Why We Love Thai Food

[andrewbkk]

There is a thread right now that discusses how bad Thai food is.

I disagree. I love Thai food! I eat it everywhere. I eat on the streets; I eat in cheap restaurants; I get cheap take-aways; I eat at medium-priced places; sometimes I eat at expensive places.

But I ALWAYS love Thai food.

What are your favourites?

As for me .................

1. Penang moor

2. Mussaman ghai

3. Gung pak phad nam man hoi

[doji]

Me2...!!!!!

I get them everywhere....from day markets, night markets, sidewalk markets, maa & paa shops...

I don't eat from fancy places either.

My top 3 favorites :....1...noodles, 2...noodles, 3...noodles!!!

Edited July 11, 2011 by doji

[dean999]

The wife and i are in Belgium at the mo. The nearest thai food shop is Brussels. Nearly an hours drive from where we are. The wife trys her hardest with what we can buy from the shops here. Pretty good i think, she deserves a medal for that. But we are both missing a lot of thai dishes. I am like you, love all thai food. I actually get cravings for spicey food. Never got that untill i had been to thailand a few times and started to really enjoy the food. Now i'm lost without it.

Back on topic, I can't name any of the dishes i like cause i don't know the thai names. Sorry.

If i get five minutes, i will google and try to find them and come back to post.

[ra1n85]

Kra Pow Moo

Pee Gai Todd

Som Tam Thai

Pad Pak Boong

Pad Si-oo

Pla Ra with rice

[maiphedmaiaroi]

Som tam thai (bored of poo plara)

Yam neua

Pad kra pao gai no egg

geng som (not the southern one)

chicken with ginger (can rarely find)

laab anything

nam tok moo

some raw beef laab thing but only eat when drunk with thais

Tom yam talay

The list goes on.

Everything has to be spicey though. Im pretty sure chilli has some natural chemical in to get you hooked.

Hence the id name maiphedmaiaroi

[Boater]

for me it has to be the KFC Zinger Burger !... super Thai Spicy

[andrewbkk]

Pad kra pao gai no egg

Thammai mai mee khai dao?

I love those fried eggs!

[Blackandwhite]

Musaman pork

Larb

Pla Duk Foo

Mango Yam with deep fried prawns

[Razzler1973]

Num Dtok

Som Tum Phuu

Gai Nor Mai

even the lowly Khao Mum Gai ...

.... jeez, this list could go on for ages!

[andrewbkk]

Musaman pork

A man with style and taste!

[sbk]

I'm with andrewbkk, I love Thai food, still eat it regularly after all these years (although I have nothing to prove by eating it every meal). My entire family loves Thai food and are always on the lookout for good Thai restaurants back home. I take back curry paste for my sister's partner, he loves spicy spicy food and looks forward to my suitcase of Thai ingredients when I go back.

Dad loves the durian taffy, oddly enough.

So, I certainly can't understand those who hate it, and always wonder at those who travel to a country and perhaps marry someone from that country and yet won't eat the food (same goes for Thai people who don't eat western food btw).

Favorites? its hard to list, but fried curry pork with green beans and crispy fried fish on the side is up there at the top, so is nam tok moo, yum khai kem, laab neua and southern gaeng phet red curries.

[Trembly]

You'll like this then : Thai Food Blog

[Trembly]

Lately I've been craving Laab pla-dook lon (sounds like an abrupt "loan") . . . A very herby and fragrant Laab made with grilled catfish. The end result is a bowl of fish meat putty speckled with fragrant bits of herb and solid rocket fuel. It is ridiculously moreish. This is far and away the healthiest feeling laab, in my opinion.

I've only ever had this in the North, and I dare say that there will be regional differences but I bet that you could find this in a large-ish Isaan eatery.

Edited July 11, 2011 by Trembly

[craigt3365]

I love all Thai food. Except Durian and some of the crazier stuff (crickets, water bugs, etc.).

When we lived in the US, all my friends would beg to come over and have my wife cook Thai food. I was amazed at how popular it is back home. Always a hit!!!

[mizzi39]

Guess I'll post here, since the other thread is running its course. Thai food makes up about 70% of my diet. It's not because it's inexpensive so much as it is readily available and there are so many different dishes to choose from. I do like my western dishes which I indulge in a few times a week (whether going out or making them at home) to satisfy my "western" cravings. Our son who is half Thai likes western food as well, and I want him to experience different flavors.

Fortunately my mother introduced us to many different foods from different regions of the world at an early age. I must say that it took me a while to acquire a taste for certain things, but it definitely opened my eyes to different tastes. Eating the same style of food all the time is frankly boring (My opinion). "Variety is the spice of life".

One poster on the other thread stated that Thai food was spicy and bland. Spicy and bland at the same time? Didn't get it. Another poster on the same thread stated that Thai veggies are tasteless, but only pointed out a few basic veggies that are consumed in the west, missing a whole host of veggies that are found here.

Food hygiene is important to both my family and myself, so I am picky when eating out. To think that food is so hygenic in the west, just watch "Food Inc.. or talk to anyone who has worked in a food processing plant. The west consumes more processed food than anywhere else in the world.

As far as eating outside of the home, there are good and bad places all over the LOS, with many farang establishments falling into the mix.

Edited July 11, 2011 by mizzi39

[isanbirder]

Interesting to see the sweet Southern curries (mussaman and paneng) featuring. I agree with most posters, but above all I love food cooked by a good cook. He can make the dullest dish taste scrumptious, while a bad cook can make the best of dishes a disaster.

[welsh1]

Can eat most thai food me but have to say ( Massamam ) is my favourite...

My misses went to the market one day and they didnt have any potatoes to make my favourite dish .she said i will make it with pumkin instead..

