Thailand’s Som Tam voted 6th best salad in the world

[snoop1130]

Photo via Pixabay

 

Northeast Thailand’s “som tam,” aka spicy papaya salad, was voted sixth best salad in the world by online food guide TasteAtlas. Another Thai dish, phla kung, also won accolades, coming in ninth place.

 

Sanook pointed out that Thailand’s som tam was ranked higher than Cambodia’s green papaya salad, bok l’hong, voted 30th best salad.

 

TasteAtlas’s Top 10 Best Rated Salads in the World are…

 

1. Dakos (Crete, Greece)
2. Shopska Salad (Bulgaria)
3. Mechouia Salad (Tunisia)
4. Moravska salata (Serbia)
5. Greek Salad (Greece)
6. Som Tam (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam)
7. Goma wakame (Japan)
8. Ovcharska Salad (Bulgaria)
9. Phla Kung (Thailand)
10. Fattoush (Lebanon)

 

According to TasteAtlas…

 

“Som tam is a green papaya salad mostly associated with the northeastern part of Thailand (Isaan), though it is often suggested that it first appeared in Laos. Apart from thin strips of green papaya, this salad usually includes roasted peanuts, green beans, tomatoes, and a tangy sauce typically made with garlic, chilli peppers, fish sauce, dried shrimps, palm sugar, and lime or tamarind juice.”

 

“The varieties are plentiful and can include various additions. The sauce can also appear in many other combinations, and can significantly vary in sweetness and spiciness. Numerous restaurants and street stalls allow the customers to choose the variety they prefer and adjust the ingredients to their preference.”

 

Full Story: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thailands-som-tam-voted-6th-best-salad-in-the-world

 

-- © Copyright Thaiger 2023-04-20

 

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[ozimoron]

the customers to choose the variety they prefer and adjust the ingredients to their preference

 

I find it very salty. I'm going to ask my local som tum stand to leave out the sugar and fish sauce.

[3NUMBAS]

thais are addicted to the buzz from chillies

but farangs says it gives em the s h i  t s

[tuktuktuk]

I love a good Greek salad and Japanese seaweed salad is awesome too. I removed Som tam from my approved foods list years ago. Not only is it boring, but tends to cause gastric distress. 

[dinsdale]

I might be wrong but that picture in the article looks like som tam thai just called tam thai. More of a milder version with dried krill and peanuts. Article doesn't mention pla ra. If you don't know what pla ra is (every one in Thailand should) it's fermented fish. This is som tam pu pla ra. Pu is the crab. Sayamia Bankokensis which is a rice paddy crab.

Pla ra is the fermented fish sauce. Looks like this....

Personally I think it stinks real bad. This is added to the salad raw. You can get cooked versions. Cooked pla ra is safer because raw pla ra can have a little surprises in it which can lead to liver cancer. The surprise is this...

Som tam should be so spicy you can hardly eat it. I watch my wife eating it, sweat pouring off her face, facial contortions, in great discomfort but that's how it has to be. I'm sure the article can not be about this.

Edited April 20, 2023 by dinsdale

[Tarteso]

Now Som tam ???? Come on !

 

????

[Bim Smith]

If only people knew it's sauce is actually Bara a fermented fish that smells like a biological weapon for the stomach. If you want to be on toilet for weeks go ahead. They make Bara (pronounced Bala) at our local market and it truly is the worse thing I have ever had the misfortune to smell. 

[richard_smith237]

15 minutes ago, Bim Smith said:

If only people knew it's sauce is actually Bara a fermented fish that smells like a biological weapon for the stomach. If you want to be on toilet for weeks go ahead. They make Bara (pronounced Bala) at our local market and it truly is the worse thing I have ever had the misfortune to smell. 

Do you think this Bala that they make from fermented fish has the Thai word for Fish ‘Pla’ in it ?????
…. Perhaps a slim chance, eh ? ????

[RT555]

10 hours ago, ozimoron said:

the customers to choose the variety they prefer and adjust the ingredients to their preference

 

I find it very salty. I'm going to ask my local som tum stand to leave out the sugar and fish sauce.

Just order something else then or just keep walking.

[ikke1959]

The whole menulist of Thai Food is used as soft power to attrack tourists......No news only for feel good for Thailand

[Celsius]

Most Thai food (sold in Thailand) is garbage, but people won't admit it.....because Instagram

[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Northeast Thailand’s “som tam,” aka spicy papaya salad, was voted sixth best salad in the world by online food guide TasteAtlas. Another Thai dish, phla kung, also won accolades, coming in ninth place.

Very subjective....

[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, ozimoron said:

the customers to choose the variety they prefer and adjust the ingredients to their preference

 

I find it very salty. I'm going to ask my local som tum stand to leave out the sugar and fish sauce.

That's a bit like ordering a cheese burger, with no cheese or meat?

[SABloke]

1 hour ago, Bim Smith said:

If only people knew it's sauce is actually Bara a fermented fish that smells like a biological weapon for the stomach. If you want to be on toilet for weeks go ahead. They make Bara (pronounced Bala) at our local market and it truly is the worse thing I have ever had the misfortune to smell. 

