Every time I go to Thailand, I curse my human body for having only one small stomach. If I were a cow, I’d have four chambers of generous real estate to house the delicious culinary delights of Thailand, but, alas, I am not a cow, so I have to ingest just one meal at a time. But since food is so cheap, I can order several dishes and dip my tongue into all of them. Here are some food photos to make your stomach rumble:
Papaya salad with seafood
A little bit sweet with a citrus tang; the crispness of unripe papaya mixed in with the crunchiness of toasted peanuts and the odd wedge of nasal-charring chilli to remind you that you’re still alive.
Green Thai curry
Green is my favorite of all the Thai curries. The chilli in this dish has an accumulative effect, so that it’s not until you’re spooning the last mouthful, that you realise your entire hairdo is aflame.
Mango sticky rice
Fresh, ripe mango, combined with sticky rice drowned in sugary coconut milk. Make sure that, if you ever find yourself stranded on a deserted island, you remember to pre-pack some rice so that – with the help of some coconuts and some wild mangos (because all deserted islands have mangos, right?) – you and Wilson can have this for dessert every night.
Sweet and sour soup
It’s sweet, it’s sour, and all kinds of good things are doing breaststroke in this swimming pool of aromatic spices.
Padthai
An eclectic variety of textures and tastes that is mild enough in flavor to act as an inoffensive food item when you’re suffering from intestinal parasites. Yep: I’m quite the expert.
Unidentifiable market stand foods
This is where intestinal parasites are hatched, so I don’t touch, I just look … and drool … and open my wallet … and thumb Thai baht … and then stop myself just before I place my order for one strand of grilled mystery balls, or one tray of tiny, unidentifiable fried eggs, or one whole fish on a skewer. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it’s not going to kill me. Yet.
And finally, the beer.
Because it’s beer. Because it’s cheap. Because it’s cold and bubbly and it soothes my chilli-blistered tongue.
Torre DeRoche is the author of two travel memoirs, Love with a Chance of Drowning (2013) and The Worrier’s Guide to the End of the World (due out September 2017). She has written for The Atlantic, The Guardian Travel, The Sydney Morning Herald, Emirates, and two Lonely Planet anthologies.
27 Response Comments
Mmmm, this food looks so amazing! I’m flying to Thailand tomorrow and the food is one of the things I’m most looking forward to. Thai Red Curry is my fave and that papaya salad looks fab!
Have fun in Thailand, the food does not disappoint.
Lovely post! Mango with sticky rice is my absolute fave.
Thank you. Yep, it’s the right balance of salty, sugary, milky and juicy.
I adore adore adore Thai food! Did I mention I adore Thai food?
So this post has me salivating like whoa. Not so sure about the unidentifiable street food that looks like a cross between an egg and an eyeball, though. 😛
But don’t you just want to taste ONE of those ‘eyeballs’? I do.
“one strand of grilled mystery balls” – ha ha ha. I love the street vendors in Bangkok. I generally throw caution to the wind. I wish I had some green curry right now for breakfast.
Beautiful images!
Which is why you always end up getting a month-long bout of dysentery. I admire your caution-into-wind throwing, but I am not the Fearful Adventurer for nothing. Plus, I had a plane to catch the next morning, and I didn’t fancy getting the sharts on a 9 hour flight. I have a fear of loosing my shit on a plane. Literally. A vomit bag just wouldn’t suffice. I’ve heard stories about this and I’ve been haunted for life.
That soup looks like the fountain of youth. Yummo.
It’s so much more delicious than it looks.
it does look beautiful and ymmy and I can understand why you drool, and stop and open your wallet..
And I’m with you on the topic of parasites, so I put the wallet back in the handbag and get my camera out and snap!
🙂
I did drink a blended strawberry shake full of ice from a market stall. If I was going to contract anything, it probably should’ve been from there.
It’s 9:30AM here in Chicago. I’m reading this & drooling. Guess what I suddenly have a taste for! P.S.I think the beer helps kill the parasites of unknown market stand food. 😉
Always the answer to everything: drink more beer.
Lots of different things going on there – sweet, sour, soft, crunchy – and my stomach says “Yes, yes, yes!!” Today though it will have to settle for a toasted English muffin …
Great photos.
Thanks, Karen.
Great photos and yummy food! My mouth waters after I looked at this sticky rice with mango!
Thanks, Magda. I want me some mango sticky rice right now.
Very nice photos! Where is some food now please?!
I want tzum tzumo’this inabun!
Is it worth it? Let me work it.
Looove Thai food. Unfortunately sticky mango rice doesn’t seem to be very common here in the Bay Area. Haven’t had one since we moved here.
There must be at least one place that has it: SF has everything.
Identifying the unidentifiable market stand foods
Photo #1 = loog chin ping = grilled fish/beef/pork balls…great with a sweet chili dipping sauce
Photo #2 = kai nok kra ta = quail eggs made using a special kanom krok (coconut pudding dessert) pan
Photo #3 = I’m not sure! fish?
I could’ve used you!! Those quail eggs sound delicious.