Street Food in Thailand

Street food is alive and flourishing in Thailand.  It is one of the mysteries of Thailand that although the country sometimes seems to be a vast, open air food market and eatery there are myriads of anorexic young people.

In Bangkok we stay at a hotel on Sukhumvit Road right at "Thong Lo" (but pronounced "Tawng Law" – Sukhumvit Soi 55). On the street there is food of all varieties at all time of the day and night – from fresh fruits (mangos, Thai oranges, longan, apples from Washington, strawberries, durian, rambutan, mangosteen) to coconut rice pancakes (kanom krok, available in the morning, see Siripon, Maker of Kanom Krok) to mouth-watering trays of prepared foods such as curries, basil pork and Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce. One of our favorite vendors grills sour sausage (succulent with rice grains), sticky rice and haw moek (a fish curry mousse). Another favorite is the night stall with kao ka moo, savory stewed pork leg served over rice with pickled vegetables. Another woman grills chicken livers and pork – her radiant smile proof that someone can be happy cooking on the noisy, polluted streets of Bangkok for almost no money.



Across the street on Soi 38 is a night market where every night the streets are lined with vendors in their carts selling everything from Thai food cooked to order to noodles to fresh fruit drinks or satay. We would eat by grazing – starting from the hotel we bought whatever caught our eyes and noses, finally making our way to one cart where we ordered vegetables cooked to order and served over rice.

At the night market it doesn't matter where you sit: if the chairs where you order are full, sit across the way. The vendors seem to know it will all work out. The vendors don't appear to be in competition with one another, they prefer the spirit of cooperation.

Street food is the ultimate form of capitalism. All you need to start out is a heat source and some food to cook. One vendor was grilling sausages over a large enamel bowl with coals and a grill on top. If the food is good, the vendor flourishes and grows. If the food is no good, no one eats it – instant feedback.
In touristed areas there is less street food but usually you need only walk a little ways toward a residential street and there it is again. This year we noticed a renewal of "hawkers" – vendors carrying their wares in two baskets suspended on a bamboo pole. There were several regulars on our street; one sold plastic bags with a dozen type of kanoms (Thai snacks and sweets); another sold roasted banana and eggs grilled right in one of the baskets; another sold fruit and yet another sold prepared food.

Many people are somewhat afraid to eat street food. I figure that you only need to make sure the vendor and equipment look clean, the ingredients look fresh and then eat only food that is still warm from cooking or that you saw cooked right in front of you. The one time I got sick from street food, I had eaten raw vegetables. Certainly it is wise to be cautious but we shouldn't forget the many incidents in the United States where contamination occurred in presumably safe processed and packaged food. One incident will suffice: in December 1998 Sara Lee recalled thirty-five million (that's right, 35,000,000) pounds of hot dog and luncheon meats that were contaminated with listeria monocytogenes. Fifteen people died, six women miscarried and 80 people became severely ill from eating the contaminated meat. (Thanks to "Caustic Commentary" by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig in the Winter 2002 Wise Traditions for this item.) So which is more dangerous? The worst thing I've ever heard anyone getting from street food is a day or two of the runs.