In this week's lesson on how to pronounce Thai words incorrectly ????

 

The sauce is ปลาร้า = ปลา (Pla) + ร้า(ra) or (la) in some dialects

[quake]

What a load of Tosh. 

[bananafish]

I'm not vegetarian, but I only prefer som tam made vegetarian style. And not unbearably spicy. 

[quake]

6 minutes ago, bananafish said:

I'm not vegetarian, but I only prefer som tam made vegetarian style. And not unbearably spicy. 

Is that even possible ?

What about fish sauce.

[matador007]

#10 is #1 for me !
Have one around Soi Arab area in Bangkok if you can !

[Foexie]

A yummy poo pla rha with around 15 chilies for me ????

[2009]

12 hours ago, dinsdale said:

I might be wrong but that picture in the article looks like som tam thai just called tam thai. More of a milder version with dried krill and peanuts. Article doesn't mention pla ra. If you don't know what pla ra is (every one in Thailand should) it's fermented fish. This is som tam pu pla ra. Pu is the crab. Sayamia Bankokensis which is a rice paddy crab.

Pla ra is the fermented fish sauce. Looks like this....

Personally I think it stinks real bad. This is added to the salad raw. You can get cooked versions. Cooked pla ra is safer because raw pla ra can have a little surprises in it which can lead to liver cancer. The surprise is this...

Som tam should be so spicy you can hardly eat it. I watch my wife eating it, sweat pouring off her face, facial contortions, in great discomfort but that's how it has to be. I'm sure the article can not be about this.

Yeah, it's a filthy dish.

 

You can smell the rot across the table and it attracts flies while you are eating it.

[Red Forever]

Som Tam's dependence on Fish sauce and sugar make it a no no for me.

Notwithstanding the danger in adding sugar to any dish. (Look at the village clinics diabetes days). Liver cancer has been noted as a risk in eating this salad but there's another risk of cancer in the other Issan staple i.e. Snakehead fish and sticky rice where the family sit around, grab rice and then scrape the scales and exposed flesh with the sticky rice. Within the scales of these (not properly cooked) fish live the fluke worm which can attach to the kidneys leading to cancer.

 

[2009]

2 hours ago, RT555 said:

Just order something else then or just keep walking.

Lol. Why?

 

Do we have another offended Thai wannabe white knight on his high horse defending the purity of the papaya salad recipe??

 

So, he likes it without sugar or fermented fish water.

 

So what?

 

[dinsdale]

7 minutes ago, Red Forever said:

Som Tam's dependence on Fish sauce and sugar make it a no no for me.

Notwithstanding the danger in adding sugar to any dish. (Look at the village clinics diabetes days). Liver cancer has been noted as a risk in eating this salad but there's another risk of cancer in the other Issan staple i.e. Snakehead fish and sticky rice where the family sit around, grab rice and then scrape the scales and exposed flesh with the sticky rice. Within the scales of these (not properly cooked) fish live the fluke worm which can attach to the kidneys leading to cancer.

 

Snake head fish is delicious. Not sure about the liver fluke danger though as its cooked. 

 

[PB172111]

2 hours ago, Celsius said:

Most Thai food (sold in Thailand) is garbage, but people won't admit it.....because Instagram

One persons opinion. Personally I love it which is o e reason for me living here.

People not admitting it is garbage because of Instagram is an ignorant comment

[dinsdale]

1 hour ago, bananafish said:

I'm not vegetarian, but I only prefer som tam made vegetarian style. And not unbearably spicy. 

Apart from this...

and this....

som tam is vegetarian. Now som tam thai if you took the dried krill out wiith no pla ra it would be 100% vegetarian. Dried krill is...

 

[pp00]

Voted by who the <deleted>? Who was asked to vote? No news other than this?

[Kaopad999]

I like Som Tam, but i tend to avoid eating it on a regualr basis due to the high amount of sugar they use. Once a week is fine as i don't drink any fizzy drinks & rarely eat anyhting sweet.  My go to is Larb. Far more healthy & delicious IMO.

[RichardColeman]

......and number one to put you in the toilet for 24 hours after

[ozimoron]

7 minutes ago, Kaopad999 said:

I like Som Tam, but i tend to avoid eating it on a regualr basis due to the high amount of sugar they use. Once a week is fine as i don't drink any fizzy drinks & rarely eat anyhting sweet.  My go to is Larb. Far more healthy & delicious IMO.

I have long ordered som tum without sugar, as I do with all Thai food. Sometimes they look at me strangely and say "we never put sugar in this dish". I just smile and say "good". Ordering som tum with out fish sauce is just as easy. I also order it with one chili, "neung met". The lady in my local som tum stand has always remembered that I like only one chili and no sugar ever since the first time I ever asked her and always repeats it to me. I do like larb gai very much.

[ozimoron]

4 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

......and number one to put you in the toilet for 24 hours after

Very rare for me especially since som tum thai doesn't have the paddy crab. If Thai food ever sends me to the toilet it's only ever once and then things are back to normal.