Saturday, September 17, 2005

Veggie Tips for Thailand

Thanks to Pete for helping compile the following useful veggie survival tips for Thailand!

Pat
means vegetables; and Pat Pat means lots of vegetables. Cow means rice. So Cow Pat Pat means fried rice with lots of assorted vegetables mixed in - can be very tasty, or sometimes a little dull, depending on what the vendor has in at the time.

Pat Thai means noodles, tofu, and assorted vegetables - usually very tasty, especially with a little chili. Sometimes they try to sell you shrimp with it - "Sai gung?" - to which you should reply, "Mai chai [no], mai gin [I don't eat] gung [shrimp], gin pat [I eat vegetables], gin tao hoo [and I eat tofu] ka [please]." This should all be said with a friendly smile, in order to get you the lowest price and probably a predictable comment about how well the Farang speaks Thai ("Oooo, poo-ying Farang poot passat Thai dai!" :-))

Brio means sour, and Wan means sweet. Hence, Pat Brio-Wan means sweet and sour vegetables. You can walk in to pretty much any Thai resto and say "Pat brio-wan, cow pat" and they'll churn out a nice meal for you at a very low cost. Also, Gurry Pat means vegetable curry, Indian style - usually pretty good.

And there are plenty of food choices for non-veggies as well. For example, you could try one of Sami's favorite foods - spiced crickets or spiced flying ants! Luckily or unluckily, they didn't come out so well in the picture.















Be careful, though. Thai people only eat certain kinds of insects, but the vendors that cater to tourists, particularly on the Khao San Road, are not so scrupulous and will apparently try to pass off some insects that Thais would never eat. According to Sami, you can eat the kinds that fly or that live in trees or in holes in the ground, but not the kinds that crawl on the floor. You've been warned!