Somtam, Pla Ra Listed As Thailand's National Treasures

[lemoncake]

I read that pla ra unless boiled can give you liver flutes that in turn cause cancer . Quite a problem all over rural Thailand , no I can't remember where I read it google it yourselves .

Do you really expect the Culture Minister to talk to the Health Minister?

that depends if they cousins or related through marriage.

[numnut65]

Malcy is correct pla ra taken over a long period gives liver cancer. and i've told my gf to stop eating som tam with pla ra.

[DocN]

Sonthaya said the registration would encourage promotion of traditions among Thais, especially youth, while serving as a form of "immunity" against the overwhelming influence of foreign cultures.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a P.T.P. scoundrel.

Apologies to Samuel Johnson for the updating of his quote

As if anyone in this country would word that differently!

[harryfrompattaya]

Malcy is correct pla ra taken over a long period gives liver cancer. and i've told my gf to stop eating som tam with pla ra.

I say up to her if she wants to it okay with me. one should respect the Thai culture.

Love Thailand or leave it Just send her money.

[monty]

I read that pla ra unless boiled can give you liver flutes that in turn cause cancer . Quite a problem all over rural Thailand , no I can't remember where I read it google it yourselves .

Very true.

Fermented fish carries the risk of being infested with human liver flukes, which is a known carcinogen.

The wife of my boss died aged 45 of a form of liver cancer confirmed through testing being caused by liver flukes.

My sister in law died of liver cancer aged 39, no testing done but she comes from Thai Thai area where they almost live on that stuff.

That's 2 persons in my direct environment I know of!

[fatfather]

Pla ra is disgusting but I have eaten various Thai dishes with it , including som tam and tastes ok. It's the Thai version of Vegemite.

Vegemite is worse.

Fatfather

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Bpuumike]

All heathens.

Vegemite. Pla Ra.

Marmite rules

Certainly does, not that Vegemite copy

[khunken]

Why did they leave out 'fleeing the scene'. Surely one of Thailand's greatest cultural 'treasures'.

[kimamey]

I read that pla ra unless boiled can give you liver flutes that in turn cause cancer . Quite a problem all over rural Thailand , no I can't remember where I read it google it yourselves .

Yes it was mentioned on here not long ago. I wasn't aware of it before.

[sunshine51]

What a thread to stumble into....

Pla-ra has another use...found this on Wiki...

"In a recent move by police and redevelopment workers to evict vendors

from a market in the Khlong Toei District in Bangkok, the local vendors

barricaded themselves. During the scuffles that ensued, the traders made

"stink bombs" with thin plastic bags filled with pla ra and hurled them at the

police.^[3] At noon of 1 February 2010 bags of excrement and pla ra were thrown

into Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's house. Abhisit linked the incident to

Thaksin's assets seizure trial.^[4] Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban

(in charge of security) explicitly blamed the UDD for the incident.^[5] Afterwards,

the perpetrator was arrested. The perpetrator confessed and claimed that he

threw the stinky substance because he was fed up with police indifference to

his complaints of people smoking cigarettes near his house.^[6] "

From this I reckon pla-ra could also be used in the troubled Southlands

with a relative possibility of some success.

I love the som tam but the pla-ra can take a hike...

[tingtongtourist]

Malcy is correct pla ra taken over a long period gives liver cancer. and i've told my gf to stop eating som tam with pla ra.

Yes but im sure many Thai villager believe if you drink 2 bottles of Lao Khao also it reverse the effects of the som tum

[MaxiJaz]

Som Tum may be a national treasure but the polystyrene plate and plastic throw-away cutlery are a national disgrace.

I read that this style of plate never truly biodegrades and kept in a dry place out of the sun will last for ever... Other estimates range between 400 to 1,000,000 years...

[khaowong1]

Not to mention its laxative effects and ongoing and permanent digestive problems many Thais suffer through being addicted to ultra-hot chilli-spiced 'food'.

Yes, very true, but they love it, it's Thai don't you see. Never mind that their stomaches are being ate out from the inside.. Never mind that the crabs they throw in there have been dead for a week, never mind that the cabbage they use is quite susceptable to e-coli... it's Thai...

[cnxkoolpunt9]

Som Tom Chiang Mai: pet mak...laam da da!

[Payboy]

Luckily, every time I've had this national treasure, it passes through my body virtually unaffected, and I've been able to safely deposit it back in the national coffers.

[khaowong1]

I read that pla ra unless boiled can give you liver flutes that in turn cause cancer . Quite a problem all over rural Thailand , no I can't remember where I read it google it yourselves .

Yes, I read it also, I think off google. Don't you think it's ironic that a national dish for Thailand is a known cause of liver flukes. Ahhhh Amazing Thailand.

[sirchai]

Doesn't really matter if some people are dying every month through the too fermented fish, or poisonous crabs.

There's also a rumor that this sort of Somtham is causing a serious bacterial infection that affects peoples' spine. Very hard to treat.

