Well folks, here are a couple unsettling things I've seen.  The first, unlikely to be noticed easily was small wild birds flying into open air kitchens (if you can call them that) and landing/hopping around on wooden cutting boards and cooking surfaces when the kitchen workers walk away.  Ever wonder what the shops secret seasonings are?  I also saw this happen at a friend's indoor kitchen in the village!  The birds just flew in through the non-screened roof vents.  Unfortunately, most Thais don't seem to care about this.  When you see birds flying around inside the shopping mall food courts, it's another red flag.

 

Another time I order a bowl of noodle soup from a street cart.  While I was enjoying the soup at the small sidewalk table observing the cook serving other customers, I observed a Soi dog approach the food cart from the opposite side from the cook.  Well, the cook had food supplies (veggies,etc.) hanging low on the cart's frame by twine, and guess what happened.  Yes, the Soi dog lifted his leg and urinated on the hanging food!  The cart's cook didn't even see.

 

Just a reminder.  Be extremely aware of the environments where you dine.  Or should I say die?

 

 

 

It's what you don't see that's more of a worry.

I usually don't even bother looking for hygiene sins ... I just assume the standards are low here and hope to be lucky.

But one time I couldn't help seeing. Eating in an enclosed indoor aircon restaurant and low and  behold a large RAT climbs down from a pipe. The staff seemed unphased. 

11 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I usually don't even bother looking for hygiene sins ... I just assume the standards are low here and hope to be lucky.

But one time I couldn't help seeing. Eating in an enclosed indoor aircon restaurant and low and  behold a large RAT climbs down from a pipe. The staff seemed unphased. 

 

When I worked in a restaurant during college we were instructed always to use the term "rodney" for a rat or mouse so that the customers would not know what we were talking about.  It certainly didn't phase any of us.

A lot of what might harm you in the food, you can't even see. The hawkers' food is left in carts for hours in the sun, building up bacteria. Even if the food is cooked, the bacteria leave behind toxins that can cause stomach upsets.

Another thing is the cooked chicken for sale in the markets, lots of people lift them up, and good knows where their hands have been.

It does not matter so much with uncooked chicken, as it can be well washed, which you cannot do with cooked chicken, that is why I 

cook all my own chicken.

Again, you see minced pork for sale with flies on it, you cannot wash minced pork, the same with minced beef. You certainly do have to watch the hygiene here.

Folk in my homeland have been hospitalised after eating in posh restaurants...

 

Folk have died buying meat from butchers too, that's with all the regulations in place...

Humans have been on this planet for thousands of years without fridges and always rodents about...

But, I never buy or eat food from street stuff...My constitution is nothing like Mrs.Trans....

Once I was at a food cart and observed them washing the dishes with clean water and soap. 

On 13/10/2016 at 0:28 PM, Kwasaki said:

Try this , 

A few years back in Khon Kaen there was a food vendor near my house who used to wash his plates and cutlery in a bucket that looked as if a hillbilly had used it to drain his pickup's sump. I used to smile pondering at what point was he going to look at it and think "Mmm... Maybe that's the reason business isn't exactly booming"

For me the textbook definition of dilemma was another vendor who sold the only Chiang Mai Sausage for miles around outside their house and I'm a real fan of CMS. The only problem being they also kept a herd of buffalo behind the house so the food was covered in what I can only describe as a fly funeral and all the friends and relatives had shown up to pay their respects. I was sorely tempted but...