How Has Thailand Changed Your Eating Habits?

[Neeranam]

When I came to Thailand many years ago, I was a pretty strict vegetarian leaning towards being a vegan.

As I couldn't speak Thai when I came here and living away from the tourist areas, I found it very very hard to eat veggie meals. I eventually gave in to some egg, then a bit of fish, then chicken, and now the occassional bit of pork.

I eat Thai food in Isaan now, with hardly any Farang food, as I don't like most of it that you can get here. I used to like spicy food before I got here, and still do, but not to the excesses of the "normal' Isarnese.

How about you?

[astral]

It is hard to beat a plate of Kao Pat Gai, especially at 20 baht.

[~G~]

Well.... living in central Bangkok I can stay spoiled with lotsa choice. Do miss some things that either can be found in a very few places or just overpriced.

don't see how can someone stay vegeterian here without cooking for himself (or sticking to indian/foreign restaurants). My sister, a very strict vegeterian, visited me here for a week and had a rough time foodwise.

Edited July 18, 2005 by ~G~

[Jai Dee]

The variety of food (both Thai and Farang) available in the larger cities like BKK, Pattaya, and Korat, usually adequately caters for all tastes... and it is also reasonably fresh and plentiful. Living in the sticks however does present it's problems if your diet demands Farang food.

I like a combination of both.... if I'm without one for any more than a week I get withdrawal symptoms and start to exhibit cravings.... like driving the 100km's or so from the missus village to Khon Kaen just so I can stock up on bacon and cheese and bread for my breakfast.

Having said that, on my sojournes back to Oz every 12 or 18 months or so, I find myself really craving some decent Thai food, and end up driving the missus to the supermarket so she can get the ingredients to cook up a storm of the real thing for us both.

Edited July 18, 2005 by Jai Dee

[Dakhar]

In my humble opinion, going native is one of the ways to really appreciate Thialand.

I love Thai, food, so going native to me is not like I have to sacrifice something.

Now I must say I crave some things that are not easily found. My mother-in-law thinks I am nuts when I frown upon dishes such as ant eggs and other strange things.

But when she comes to America, she will absolutley not touch American food. It is funny to me, when I am in Thailand, I am expected to be open minded, tolerant etc. But when she comes to America.... OH NOOO not her.

Fortunatley my wife is very open minded, and really does not frown upon American food. So cousine is seldom an issue.

[meom]

Usually eat thai food but after a couple of weeks always get a craving for pizza, hamburgers etc.

[RDN]

I've just had a chicken madras from the local Indian restaurant in Rawai. The other night I had a chicken tikka masala from another Indian restaurant in Chalong. I guess I can't do without Indian food.

[Zarkow]

Since we buy our food from foodstands for most meals, we might say that one has indeed gone local.

I definitly eat more chicken now then I 'could afford' before, but that is since it is overpriced in scandinavia...

A lethal food-allergy kinda limits my wish to 'go mad' and eat most kind of food, but those I can eat I do enjoy.

[RamdomChances]

I eat a varaity, when I first came here my tolerance to spicy food was pretty low, now I can eat almost anything. I find even out in the "sticks" I can buy enough ingrediance to make most "falang" food and if you like Indian all the ingrediance are avalible to make a good curry. Our local 7/11 is really good stocks bacon, ham, butter, bread mainly cos I buy it.

Cheese, potatos and decent beef can be a bit of a problem, but somebody is usually going into Nakhon about once a week and you can get them there. You can make a decent casserole with local beef. Usally eat about 70% thai 30% falang

[udon]

Yes Yorky, and I miss chatting to my favourite hawkers in my piss-poor Thai.

[pnustedt]

I've always liked spicey and oriental food. The thing that gets to me in Isaan is the way absolutely nothing is wasted. The entire chicken is eaten and the bones used for stock. If you don't eat it all for dinner it will come out again for breakfast, lunch . . . . etc. until it is gone.

Also, how a meal can be rustled out of nothing - there will be an empty larder but a walk through the fields and mushrooms, all sorts of weeds, bugs, etc. appear and hey presto, we have lunch! Of course accompanied by steamed rice in a cane basket with a lid.

All meat dishes look the same, a sort of grey sludge - you can tell if it's fish by the fine bones, beef by the grissel, pork is more fatty.

I like to get away now and again for a western style meal!

[Thaiquila]

At this point my life, I am living half the time in Thailand and the other half in America.

