L.A. hipsters slouch over “Thai Street Food” at Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles. Photo: Patchamon Suriyont
THAI FOOD 101 — Thai street food has become “a thing” everywhere.
(Even if it’s really Chinese, but more on that later.)
Such is the demand for a taste of Thailand that travelers don’t even need to fly to the kingdom – its street food is coming to them. In cities around the world, people are selling steaming piles of food to other people and calling in “Thai street food,” like this is a gourmet mark of distinction.
Perennial Hainanese chicken rice favorite Gai Tawn Pratunam (more popularly known as “the one with the pink shirts”) has opened an outpost in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, making it one of the very few Bangkok street food spots to truly go international.
It’s smart. Japanese visitors might balk at sitting down at one of the real Gai Tawn Pratunam’s steel tables and communicating with one of its taciturn, pink-shirted servers, they likely have fewer qualms about doing the same in Tokyo. As popular as Thai street food is becoming internationally, it is still street food: hot, sometimes inaccessible, and to some, vaguely scary. So I thought I’d address some of the most commonly asked questions that I get, right here. Such as:
Q: How do you know when a street food place is safe to eat in?
A: It’s impossible to truly know. The truth is, you can get sick from anything, anywhere; that is just the way things are when you’re traveling, especially if you are new to Asia. Even if you aren’t, it’s just a fact of life that people deal with here. And it can hit you anywhere. For example, the sickest I have ever been is from a buffet at a luxury hotel. A five-star setting will not insulate you from stomach drama.
There are ways to attempt to exert control over your digestive destiny. You can try to find places with a lot of customers – a lot of turnover means fresher ingredients and less chance for stuff to sit around, getting grody and disease-ridden. Clean condiment trays and tabletops point to staff and owners who care about keeping things fairly hygienic. A long-standing history and well-known name spell usually equal a vendor who has a reputation to protect. Deep-fried or well-cooked foods are more likely to cut down on trouble-causing bugs. Steer clear of raw seafood or meat that has been out in the open for too long.
And then there are the badges: stickers affixed to the vendor’s cart, sign or storefront to show that someone, somewhere important has tasted their food and given it their seal of approval. The badge with the most cachet is probably the “green bowl” of MR Thanadsri Svasti, Thailand’s very first food critic and “godfather of gastronomy.” Some other popular ones are the Aroijang and “Good Food Clean Taste” badges issued by the BMA, as well as those issued by celebrity chef McDang, Thanadsri’s son.
An “Aroijang” badge at a popular pig trotter-on-rice vendor.
You can also be really Buddhist about it and not get attached to your stomach’s fate. Thais are quite philosophical about mishaps like tong sia (diarrhea), treating it as one would treat getting caught in the rain without an umbrella, or having to spend the day with your in-laws. It’s just something that happens. In fact, it is considered such a common occurrence that people frequently use it as an excuse for being late or for not showing up at all (me). I’ve even found myself telling people ON CAMERA that I have used the tong sia excuse to skive off work (in my defense, I hated my work. That said, please hire me for your important job). Life cannot be all rainbows and unicorn farts, said a famous Asian philosopher (again, me).
Q: Where are the best areas for street food in Bangkok?
A: AREAS are different from individual VENDORS, because it’s less precise, which is why I wrote my street food book in the first place. There can be crummy vendors in the same proximity as the good places, or the standard in that area may be above average but not the very best. OK? Just as long as we’ve gotten that out of the way.
Chinatown (Yaowarat) is so obvious that I often forget to point it out. But the first place you should probably go is there. Most of Thailand’s street food is of Chinese origin (noodles, broth, frying, woks, congee, duck, dumplings, and those are just the things off the top of my head), so it’s a no-brainer to explore it first in Chinatown. Another popular area is the sprawling tent-like space around the Victory Monument, and of course, Sukhumvit Soi 38, which is so popular that it’s becoming “international” (last I checked, new additions include burgers, ramen and bibimbap). Finally, I personally love Banglamphu, especially Mahachai Road, which hosts three great vendors: famous pad thai spot Thipsamai, Thai dessert vendor Bua Loy Som Wang Song Krueang and fried noodle maestro Jay Fai.
Q: Is the ice safe?
A: This kind of goes back to the first question. The short answer is: yes. The ice is most likely safe, though I’m no scientist, hygiene expert or ice-maker. It’s pretty much all made by machines in plants that, whether you choose to believe it or not, have health regulations. But there are no guarantees.
Honestly, and I’m not entirely being snarky here, but there are good non-street food places to eat at too. Bangkok is full of great restaurants – so many, in fact, that I haven’t even had time to try two-thirds of them. You could try one of those, and leave the street food experience to when you are really sure it will be a fun (and relatively risk-free) meal. Like love at first sight, you will know that vendor when you see him (or her).
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