Koh Phangan- Edible Foods, Seafood

[RandoBrando]

What edible foods can I find on the island? what kind of seafood can I catch?

[sbk]

You mean like things you can eat that you forage for in the jungle?

I wouldn't recommend going into people's private property and eating the fruit from their trees for instance. Alot of people somehow assume that because its there and nobody lives on the land that its ok to take but I can assure you that is not the case. As for edible jungle plants, best to ask a local (and I do mean local- not some Thai person from somewhere else).

Yam bean or mun gaew often grows wild, I do know.

As for fishing, well, it depends on where and when and how you fish. You probably wont' have alot of luck catching fish off the rocks if you don't know what kind of bait to use or what kind of fish you are after.

[RandoBrando]

hmm I would ask the owner first of course lol. But what about oysters/clams lobsters or crabs?

[sbk]

clams are easy enough as are very small crabs but there are no lobsters and oysters are deeper water

[notmyself]

hmm I would ask the owner first of course lol. But what about oysters/clams lobsters or crabs?

I done it for years on Samui, hard graft but most days you can catch enough to feed yourself. Forget lobsters as there are none, oysters perhaps but you had better be a good swimmer and diver, crabs after dark around rocks using a miner's lamp but don't infringe on the locals who are usually there in groups. Clams you can always get but they are small and require lots of work. I used a basket from the front of a scooter to sieve the sand at the waters edge as the tide went out, an hour should get you enough for a meal. You can get squid with a lure but don't bank on it. I'd only think about the squid if I'd had a bad morning and had to do an hour or so of clam sieving. Launch the lure out as far as you can then do 5 minutes on the clams before repeating. Most effective way I found of feeding myself on seafood was to use a floating dropnet to catch small fish close to shore.

Fruit and veg is easy after you find out where you can go and what you can eat. Makes friends with a few old ladies in a village and ask them to walk into the hills with you, they simply love to show off their knowledge and skills. Even more so as the youngsters are just not interested which is a shame as the knowledge is getting lost. Among many useful things I picked up was how to start a fire using only a rock and a piece of dead, dry bamboo and how to steam rice, veggies etc. in a thick piece of green bamboo next to the fire you have just made (you need a knife to do that). Good luck and enjoy yourself.

Edited August 25, 2012 by notmyself