Like other Southeast Asian countries, food stalls
are everywhere in the streets, markets and
festivals of Thailand, providing an endless
smorgasbord of aromas, color and flavors - food in
Thailand is a feast for all of the senses.
Picture a barbecue hotdog stand outside a North
American sports stadium. Now, instead of hotdogs
and buns sizzling on a grill, the food cart is
laden with fresh bananas, which are slathered in
batter and deep-fried to golden in a giant wok,
then scooped into a paper bag like a super size
order of extra thick homecut french fries. That
was my first breakfast in Thailand while I watched
hundreds of beautifully costumed elephants play
soccer and tug-of-war in an annual Elephant
Round-up in Surin, in the far northeast of the
country!
The next 'hotdog stand' does have a grill, placed
over a large bin of charcoal, with flattened
chicken quarters sizzling on sticks that you eat
like a Popsicle; next door to that is yet another
steel cart heaped with fresh, ripe pineapple,
mango and papaya, and sporting a huge mortar and
pestle for transforming the greener papayas into a
crunchy, sweet-sour-spicy salad with morsels of
shrimp or squid, chiles, garlic and sugar.
What makes Thai food so delicious and distinctive
among other Southeast Asian food is this unique
blending of fresh herbs, spices and other
ingredients that combine for a perfect balance of
sweet, sour, salt and heat that leaves your mouth
feeling clean and your tastebuds popping in the
afterglow.
Fresh fruit, salads and even soups and noodles are
ladled into plastic bags with a skewer, fork,
spoon or straw for eating on the go or perched on
a folding chair at a nearby metal card table in
the market.
Thai buses and trains become moving picnic
grounds, with everyone chatting, eating and
sharing the fare hawked through the vehicles'
windows at roadside stops and terminals: Gai Yang,
the flattened barbecue chicken on a stick,
skewered meat and fish balls and sticky rice
wrapped in banana leaves.
Carnivals and markets feature huge woks at
knee-height, bubbling with deep-fried critters of
all sorts, many unidentifiable. Are they
grasshoppers? crickets? spiders? baby birds? small
frogs? -- my mouth and eyes were constantly wide
open in wonder and amazement!
I spent an inordinate amount of time in the fresh
produce and night food markets -- exuberantly
fascinated and often visibly discombobulated, to
the great amusement of the vendors and shoppers.
After traversing every aisle of food carts and
woks on my mission to find the freshest, most
interesting and tasty-looking dishes, I was often
met with earnestly shaking heads or "No, you don't
want that - that's Thai food!" by English speaking
cooks or bystanders when I pointed and gestured
and tried to ask for a meal I knew I truly wanted.
On my first such adventure, I did not know that
the custom was for the cook to show the ladle with
the amount of the garlic and chili for you to
indicate how much you wanted: thinking she was
simply asking if I wanted those Thai ingredients,
I nodded vigorously at the heaped display, and in
it all went! Yes, it was Thai food, and I enjoyed
every sizzling touch to my lips under the
watchful, laughing eyes of the vendors and
bystanders who had gathered.
I spent as much time learning about, admiring and
experiencing the food as I did with major tourist
attractions, often spending hours strolling
through streets and markets taking in the sights
and smells and sounds: quiet clucking rising up
from a heap of vibrantly coloured roosters or hens
tied together at the feet - a Thai rooster's
plumage is extraordinarily beautiful; plastic tubs
and buckets just full enough of murky grey water
to keep the fish, frogs or turtles alive until a
sale was clinched; mounds and mounds of green and
red, and purple and orange; the pleasant stench of
durian and jackfruit - pleasant because I was just
so thrilled and in awe of it all!
I tried deep-fried grasshoppers at a carnival in
Kanchanaburi during a sound and light show of "The
Bridge On The River Kwai" that ended with a
fabulous fireworks display recreating the Allied
bombing campaign that destroyed the bridges of the
Death Railway in 1945. I tried a few tiny roasted
wood worms offered by a very thin host in a
northern hill-tribe village near the Myanmar
border, and feared that I was eating his family
out of house and home. I discovered countless
traditional dishes I had never tasted and savoured
authentic versions of some I had had in Toronto's
newly arrived Thai restaurants. As often as I
could, I watched their creation so that I could
try to replicate them when I got home and got a
kitchen again.
Many people are alarmed at how daring I was with
my stomach. In six months of traveling through
Southeast Asia, I only had one tiny bout of
queasiness over a couple of days on Sumatra in
Indonesia. I must have found the perfect balance
of common sense and adventure, or, some might
argue, I was just lucky.
I don't recommend trying everything, and I do
recommend a few common sense tips for sampling the
full range of the food on offer throughout your
travels:
* at street and market stalls, do watch the
cooking for awhile to ensure that the ingredients
are fresh and the food is being cooked thoroughly;
if you have any doubts, move on to the next vendor
* choose vendors that have a good steady flow of
customers - not only is the food probably very
good, but the turnover means fresher food
* ask your guesthouse host and any other residents
you meet for their favourite places to eat, and
for recommendations on dishes to order
* follow the other safe eating tips you find in
travel guides, like recommendations about water,
ice cubes, and peeling fruit and vegetables
Of course, you will find an endless selection of
sit-down restaurants where you can savour some of
the more familiar Thai dishes now found in
restaurants around the world: green curry with
chicken, red curry with beef, pad Thai and other
noodle dishes, and wonderfully aromatic sweet
basil dishes.
Whether you plan to sample the fabulous foods from
the street vendors and markets or stick to what
you know, learn a few tips on deciphering a menu
or asking for a type of dish with a few Thai Food
Terms.
Many supermarkets are now carrying a range of
prepared sauces, curries and other Asian products,
but if you enjoy adventure and creativity in your
own kitchen, many Thai recipes are fairly easy to
create once you've mastered a few essentials. Gai
Yang, after all, is really just barbequed chicken
with a Thai twist! A good food reference guide or
cookbook with a glossary of Asian ingredients will
help you gain that perfect balance of sour, sweet,
salt and heat that is unique to Thai cuisine.
© 2005 recipe-for-travel.com
About The Author...
Carolyn Nantais is a freelance writer, website copywriter, world
traveler and culinary xenophile who indulges in
temporary retirement from time to time to travel
and eat around the world. Her new website, The
Recipe for Travel, has stories, recipes and
practical information gathered through adventures
in round-the-world travel and food. The Travel
Consultant Travel you deserve!� Travel your way.�
Travel on your time and travel on your budget.�
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