MELODY TIENYUN

More than halfway done with my summer, I have yet to discuss one of the most important things, food. A trip is never complete without trying local delicacies. Luckily for me, I was outside of the city in a “suburban” neighborhood where outdoor markets twice a week were just a short motorcycle ride away.

Mango sticky rice is a well known classic internationally, but what I had never seen were the tropical, large green mangoes that were sour and not sweet. Instead of eating these with condensed milk, the students took out spicy chili packets (smiler to what would use with instant ramen) and dipped their mangoes in that!

Bang for your Buck

The first day, we went to a supermarket, Big C, and ate at the food court. A pad thai (not pictured) of a smaller portion was only 30 baht, about $1 USD! I have to say, it tasted about the same as it would in California. But, $1! On top of the already flavorful noodles, it is normal and customary to add even more spiciness, sugar, sour sauce, and more to the dish. Some Thai favorites are: Som Tum (green papaya salad) , Tom Yam (clear sour and spicy soup), and Pad Kra Pow (Thai basil chicken).

One thing I was not used to was using a plate, spoon, and fork to eat Asian food. Growing up, I always used a bowl and chopsticks for rice and noodles.

Another saying in Chinese is (roughly translated) “breakfast eat until full, lunch eat well, and dinner eat less.” At home, I fail horribly at this. For most of my life I usually skip breakfast, but here, I had to get used to shoving a dinner-sized meal into my stomach for breakfast. What I eat for breakfast here is more like something I would eat for dinner: rice, vegetables and some pork, and occasionally a soup.

There is ALWAYS soup. However, instead of drinking it in a separate bowl, you simply mix it into your rice to eat with everything else. As always, Asians eat family style and I love it. It feels like home.

Being outside of downtown and tourist central, I don’t frequent many restaurants. I have tried some of the noodles from family owned shops that are opened outside their houses. They are all DELICIOUS. A standard sized bowl is 30 baht, and a large size is 40 baht. If you want a drink to go with that, add another 10 baht-30 cents! The reason these places are so cheap is because you are sitting outside with no AC, and the dining area is not the cleanest. But if you care more about taste and quality, this is the place for you!

Pad Ka-Prao (basil chicken rice) is a staple, yet I had never had it before living here. The students took me to what looked just like someone’s home in the neighborhood and ordered one for me. With lots of hole in the Wall Street vendor type places, they said

“The place is dirty, but the food is really good!”

Homestyle

Most of the time, however, I eat all the yummy foods that Jia Mei cooks for us. She is so considerate that in the beginning, she even made a separate plate for my brother and I that was less spicy. Our weak stomachs try to handle the intensity of everyone else’s food, but we cannot measure up. With all the chili, peppers, and flavors used in their food, it’s no wonder they think food of other cultures is so bland. Jia Mei will see me drink a clear broth and say, “That has no taste, it’s not good!”

Everything we eat at home is fresh from the traditional markets, grown by farmers in the mountains or locally. Almost everything we eat has no pesticides or preservatives, and Jia Mei can spot them a mile away! One look or taste and she will say, “This has preservatives!” I wish my taste buds were that sensitive. Even the pork and chicken is raised locally and the chicken is so fresh, the one in my soup was alive yesterday!

I asked the girls, “What do you prefer to eat: rice or noodles?” Stella’s answer was, “Rice, because I get full from rice but not noodles.” This really checked my privilege because I don’t think I would ever give an answer like this one when asked which food is my favorite. They are not lacking in food here, but I forget that some of them come from backgrounds where they carried buckets of their own water, and grew the food that they ate.