You need a license to sell liquor, but everybody can produce and sell fermented fish? Gotta puke, when I smell my neighbor's Somtham!--

[caykay]

What about prostitutes, lao kao and "inactive posts"? All are definitely national treasures

[wildorchid]

any curry with coconut milk in it is Indian Malaysia in origin.

ARE you sure?, Thailand has many curry and coconut dishes over many generations,

so next are you going to say kao pad (fried rice) is chinease?

A few years America triyed doing this with Jasmine rice cliaming it is american but they were cought out and had to retract the statment.

[whistleblower]

They should make polystyrene dishes that somtam comes in a 'National Treasure' That way when the ? how many billion tourists arrive in 2013 and go to the beaches and remark "why are your beautiful beaches covered in litter?" The Thais can reply

"its a national treasure of thailand"

Come to think of it, lets make mangy stray dogs roaming around in packs a national treasure, again easy to explain away. Or packs of ladyboys hanging around Sukhumvit waiting to rob you - again another national treasure. Motorbike taxi mafia mobs - a national treasure etc

We need to be careful, Thailand could become the HUB of National Treasures

[Thai at Heart]

any curry with coconut milk in it is Indian Malaysia in origin.

ARE you sure?, Thailand has many curry and coconut dishes over many generations,

so next are you going to say kao pad (fried rice) is chinease?

A few years America triyed doing this with Jasmine rice cliaming it is american but they were cought out and had to retract the statment.

Ironically I learnt this on a Thai show in English talking about the history of Thai cuisine., with a very pooyai looking lady hosting.

Dry curries are Thai, the use of coconut milk came from Malaysian cuisine, who got it from Indian immigrants.

I think someone mentioned elsewhere that pad Thai is Vietnamese. At the end of the day, you can't fry rice if you don't have oil, so someone fried it first, maybe Thailand. Although stir frying originated in China I believe.

I think they should project American fried rice and American breakfasts, simply because they always contain this sqidgy little pink sausages never to be found anywhere in the USA.

Edited December 17, 2012 by Thai at Heart

[Payboy]

If Pad Thai is a ancient Thai dish, why isn't it called Pad Siam? Same question for Muay Thai.

[Jingthing]

any curry with coconut milk in it is Indian Malaysia in origin.

ARE you sure?, Thailand has many curry and coconut dishes over many generations,

so next are you going to say kao pad (fried rice) is chinease?

A few years America triyed doing this with Jasmine rice cliaming it is american but they were cought out and had to retract the statment.

Ironically I learnt this on a Thai show in English talking about the history of Thai cuisine., with a very pooyai looking lady hosting.

Dry curries are Thai, the use of coconut milk came from Malaysian cuisine, who got it from Indian immigrants.

I think someone mentioned elsewhere that pad Thai is Vietnamese. At the end of the day, you can't fry rice if you don't have oil, so someone fried it first, maybe Thailand. Although stir frying originated in China I believe.

I think they should project American fried rice and American breakfasts, simply because they always contain this sqidgy little pink sausages never to be found anywhere in the USA.

Thai fried rice is the Thai version of Chinese fried rice. Same concept with Pad Thai. Historically speaking, peanuts (pad Thai and Somtam, etc.) and even CHILIES are newcomers to Thai cooking. Old time Thai cooking only had black pepper. It's kind of fun to try to tell uneducated Thais that chilies come from the Americas (sometime they get angry). Edited December 18, 2012 by Jingthing

[BigBadSeattleLad]

WHOA!!! National Treasure?!? 28,000 people per year - that's 76 per day - die from liver flukes in Thailand:

"Statistics from the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand show that 28,000 people die from the liver fluke disease every year, which is an average of 76 people a day. This statistic is quite stunning, and seems to also include patients dying from acute and chronic cholangitis (infection of bile tract), not just from liver cancer. Provinces in Thailand with high rates of cholangiocarcinoma are Sakon Nakhon, Roi Et, Kalasin, Mahasarakham, Udon Thani, Yasothorn, Nakhon Phanom and Amnat Charoen, and Phrae. [Data form seminar at Khon Kaen University, August 2009]"

[FarangTalk]

If Pad Thai is a ancient Thai dish, why isn't it called Pad Siam? Same question for Muay Thai.

Pad Thai was 'invented' in the 30's or 40's by Thai fascist dictator Phibunsongkram. In truth he only named it t promote Thai nationalism. It is originally Vietnamese in origin.

Muay Thai has it's origins all over the region; Burma and Cambodia the main influences. Cambodia has boycotted the Asian games over the naming of the sport as it does not solely belong to Thailand.

[Bluespunk]

"He cited the phenomenal popularity of the Korean "Gangnam Style" video among Thai children, who he said know the dance by heart while possibly being ignorant of some of their own traditions, such as mark keb, a Thai version of the game of jacks."

Did he really say this? So it's wrong to know about a dance from another country (one I can't stand if I'm honest) because people don't know about a Thai copy of an overseas game? What on earth have these things got to do with each other? Does he want Thailand to ignore anything new and only praise Thai copies? That's the thinking of a self-centred nationalistic, buffoon who doesn't seem to think through what he's saying. A prime candidate for being the next PM.