Now i have never eaten a pumpkin in my life ..And whoooooo behold not only was it the bes test (massamam) i have ever tried,,I now insist she makes my massamam with pumking now instead of potatoes

Edited July 11, 2011 by welsh1

[roamer]

I must admit I was somewhat gobsmacked to see just how many folk on the other thread hated Thai food, and I do mean hate. I formed the opinion though that apart from possibly an Anglicised version of curry, this dislike would apply to anything other than their standard fare. Their dislike for Japanese or any other asian food was probably the same. In the opposite direction I think that any farang who gets along happily with Thai food is probably less conservative in their tastes and prepared to try out most cuisines ?

Maybe it also depends how important food is to your enjoyment of a lifestyle, personally I would hate to live somewhere if I hated the food, that would apply especially to LOS where food is also a large part of the culture.

[Darrel]

One poster on the other thread stated that Thai food was spicy and bland. Spicy and bland at the same time?

Sums up the whole of that thread. They're just nuts.

[Darrel]

A very herby and fragrant Laab made with grilled catfish.

I think that this is what the woman in the night food market in Soi Buakow (Pattaya) does. It's certainly grilled catfish and it's certainly salad.

[sbk]

Mussaman is nice, but not a favorite, now red curry with pumpkin and chicken is very nice, cook it well so that its nice and spicy.

Son in law eggs are also tasty and I love garlic and pepper pork (not the saucy kind but the kind where the garlic is crispy fried and crunchy).

[Darrel]

"What are your favourites?"

I love it all, except the (thankfully rare) things that are sweet but which aren't desserts.

[Ulysses G.]

I am not crazy about Thai food, but I do not hate it either. My two favorite dishes are Jup Chai and Kow Mun Gai, but they are actually Chinese dishes adopted by the Thais.

[theblether]

Pappaya Salat followed by super hot Tom Yam Kung, then followed by a visit to either the latrine, or an overnight in the local hospital.

Fabulous!! As my friend pointed out, food so hot it makes you cry, and you keep coming back for more !!

Thai food is amazing !!

[andrewbkk]

I love all Thai food. Except Durian and some of the crazier stuff (crickets, water bugs, etc.).

Maybe you should try insects. It's all about attitude and perception.

If a grasshopper (or a cricket) lives in the water then it's called a shrimp or a prawn. And it's delicious.

But if it doesn't live in the water ..... it's a disgusting insect that only peasants eat.

Try them. They taste very similar to shrimps and have a much higher protein content.

The same goes for scorpions. A water scorpion is a delicious crab or lobster. But a land-living scorpion is food for peasants.

It's all about perception.

BTW -- I read somewhere that many farang prisoners here in Thailand survive by eating cockroaches. Protein!!

[craigt3365]

I love all Thai food. Except Durian and some of the crazier stuff (crickets, water bugs, etc.).

Maybe you should try insects. It's all about attitude and perception.

If a grasshopper (or a cricket) lives in the water then it's called a shrimp or a prawn. And it's delicious.

But if it doesn't live in the water ..... it's a disgusting insect that only peasants eat.

Try them. They taste very similar to shrimps and have a much higher protein content.

The same goes for scorpions. A water scorpion is a delicious crab or lobster. But a land-living scorpion is food for peasants.

It's all about perception.

BTW -- I read somewhere that many farang prisoners here in Thailand survive by eating cockroaches. Protein!!

Ha! For sure. I've tried crickets, ants, ant eggs, "dancing" shrimp, bats, rats, etc. Ants and ant eggs were not too bad, but I hated picking crickets legs out of my teeth after eating them! Sure, it's perception...but hard to overcome that!

[maiphedmaiaroi]

Pad kra pao gai no egg

Thammai mai mee khai dao?

I love those fried eggs!

Just to greasy.

[maiphedmaiaroi]

I love all Thai food. Except Durian and some of the crazier stuff (crickets, water bugs, etc.).

Maybe you should try insects. It's all about attitude and perception.

If a grasshopper (or a cricket) lives in the water then it's called a shrimp or a prawn. And it's delicious.

But if it doesn't live in the water ..... it's a disgusting insect that only peasants eat.

Try them. They taste very similar to shrimps and have a much higher protein content.

The same goes for scorpions. A water scorpion is a delicious crab or lobster. But a land-living scorpion is food for peasants.

It's all about perception.

BTW -- I read somewhere that many farang prisoners here in Thailand survive by eating cockroaches. Protein!!

You havent obviously eaten scorpion then. Tastes like burnt plastic fried in some rancid butter also takes time to get down too as it has the texture of a old flip flop.

Agree that crickets r delicious though as with many of the other bugs. Would say the taste more like bacon crisps than shrimps

[sbk]

Fried stuff tends to taste like fried stuff. The smaller it is, the more it just tastes like fried stuff. And eating bugs is a regional thing, certainly not nationwide and not indicative of all Thai food, same as Mussaman is neither indicative of Thai food nor even of Southern food in general.

I haven't bothered trying bugs as it always just smells like old cooking oil and I don't even eat fried chicken cooked in old oil, why would I bother with bugs?

Anyway, bugs is not the be all and end all of Thai food and there are plenty of other delicious ways n which one can gain ones protein.

I love the crispy fried shallots and sauce that go with raw oysters for instance. Additionally, oyster omelets are quite tasty although I must admit I am not a fan of the sweet red chili sauce that comes with it.

[smokie36]

Interesting to see the sweet Southern curries (mussaman and paneng) featuring. I agree with most posters, but above all I love food cooked by a good cook. He can make the dullest dish taste scrumptious, while a bad cook can make the best of dishes a disaster.

I agree. I love great and well prepared Thai food but lazy cooking is also evident. Given how good I know it can be this is why its often a disappointment.

I love a good spicy moo yang nam tok for breakfast......nothing better to wake you up!