As I sit here munching away on water crackers, soft and decedent double brie cheese with quince paste to accompany, masdaam cheese, olive paste and a glass of champagne, I think it's only fitting for my next blog to explore the 'street food' of Thailand .. if I can manage to put down the crackers that is.
Before I begin I have to say - isn't quince paste with a soft cheese just the best thing ever? I could honestly eat it on it's own! If you don't know what I am referring to then please head to your local grocer and look for 'Maggie Beer Quince Paste' in the refrigerated cheese section.. pronto.
OK here we go..
You can bet your bottom buck that where-ever you are in the world 'home delivery' is always an option for take out food; for example, pizza or Chinese food. In Thailand such home delivery services stretch out to the likes of global food institution MacDonald's - that's right in Koh Samui and I presume Phuket you can actually have your maccas delivered right to your door!
Another class of food delivery manifests in the kitchens of local Thai women and is then delivered to workplaces, or street stalls rather, in the early mornings via scooter. It is amazing to watch these women each morning ride from stall to stall dropping off breakfast and lunch to their regular customers and collecting their money in return, which is only really enough to cover the expenses incurred and generate no profit. Talk about community spirit!
Other than home/work delivery services you have street stalls which in some circumstances are wheeled along the streets by foot, motorised by scooters or simply sit in the same spot every night. These stalls range from fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and sauces on skewers and of course pancakes - think fresh food grocer/ restaurant on wheels.
Many people, including the locals, tell of stories that see people getting ill from eating street food, even my very own parents have been advised not to eat the street food because only the 'thai people' seem to be able to stomach what they are eating - this comes from locals.
The actual street food looked and smelt amazing, imagine stacks of chicken and beef satay piled high all drizzled with perfectly textured sauce and smelling more than appetizing- hard to resist, right? Well, if you look closely accompanying the chicken are bugs of all sorts (it does happen with outdoor cooking), unclean hands and cooking surfaces, many different noses and mouths breathing all over the food and no refrigeration for either the cooked or uncooked meat (remember, it was hot outdoors). It was interesting to realise that these were the first things I noticed, in my home these things happen on auto-pilot and keep me and my family free from illness or upset stomachs.
The Thai locals eat street food everyday and judging by the high number of familiar faces, they don't seem to be bothered by their cooking habits. Does this mean that the refrigerating fly swatters of the world are just pedantic over-reactors, or is there some sense to our madness? I can't help but wonder.
There was in fact another type of street food that was extremely popular with both the locals and vacationers, you would often find people huddled around the small carts waiting for their orders and walking the streets with the familiar paper plates that their food was served on. I am referring to pancake carts or what I more familiarly refer to as 'crepes'. These crepes were absolutely, amazingly, delicious. You could have them with a variety of fruit and condiments and they were always cooked in a way which left you with an almost moist, crispy but soft piece of cooked dough. My nightly special was a crepe with banana and nutella, I never tried any of the other fruits or condiments because I was totally and utterly fixated on my choice, which in one word was 'per-fecto'!
I never once got sick from eating my crepes - or pancakes - off the street and am quite sure that no restaurant could have beaten the perfection I experienced nightly. My only real regret is not having taken a photo to show you the beauty of the crepes I refer to.
So, I ask you, is the street food in Thailand really 'that bad', or is it us vacationers that have the strange cooking habits and pedantic expectations?
I bid you fare-well, I have a date with cheese.
TTFN - and for those that often wonder this is a term used by the cartoon character Tiger in the animated Disney series 'Winnie The Pooh'. It is a short abbreviation for 'TA-TA FOR NOW'.
So again, TTFN.
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