Rob and Anna's travel adventure

My View - I LOVE Thai food [Rob´s Thailand Entry (#1)]

Note: This entry is a bit of a rag on other travelers that we've met (which is the subject of another blog entry). Travelers have become one of the major annoyances during our trip. This also refers to our experiences in the parts of Thailand we visited. Perhaps other locations are different.

How many times have I heard this from Westerners: "I LOVE Thai food!!"? Admittedly, I too used to say something similar, though liking (as opposed to loving) 'Thai' food. I forgive people that have not been to Thailand that make such a claim, but take some issue with westerners that have been there.

Anna and I ate THAI food. Let me tell you about REAL Thai food- the food that Thai people eat. Per my western palate, at best, it is OK. Not great, not something to love, basically OK. This is at best. At worst, it's inedible. Before you all yell at me, let me share my supporting evidence and conclusions.

Our first place of staying where we ate 'real' Thai food was on the island of Koh Tao. Lots of (what I think were) high-priced restaurants, all advertising 'Thai food'. I know they advertised this because I could read it. It was all in English. The Thai language is a mystery of curvy hieroglyphs impenetrable to all without purposeful study. Instead of being ripped off in these restaurants, we gravitated to this grocery store that had several large pots of food cooking. The lady that ran the store cooked the food herself and barely spoke enough English to tell the prices. A bag of 'curry' was about USD$0.70. We sampled several pots, got some egg rolls, some fried sate things, rice, and the total came to about $2-3 for both of us to eat. While other locals came to buy food from her, westerners would sometimes come and immediately turn away in disgust. We ate all our meals from her, which she appreciated and respected, and treated us very well (a refreshing change from the mostly-indifferent Thais), after all, we typically bought 3-4 times more food than the locals did (we were hungry after diving and it was a popular place with the locals). Some dishes were OK, some we simply couldn't eat. The worst of what I could eat was full of bitter bamboo shoots, insanely hot round chilies (one bag was a full one-third chilies- I measured it), and grease. I threw that one up the next day. Call it Thai food, call it what you want, but THIS IS THE FOOD THAI PEOPLE EAT. Not the westerners, not on English menus, not in restaurants advertising 'Thai food' (along with pizza and burgers). We sampled her food twice daily (lunch and supper). We liked the fried things and a couple of the curries were OK to good (per our palate). The rest is what I'd describe as curried @ss. OK, so that was one data point, what about others?

The next data point was also where we did our first scuba diving (in Thailand). The scuba company was western, but typically the boats were owned by local families, and seemed to serve as a home also. One day between dives, I began to smell something dead. Real dead and smelly. Simultaneously, the Thai crew was opening some cans of something and preparing their lunch. It seemed the suspicions were correct, the smell was likely their lunch as western-residents (like the scuba crew) told me that the 'fish paste' has the odor described. I seem to recall several similar instances over the days.

Additionally, we passed through other towns, and poked our heads in numerous cafeterias, stalls, etc. We've seen many pots of 'god-knows-what' cooking inside. Big piles of some unidentifiable internal parts of some animals sitting around. Other things that honestly smelled like manure nearby. We gave most of those places a pass, besides no one there would be able to understand us anyway.
Another data point was during our live-aboard diving. Again, we had a Thai crew, only this time they also were in charge of preparing our meals. When we were finished with our first supper, I was horrified to see the tasty left-overs thrown overboard. The crew (lady) cooked up some 'Thai' food for us, tofu, chicken, coconut milk, veggies, spices, etc. and rice, all tossed. I pleaded with our western scuba crew that maybe the Thai family (boatman and family) would like this food. I was informed that 'they might eat the rice, but they won't touch the food they make for us (similar to what you might get in a western Thai restaurant), and we DON'T want to even think about the food they eat'. Another data point.

Finally, we met up with some Germans that 'love' Thai food, but was looking for cheap authentic eats. We took them to a night market, where similarly to us, also liked the fried things (egg rolls, sate, etc.). Several vendors had anywhere between 6 to 10 big pots of 'Thai' food. We steered them to a few to sample that we thought they might like, and after the Germans sampled some, selected one with rice. After about 5 or 10 bites, they proclaimed that the food was too hot and they couldn't finish it. I did however, it was a bit spicy, but not as much as some. It was OK, and certainly edible. Not great, but would satisfy hunger. Basically the same food we have eaten throughout Thailand- Thai food! But Westerners DON'T love it, in fact, they refuse to eat it. (BTW- I had a similar impression of 'Chinese Food' after visiting Taiwan. It will sustain life, but nothing to eat for pleasure beyond not feeling hungry anymore.)

My final conclusions are: Westerners DON'T love Thai food, at least not the food the Thai's eat. They love the westernized watered-down facsimile of Thai food, the stuff the Thais refuse. That's the food served in restaurants with English menus, English speaking staff, and pizza/spaghetti/Mexican also available (same for real vs. fake Chinese food). So (particularly Western TRAVELERS), stop giving me the 'stink-eye' when I honestly say that I'm not too wild about Thai food. Don't show me how 'open' you are to new food and how much you 'love' everything. We ate the 'real deal', the curried a$$ described above, and it's definitely an acquired taste one has to grow up with to fully appreciate.

posted by Rob and Anna @ 3:31 AM