In America, I eat mostly Asian food (Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, Indian) and also Mexican and some American southern food because it is new and exotic to me. In the US, I never eat pizza or European food or burgers and also no Thai food because I have gotten used to Thai food as it is done in Thailand and paying 10 dollars for a pad thai sounds like highway robbery. I am also a hot and spicy food fanatic.

Ironically, in Thailand, I eat more western food than America. Generally one Asian meal a day (mostly Thai and sometimes Korean or Chinese).

But I also like to eat a farang food meal almost every day, which is weird. Things like pizzas, European food, tuna sandwiches on baguettes, etc.

It is partly driven by economics, whatever is good and cheap, but I think going for more European food is also a comfort thing, something to lessen the culture shock.

Edited July 19, 2005 by Thaiquila

[Boon Mee]

One thing I've noticed recently is the quality of Kway Teeow has gone down in the BKK area - all over. Food stalls, sit down restaurants, everywhere. I can still get 'Heng' and 'Nam' out in Suphan like before.

Maybe it's all these danm foreign restaurants sprouting up that are diluting good old-fashioned Thai grub.

[buadhai]

We live in Korat and eat a combination of both local food and farang food. My girlfriend lived and worked abroad in the hospitality industry for seven years so learned to eat lots of non-Thai food.

Our daily breakfast consists of PB&J on whole wheat bread. I think that's my girlfriend's favorite meal.

There are a couple of simple, outdoor restaurants near our house, so lunch and dinner is often take out food from there; the typical stuff: noodles, fried rice, etc. Maybe our favorite is rat na.

Sometimes I bike down to the main road to get some Gai Yang, Khao Niao and Som Tom for lunch. Pig out!

We often lunch at The Mall -- pizza, salad bar and burger, or tonkatsu from Fuji.

Sometimes we eat at the food court at The Mall or Lotus.

Now and then we'll go out for a Thai meal at one of the nicer Thai restaurants. Suan Pak, near the Monument is a favorite.

And, sometimes, for dinner, we stop on the way home and just get a big bag of roti! Yum yum!

And, believe it or not, I'm losing weight!

[TizMe]

I loved Thai food long before I even thought about visiting LOS. Now that I'm here I mostly eat Thai food breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Occassionally the family decide that we are having pizza. I eat it with them but would never have ordered it if they didn't want it.

About once a week I need to have a cheese and vegemite sandwich.

[buadhai]

About once a week I need to have a cheese and vegemite sandwich.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Takes a week to recover from that, does it?

[Totster]

About once a week I need to have a cheese and vegemite sandwich.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Now.. "cheese and marmite" sandwiches on the other hand ...

totster

[Neeranam]

After saying that I don't eat much farang food, I got home last night from work and my wife had spaghetti chicken balls waiting for me. Chicken balls with a cheese centre, and a great Italian sauce, "koat aroi"(careful who you say this to). translated as "######ing delicious"

[Jai Dee]

About once a week I need to have a cheese and vegemite sandwich.

Now.. "cheese and marmite" sandwiches on the other hand ...

totster

Don't start...

[Thaiboxer]

The quality/taste of many Western dishes here probably encourages a lot of foreigners to eat Thai food most of the time. I've had the same experience with Thai food as another poster on this thread....the first time I came here I couldn't tolerate spicy foods well. Now, I can eat just about any level of spicy food; even more so than my brothers-in-law. I eat a mixture of both Thai and Western food and occassionally, I'll indulge in Subway if I happen to be driving in that area. Tuna fish, mustard and decent bakery bread are not too difficult to find here so I often go for tuna sandwiches. Even with what's available in terms of Western food, nothing beats home cooking. My wife and I have made everything from pan pizzas to banana muffins in our small oven.

[Firefan]

I eat practically everything ranging from food stands to Western restaurants. I have noted that the heat makes me eat less in general (but it also makes me do less physical stuff..dammit...) - and that Thai food becomes me better than the heavier Western treats in this heat.

Cheers!

[autonomous_unit]

We mostly cooked stir-fry in California and we mostly do that here, but what is missing is the occasional western dish or other more elaborate item that requires an oven or more kitchen facilities than we have in our current rental. Hopefully this will change sooner or later... we've started accumulating spices to try to make a few of the Indian dishes we made before. If I could find tortillas and good tortilla chips, I'd be making burritos and salsa to satisfy one craving!

I like the more intense ingredients like basil, kiefer lime, ginger, garlic, young pepper, and chilis, but there is often a parallel menu. My wife and her family (whenever they stop by) enjoy a much wider range of Thai foods than I do... I don't care for seafood, coconut milk, nor what to me is the bland and salty midsection of Thai and Chinese cooking. I was the odd one out with foods as a child too, so I don't see peer pressure as likely to make me really "go native" here.

