at sushi restaurants unless you are very confident in the quality and freshness of the establishment and accept the small residual risk.

Indian and South Asian

The cooking styles used in most Indian restaurants — curries, tandoori, dal, biryani — involve prolonged high heat and are very safe during pregnancy. Most Indian restaurant food is also fully cooked.

Safe: All curries, tandoori chicken, naan, rice dishes, dal, samosas, pakoras, chutneys (commercial). Yogurt-based raita is safe.

Check: Paneer — the cheese itself is fine when cooked (e.g., in saag paneer). If served cold and uncooked, ask about the source. Most restaurant paneer is heat-treated.

Chinese and Thai

Safe: Stir fries, soups, noodle dishes, dim sum, fried rice, spring rolls — virtually all standard dishes are cooked thoroughly. Prawn crackers and cooked dumplings are fine.

Be aware of: Raw oysters at some Asian restaurants — these should be avoided. Cold jellyfish or other raw seafood preparations. Ask if unsure.

Italian

Safe: Pasta, risotto, pizza, gnocchi, cooked fish and seafood dishes, minestrone, tiramisu made with pasteurised egg or no egg (ask if you are unsure).

Be cautious with: Carpaccio (raw beef). Cured and uncooked meats on antipasto boards — cooked cured meats are fine, but raw prosciutto, bresaola, or salami carry a small Toxoplasma risk. Soft Italian cheeses such as gorgonzola on a cheese board — fine when cooked into a sauce or pizza, but avoid eating cold and uncooked.

Cafés and Delis

Safe: Most café food — sandwiches made to order, soups, baked goods, cooked breakfasts, toasted sandwiches, most salads.

Deli counters: Pre-sliced cured meats and soft cheeses from deli counters have higher Listeria risk than freshly cooked alternatives, as they are stored refrigerated for extended periods and handled frequently. Not a significant risk from a one-off visit, but worth choosing cooked options over cold-cut boards if eating out regularly.

Soft-serve ice cream: Machines that have not been properly cleaned can harbour Listeria. Factory-packaged ice cream (scoops from a tub) carries very low risk. If you are somewhere where the soft-serve machine’s maintenance seems uncertain, choose a packaged option.

How to Ask Questions Without Awkwardness

Most restaurants are well-practised at answering food queries. A simple “I’m pregnant — can you tell me whether the Caesar dressing is made with raw egg?” is all it takes. Kitchen staff deal with allergy and dietary questions constantly and will not find this unusual. You do not need to explain at length.

For dishes where you are genuinely unsure — a sauce that might contain something on the avoid list — it is fine to ask. If the restaurant cannot tell you, that is useful information in itself.

The Overall Approach

The risk from eating out during pregnancy is real but manageable. The highest-risk scenarios are: raw shellfish, raw fish dishes, dishes containing raw egg made to order, very rare beef, and cold deli meats eaten frequently. The lowest-risk scenario is virtually any hot, freshly cooked dish. Most restaurant meals sit closer to the latter.

Eating out should be enjoyable. A brief mental check when scanning the menu — “is this cooked through, and does it contain anything on the avoid list?” — is enough for the vast majority of eating out situations without disrupting a pleasant meal.