A taste of Thailand

I don't know how many of you have been to south east Asia but it can be quite an assault on the taste buds, and your stomach, depending on what it is that you think is being served to you on your plate/bowl/banana leaf.

It appears that quite literally anything can potentially be on the menu, such as Fido, Kermit and even coffee made from the poo of weasels who are fed entirely on coffee beans.
 
It therefore came as a bit of a surprise when we, in our taxi from Chiang Mai airport, saw a huge banner proclaiming Chiang Mai's international food festival 2011 was on for the next few days. Now, any of you who know us will understand that we are food junkies and the evidence can be seen from my muffin top figure and Louise's ability to be quiet if good food is placed in front of her (why do you think I like to cook good food for her ;o)).  So you will not be surprised that the very next day we jumped in a tuk-tuk and instructed the driver to take us there forthwith.
 
It was quite an experience and had many highlights such as the embarrassing British stall serving fish

 and chips out of a mini microwave oven, a Japanese man walking around with a parrot on his shoulder
 and the chance to sample many of the things we had wondered 'what on earth is that?' but with the luxury of labels being on them.  We were also, at last, able to find decent desserts with fantastic ice cream and (Louise's favorite) custard tarts in a French style bakery.
 
Our attention was diverted when a 5 foot long, 42 kilo (100 lb) tuna that had been flown in from Japan that morning was heaved onto a table in the middle of the main stage.  What followed was a masterclass on how to carve up such a large fish into suitable chunks that  were then sold to the awaiting masses at £170 per kilo, funny enough that's one queue we didn't join!  It appeared to involve a lot of talking and various prodding with different knives and the extensive use of what can only be described as a giant samurai sword.

The most comical moment was when the chef was looking for his knife all around the table, lifted up one of the gills in the fish and removed it from inside the cavity.
 
Food is very much part of the culture here, every where we go we find a new smell or sight as we walk through the markets.

It is also a surprise to see how fresh the food is, the fish are even still alive, swimming around in large metal bowls with oxygen pipes bubbling away inside.  Everything is available, from vegetables to cooking oil, chillies to still squirming octopus and people somehow manage to barter and haggle with each other while regularly washing their produce and making sure their display isn't out of place.  Even in the glitzy shopping malls the food courts are set out a bit like a local market (sometimes there is a market) and the locals sit round identical stalls munching down on noodle soup and salted fish.  It's almost like a cleaned up version for the middle class so they don't feel too out of touch with home when they shop for their Gucci bag.
 
What we have really enjoyed though is the sumptuous selection of street food available for as little as 50p.  
Pad Thai is probably on top of the list, followed by delicious chicken and pork kebabs fresh off the charcoal, sweet sticky rice in all it's luminous colours and a potatoes that have been transformed into one gigantic

spiral and covered in salt.  All these things wouldn't pass the Rosemary Connelly test for a low GI but we quite often will start at one end of a street saying to each other 'We should probably think about going to get something to eat' and stagger out the other end wanting an ice cream.
 
All in all we are very much enjoying Thailand for more reasons than one, but that one is food!
 
Bon Appetit!