The only "western" food I've had here in my first year is pizza at a mall, maybe once a month. At home, I like to keep some essentials like cheese, crackers, bread, and peanut butter along w/ the more Thai-style snacks. We also get the Thai "fast food" noodles and stir fries from the local alley shops more often than is probably wise.

Whenever I go back to the US now, I find myself going for green salads, soups, and sandwiches on my own to make up some shortfall! Otherwise, it is just going with the desires of the people I am going out with. I have noticed that my appetite has adjusted to a more Thai style in terms of proportions and a propensity to snacking. The restaurant meals I was served in the Chicago area recently were frightening even though I am not a small person.

[fw1]

Have been a vegetarian for 15 years and been in Thailand for 5 years now -never once had the urge to eat meat or seafood. I'm fortunate enough to have never liked meat and have always thought it -red meat especially- smells like sewage. Fish: well the sea is full of piss and siht, which is enough to put me off eating them. Thai food: too many occasions of it giving me stomach trouble, so rarely eat it these days, tend to eat a combination of sandwiches, pizza, pasta, salad, or Indian food, which is pretty much how I have eaten my whole life. Sometimes it gets a bit boring but not often. Having worked as a chef for years before I came to Thailand, I can cook my own food but hardly ever do -no excuse, sheer laziness.

[fw1]

After saying that I don't eat much farang food, I got home last night from work and my wife had spaghetti chicken balls waiting for me. Chicken balls with a cheese centre, and a great Italian sauce, "koat aroi"(careful who you say this to). translated as "######ing delicious"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry can't type in Thai at work as I can't gain access to the settings. 'koat' as you've spelt it 'kort' as others do (sala 'o', kor kwai, raw reau, tor tao) , is b.l.o.o.d.y in English not the f- word, if that's what you typed.

[sua yai]

My wife and I generally cook indoors.

Her renditions of classic Thai food have been toned down chilli wise for me and my attempts at Western food have been spiced up.

A good compromise for us.

On the few occasions I've been back to the UK, I've found that the food there is pretty bland, unless someone knows how to make it more interesting. I don't just mean chilli wise.

[Harmonica]

I've just had a chicken madras from the local Indian restaurant in Rawai. The other night I had a chicken tikka masala from another Indian restaurant in Chalong. I guess I can't do without Indian food. 

Take a break and go to Los Amigos in Nai Harn --located on your right just before the left turn going up to Laem Prompthep! Top notch Mexican food -- simple setup but clean and the food is better than even some expensive places in BKK.

[uncle paul]

My wife and I generally cook indoors.

Her renditions of classic Thai food have been toned down chilli wise for me and my attempts at Western food have been spiced up.

A good compromise for us.

On the few occasions I've been back to the UK, I've found that the food there is pretty bland, unless someone knows how to make it more interesting. I don't just mean chilli wise.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

we often use on of those small round ovens to make a roast chicken and serve it with mashed potatoes and other veg. the thais seem to love it or is it because of the few bottles of scotch that seem to always go with it

i love thai food but cannot eat it all the time : english food is the worst anywhere ive ever been in the world (that is the english eat and make the worst food anywhere). a burger a week keeps me happy in thailand.

must go back to a market in udon and get the best roast pork ive ever tasted . umm and theres a great vieanamese restaurant in udon

vegetarians have to be careful as thai's cannot understand that a chicken broth/stock is not acceptable to vegetarians

Edited July 19, 2005 by uncle paul

[cloudtiger]

I love Thai food, but I have to remember to order everything with "nam manh noi noi, may say pong churot" (little bit of oil and no MSG). I get my way about half the time

I make pasta about twice a week, often for farrang friends otherwise it would be just lonely me and my plate of pasta, glass of wine, and UBC. Thais friends stop by and politely poke at the pasta and ask for ketchup or sugar, so I quit imposing it on them.

[Bangkokbutcher]

I've always been a lover of Thai and most Asian food in general, so it's not too difficult to adapt when i'm in town.

As long as I get a farang food fix every now and again when i'm in need of one, then all is well .

I also find that I usually lose a bit of weight when I'm over, probably a combination of sweating too much and eating a little healthier I guess

[madmitch]

[it.s mostly Thai and often I haven't a clue what I am eating, especially when I stay in Chachoengsao. "Gang Gop" was served last week, frog curry!

I hardly ever touched KFC in England but now tend to eat it quite regularly. My stomach cannot take Thai food every day and it's definitely the fast food chain of choice for me.