Seed oils abroad
You know what seed oils are, and on a trip you want fewer of them, not a perfect record. These guides are for Americans heading abroad. Pick a country to see what its restaurant chains fry in, how people cook there, how to read a label and what to say to ask about the oil.
Pick a country
What every guide covers
- What the chains fry in: every restaurant chain we track in that country, sorted by what is in the fryer, each linked to its report card.
- Same chain, different oil: how a chain's fryer oil there compares with the U.S.
- How people cook there and how to read a label.
- Words to say: how to ask what oil is in the fryer, and the oil names you will see on menus and labels.
- Tips and sources for eating out.
How to read the colors
- Real fats: beef tallow, lard, butter, olive oil or coconut oil.
- In between: palm or peanut oil, a high-oleic grade, or a mix of real fat and seed oil.
- Seed oils: canola (rapeseed), soybean, sunflower or corn, or a "vegetable oil" blend.
- No fryer: the chain does not deep fry. It can still cook with oil elsewhere in the kitchen.
- Unknown: our records do not say what the chain fries in.
(estimated) means our note on that chain is hedged, so read the oil as a good guess rather than a confirmed fact. How we read these notes.
Use the app on your trip
Seed Oil Tracker has local menus for 870 chains across these 20 countries. Switch your country in Settings before you go.
Download for iPhone Get it on Google Play
Free to download. Want the full tour first? See what the app does.
Menus, recipes and rules change, so treat this page as a starting point and check the label or ask in the moment. Need a refresher on what counts? See what seed oils are and the full list. Back home, the eating out playbook covers restaurants in the U.S.