Thai food: Dancing shrimps & ant-egg soup

Cynic says:

Last night I was watching the Olympic coverage and for some reason I just started pounding myself in the balls. I ignored the gut wrenching pain and continued to batter my groin with my fist.

I must have passed out after a while. Anyway when I awoke I tried to undress but my balls looked like meatballs in sauce and had congealed to my undies. The pain was unbelievable.

I tell you what, I won't be going in for those sorts of shenanigans again anytime soon!

BEENTHEREDONETHAT says:

I guess that CYNIC is american and was watching their basketball team.

I myself was watching Udomporn Polsak, what a cutie! A real Nutcracker Sweetie.

Gurst says:

I was outside of Ubon Ratchathani dining on a floormat next to a lake with a friends' family. We were sitting in a circle passing the dishes along as they came. A bowl of goong dten (dancing shrimp) was handed to me. All at the same time, I grabbed the bowl, realized it was moving, one appeared to be lunging towards me, and I dropped the bowl on the mat. Nearly scared the pants off me, but it made for a pretty good laugh. We got another bowl but I stuck with the duck larb, sticky rice, and bbq chicken.

I can eat the pappaya salad as hot as Isaan, but find it to just not be worth it the next day. I think I'll grab a hamburger for lunch today after visualizing a burning hot turd of ant eggs with little shrimp still moving about.

John U says:

Funnily enough I was alone at home in farangland - but - I was eating a Thai menu of kplau moo ( taught to me on Sukhumvit at my favourite outdoor restaurant :<) )

I've kept to this special diet now for a couple of weeks, and the weight is dropping off me. No wonder the Thais are so slim.

I call it the "Shit Through the Eye of a Needle Diet"

And the amazing thing is that you get hardened to those little green chillies - the fiery bastards, and I am now up to 14 in one dish. It's just a question of acclimatisation :<).

The food doesn't get a chance to slow down in your system before it's blasted out :<0.

But, a word of warning, your arse never gets used to it. It can be a groaning for mercy experience in the morning.

Hope nobody's eating at the moment.

duan says:

David,
My girlfriend loves dancing shrimps but has only found them from street stalls in Bangkok.What is the name and address of the restaurant you visited?
Thanks

jay says:

With regards to ìSom Tamî. I love it. I've been eating it 2 -3 times a week for the last couple of years that I've been living here. Never had any problems.
10 chilies and no Bpalar (Smelly fish source)
Som Tam Thai Bpoo, Mai Si Bpalar, Prick Sip Med.

If you take a single sniff of that fish source (Bpalar) you'll realize why it might make you have problems. No body has been able to tell me exactly what goes into it. Other than its dead stuff fermented (fish but not exclusively). Although some Bangkok folk eat it. Its very Isaan/Loas. People that take the fish source with there Som Tam are also quite sensitive about it. So be careful about the faces you pull. Avoid the obvious "Mhen Mak" as you will get a defensive HOM. I'll let you be the judge.

AVID says:

Recently I met this gorgeous Thai girl on KSR and we go on just fine. She was so small & skinny, absolutely delighful in bed. Anyways, it's curious but she didn't like Western food one bit and insisted on eating at those food stalls. She repeated this at least five times a day, so I got rather used to eating all kinds of Thai food in a very short period of time. She always ordered, and I must say, every time it was delicious. At 25 bhat a go, its the bees knees. I couldn't help noticing though, that her plate always had more meat in it, and nicer chunks of meat. Farang portions I guess.

Welcome to Thailand!

BEENTHEREDONETHAT says:

"I couldn't help noticing though, that her plate always had more meat in it, and nicer chunks of meat. Farang portions I guess."

If you are getting the genuine GFE then the best bits will end up in your plate.

ANONYMOUS says:

I like som tam Thai without the small shrimps, but I'd steer clear of som tam bpoo (with the blue freshwater crabs). There were some deaths a few years ago associated with this, although I forget why. However, my ex got hospitalised and on a drip after eating it, so I'd say it's pretty lethal.

As to fish sauce (nam bplaa), I really hate the fact that it's added to absolutely every dish here. Also, with regards to Thai food and its amazing ability to cause kilos to be shed, I would disagree and would like to clear up this misconception that the Thai diet is healthy and such like. Fried food with high-fat coconut milk and so on makes for a very unhealthy diet. Most Thais, however, eat little and often and don't eat dairy foods. This is why they're so small.

Waxhead says:

Dear Anonymous
I think you'll find bpa-lar is different to num blpar - one is fermented fish and the other is (as you identify) fish sauce.

You should easily be able to ask for no num bplar (Pom mai dtorn garn sai num bplar etc etc ) but most single plate orders are fish sauce to be added anyway.

THai food in general is fairly healthy:
- balance of vegetables, fibre and protein
- minerals and so forth from not throwing away the "good stuff" (bones, heads, liver, etc)
- reasonable sized portions
- variety

I think only westerners live on a diet of gaeng keeo wahn, choo chee, panang etc coconut milk based dishes; fried food is generally one component of several dishes served and yep - not too much dairy helps. Actually, neither I nor any of my family (except my brother) can handle dairy without getting sick.

That said, the influx of crap western food (McD, coke, etc) is taking its toll; while younger Thais seem to be eating a more unbalanced form of Thai food combined with no exercise. Plus MSG seems to be making a comeback combined with a pile of junk snacks. THanks to some big multinationals for screwing the planet. Guess a few people better go see supersize me dis weekend yo!

The Fisherman says:

You think the Thais eat crap? Try going out to a certain Japanese restaurant (no menus) off Soi Chidlom. A Japanese client took me there one night, picked out a plump fish and the chef carved it up while it was still alive. We ate slices as it quivered on the plate. Now, THAT was a food experience. BTW, I like drunken prawns doused in fish sauce (nam pla) and Saeng Som whiskey. Of course, if you are really classy they will souse them in Chivas, but that seems like sacrilege to me. But what do I know? I also eat dog meat!