i eat this all the time. is it a health risk? when i eat pla ra it has usually been boiled but not always. Nam, I have eaten without cooking first on occasion as well. As for bpoo, that is salted but never boiled/cooked. As for bpoo, is it really the crab that gives the flavor or is it just the salt? i have to imagine the crab itself is rather flavorless. If this topic is better suited to the Isaan forum, feel free to move it.

Maybe better suited to the Thai Food forum, topic moved.

My Thai GF has just had a severe dose of food poisoning after eating uncooked Nam. Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

I also eat Som Tam Poo a lot when at the beach in Pattaya (between 8 and 10 chillies depending on my mood).

I always understood that the poo is fermented, freshwater crab. When I first started eating it I used to eat the crab as well, its quite crunchy and I thought might be a good source of calcium. However nowadays I tend to skip the crab shell and legs as I reckon the crab is mostly there to flavour the dish.

Eating un-cooked sausage sounds a very bad idea - I'd be careful with that, unless you fancy playing host to some 'guests' for a while

its always som tam mai sai pla ra, ped ninoi, piao ninoi, no experience with pla ra and hopefully never.

i always eat "raw" sausages, arent them precooked just like hotdogs

nam is not precooked. it is fermentated.

for me, all the best stuff in the world is fermentated: kimchi, saurkraut, pickles, nam, bpoo 55555

nam is not precooked. it is fermentated.

for me, all the best stuff in the world is fermentated: kimchi, saurkraut, pickles, nam, bpoo 55555

Beer