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Foods from street vendors
In
Thailand even the sides of the streets often look like a moving feast
There are so many foods
available from wandering or fixed-site vendors, and trying some is part of
the Thai experience
Wherever Thai’s gather, food seems to follow. Sometimes it arrives on
each end of a pole slung over a shoulder; on other occasions in a cart
pulled by a vendor; but more often than not in a small kitchen attached to a
motorbike. These mobile restaurants are an integral part of Thailand’s
cultural landscape and provide affordable food to busy people with tiny
kitchens and limited budgets.
Hawker food is invariably fresh. If you’re eating an animal product, the
time between execution and consumption is minimised by the fact that vendors
can’t store food as full-blown restaurants oft do. In addition, the hawker
cooks much of the food as you watch, a process eliminating harmful bacteria.
Raw fruits and vegetables are a problem for some people, but the great
variety of food available makes it easy to avoid them.
Hawkers offer an amazing variety of food; some of the most popular dishes
are as follows:
Barbecued food – such as chicken (gai yang), fish, usually mackerel
or catfish, pork (moo yang) and eggs.
Steamed Food – such as corn (khao poot), rice dumpling stuffed with
pork (salapoa) and pork or shrimp wonton (serevekhanon jip).
Deep Fried Food – such as chicken (gai tod), spring rolls (po pia
tod) and fish cakes (tod man pla).
Stewed and Boiled Food – such as chicken with rice (khao man gai)
pork with red sauce and rice (khao ga moo) and noodle soup (kwaytiao nam).
Sweet Items – such as deep fried bananas (kluay tod), coconut cream
pancakes (khanon buang) and sticky rice with bananas or coconut then roasted
(khao niaw ping) or steamed (khao tom mud).
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