A different relatives enters the room.<\/em><\/p>\n “Max, how’s the food there?\u00a0 Whats it like?”<\/p>\n “Ha ha, well everything comes with rice or noodles basically.\u00a0 It can be really spicy, and theres a lot of vegetables, chicken, and pork.”<\/p>\n Yet another relative enters the room.<\/em><\/p>\n “Oh Max, the food must be delicious!\u00a0 Whats it like?”<\/p>\n So, Skype isn’t always conducive to conversing with a flow.\u00a0 Especially when there are ten people on the other end who can’t all be around the computer at the same time.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n LISTEN UP!\u00a0 Thai food is just a bunch of rice with some stuff on it.\u00a0 Stir-fried stuff.\u00a0 Lots.\u00a0 Of.\u00a0 Rice. \u00a0I mean, look at all this rice!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Ok, its not just rice.\u00a0 Sometimes there’s some pork blood in your soup, sometimes there’s a jellyfish in your hot pot, and other times there’s just barbecued cow udder on a plate.\u00a0 Actually, the pork blood soup, baa mii nam dtok<\/em>, has grown on me.\u00a0 Disclaimer for all Jewish people heading to Thailand:\u00a0 Baa mii nam dtok<\/em>, contains porks blood broth, coagulated chunks of porks blood, and bbq pork.\u00a0 Not sure how kosher it is. \u00a0Also…you might want to watch out for this:<\/p>\n I’m from Southern California, we eat lots of spicy ethnic food there, I can handle spicy. <\/em>Famous last words.\u00a0 Four spoons of red spice later and I’m sweating and crying in public, drinking three iced teas, and Thais are laughing at me.\u00a0 After\u00a0destroying\u00a0all of my taste buds for the first month, I can now handle pretty much any som tam, tom yum, <\/em>or yum woon sen <\/em>you throw my way!<\/p>\n 1) Most vendors have no menu.\u00a0 They might provide an English-language menu, but its very limited, so its important to learn some Thai.<\/p>\n 2) One needs to learn to look at each cart and guess what the vendors can make based on what ingredients they have out and what kind of cooking utensils they’re wielding.<\/p>\n 3) Drop all fears of embarrassment. \u00a0Anytime you see a Thai person eating something that looks good, run up, point at it, and ask, “An nii cheu alai<\/em>? (“What is this called?”).\u00a0 Although, I will say from experience that this tactic will help you repeat a dish-name, like baa mii nam dtok<\/em>, but repetition doesn’t create a realization that there is\u00a0 pork blood in your soup.\u00a0 You just have to let ignorance bring bliss and repeat the mantra, “When in Siam, do as the Thais do.”<\/p>\n Thais often list their favorite activities as eating and sleeping.\u00a0 Many Thai restaurants cut to the chase, skip seating arrangements, and instead have bamboo mats and pillows\u00a0 so you can eat, lay down, sleep and digest.\u00a0 Pinch me.\u00a0 But its not just a world of food-induced comas over here; food has more meaning than that.\u00a0 Awareness is a major concept of Thai Buddhism.\u00a0 That is, being aware of everything in the present moment.\u00a0 Aware of your feet on the ground, the weight of the air on your skin, your own breath, and the giant chunk of sticky rice doused in the spiciest of nam prik<\/em> which is now burning a hole in your stomach (I could do an entire blog post on sticky rice.\u00a0 Hell, I could do a series of blogs about my love affair with sticky, white, beautiful kaew neeyao<\/em>).\u00a0 So when Thais eat, they don’t joke around.\u00a0 It isn’t a time to small talk, to read the paper, or deal with many distractions.\u00a0 They focus on their eating.\u00a0 Many Thai families are silent as they eat, devoting all their attention and awareness to the food in front of them (I’m usually devoting all my attention to controlling the spice-induced sweating).<\/p>\n Yes the Thais love to share their food, so don’t even think of trying to diet here.\u00a0 There’s no escaping Buddhism and its generosity in this country, which in turn means there’s no escaping sticky rice.\u00a0 The most important lesson a farrang<\/em> can learn is to always accept offerings of food.\u00a0 I’ve never seen such hurt in a Thai person’s eyes as when I decline an offer.<\/p>\n “Maxwell, you eat this!”<\/p>\n “No thanks!\u00a0 I’m really full.”<\/p>\n “Whats wrong with it?\u00a0 You don’t like this?”<\/p>\n \n “No, no, I love som tam<\/em>.\u00a0 I’m just really full!”<\/p>\n “Oh\u2026\u2026\u2026”<\/p>\n “OK ok ok, sure I’ll take the som tam<\/em>.”<\/p>\n “Good, Maxwell, eat eat!”<\/p>\n Am I becoming an adventurous eater?\u00a0 Or am I too nice to see sad Thai puppy dog eyes?\u00a0 Either way, it means when someone points me towards a soup with pork intestines and chicken liver in it, I sit, and am totally aware of that pig’s intestine visiting mine.\u00a0 Too aware.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Whats the food like there?” “Well its really spicy.\u00a0 A lot of rice, a lot of noodles, and a lot of stir fried things.” A different relatives enters the room. “Max, how’s the food there?\u00a0 Whats it like?” “Ha ha, … Continue reading ![\"Rice](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/files\/2013\/01\/IMG_6175-682x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/files\/2013\/01\/image_1359529650585476.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Spice](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/files\/2013\/01\/image_1359528454480598.jpeg\")
<\/a>Moving along. \u00a0No, I didn’t walk up to the first street vendor I saw outside the airport and say, “Give me your finest cow udder, my good man.”\u00a0 I worked my way up to these delicacies.\u00a0 It started with (duh) pad Thai.\u00a0 Every American on a coast has had this dish.\u00a0 But this was the first time I had seen the spice system.\u00a0 Every table you ever sit at in Thailand comes with a rack containing four jars.\u00a0 Red spice, pepper vinegar, sugar, and fish sauce.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/files\/2013\/01\/foodstands-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Once my spice tolerance was up to par, I had to find out how to not get sick of rice. \u00a0The trick to unearthing all of the culinary possibilities contained in rice, noodles, vegetables, and meat is learning enough of the Thai language to be able to unlock the “secret menu.”\u00a0 There are several things to keep in mind while exploring Thai food:<\/p>\n![\"Prepared](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/files\/2013\/01\/IMG_9423-682x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>But eating isn’t just a solo-spiritual affair; Buddhists love sharing.\u00a0 All social events have food.\u00a0 Every school event usually has a bag of sticky rice and a chicken leg.\u00a0 I haven’t been to a funeral or wedding yet without pork rinds (those bags are usually four feet tall).\u00a0 An event could have absolutely everything go wrong.\u00a0 People could show up late (they probably will since they’re on “Thai-time”), the whole event could be off-schedule, or a sudden monsoon could rain out the party, but without a doubt: There. Will. Be. Sticky. Rice.\u00a0 I’m ok with this fact of life here.\u00a0 I love food.\u00a0 But not like Thais love it, and somehow they’re all skinnier than us Americans.\u00a0 We’re doing something wrong\u2026the answer may lie in sticky rice.<\/p>\n![\"Som](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/files\/2013\/01\/IMG_5356-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/p>\n