Hello, in Tom Yum soups like Tom Yum Khung i always find these ingredients: 

 

Do Thai people eat them? Or are they just added for taste, but left uneaten on the plate/in the bowl?

 

I asked several Thai foodies about it, including a restaurant cook. They all suspected i suspect Thais of poisoning me with inedible ingredients. They insisted: “Yes, can eat!” 

 

I have no doubt you can eat it. But do they really? No Thai was able to distinguish between 

– possible to eat

– actually eaten by most people

 

Then i talked to a professional Cambodian cook who does excellent Thai and Mexican stuff as well. She said: 

 

“I pitied the foreigners gnawing on these woodsy and leafy bits. When i knew the Tom Yum or some such was for a foreigner, i fished those ingredients out after cooking with them.”

 

Obviously she didn’t worry being blamed with delivering an incomplete Tom Yum. Was she right to fish the stuff out? Would you have liked to gnaw on it?

Purely there to add flavour, not to be eaten. I wouldn't want to be chomping on a stick of lemon grass, a lump of galangal/ginger or a kaffir lime leaf etc. Too intense a flavour to eat but all delicious when used to add flavour.

7 hours ago, Keeps said:

Purely there to add flavour, not to be eaten.

Keeps, thanking for comment and identifying. I fully agree with you, but i am still not sure what Thais make of it.

6 hours ago, henrik2000 said:

Keeps, thanking for comment and identifying. I fully agree with you, but i am still not sure what Thais make of it.

 

Thais do not eat those - they push them aside or leave them in the bowl. 

18 hours ago, Keeps said:

ginger

This I try and eat as does the Thai gf - but depends if thinly sliced or not and young or old - if old and chewy then no.

The bit showing in the picture from the OP - no I wouldn't attempt to eat.

2 minutes ago, topt said:

This I try and eat as does the Thai gf - but depends if thinly sliced or not and young or old - if old and chewy then no.

The bit showing in the picture from the OP - no I wouldn't attempt to eat.

Both myself and my Thai GF eat ginger in various forms if we are going on a long car/bus journey or a boat/ferry journey.

 

We both find it alleviates nausea. It may be a ginger supplement, raw, thinly sliced ginger, crystallized ginger (which is particularly effective) or even a ginger biscuit/cookie (if I have remembered to bring some back from a trip back to the UK). 

Do not eat them! The restaurant relies on their being left behind so they can be put in the next batch of soup they make.

14 hours ago, topt said:

This I try and eat as does the Thai gf - but depends if thinly sliced or not and young or old - if old and chewy then no.

The bit showing in the picture from the OP - no I wouldn't attempt to eat.

I eat ginger all the time because of it's well known health benefits and vitamin content.

The rest is purely for flavour.

Hi all, thanks for more interesting input!

Ginger is a wonderful herb. The Khmers have a Ginger/Garlic soup that is so healthy that I saw a dude with serious pacreatitis cure himself with it.

 

I got the recipe and adapted it. The only problem it takes about 5 hours.

 

I do eat the ginger and garlic out of the soup, but only the parts that I chop finely.

 

I have eaten the Kaffir Lime leaves in the past. Sort of like grape leaves.

14 hours ago, topt said:

This I try and eat as does the Thai gf - but depends if thinly sliced or not and young or old - if old and chewy then no.

The bit showing in the picture from the OP - no I wouldn't attempt to eat.

Young ginger has a more subtle flavor and is more pleasant to eat.  My wife cooks pork with a lot of young ginger regularly. 

For the ginger neophytes, a picture of young, medium and old ginger (from the left, clockwise):

Not sure why all this discussion of ginger.  Tom yam doesn't contain any.

15 minutes ago, Foxx said:

Not sure why all this discussion of ginger.  Tom yam doesn't contain any.

Whatever you buy may not. Obviously for many of us it does...........

I always chomp down the galangal and discard the sticks and leaves.

works for my mrs