The creepy, crawly bugs in Thailand

If you had asked me years ago if I would ever eat an insect, I would respond immediately with a mild shriek and a stern "no way!!"  Fast forward a couple years and well, what do you know?  This past Sunday I found myself on the streets of Khao San Road with a couple of new friends and we were hungry.......for some fried insects:

It might be a combination of slowly getting used to the idea of crunching on those crispy critters and seeing brave friends eat them (including while they are still alive, mind you) just like Andrew Zimmern, Anthony Bourdain, and Bear Grylls.  I knew I was going to do it this trip, I had worked up the courage because it really is, mind over matter.  When ants or fruit flies get into my food, no big deal, it's really just a little notch above that in the sense of it being the main snack rather than a "garnish."  So here you have it, the raw footage of it, the first taste of it were the FRIED GRASSHOPPERS sprinkled with salt and sprayed with soy sauce:



If you find yourself with a grasshopper, be sure to take off the legs before eating, as recommended by the bug cart vendor.  If your appetite calls for something else, different options are available depending on what the vendor has in stock/sells: beetles, free range cockroaches, baby frogs, bamboo worms, cicadas, crickets, scorpions, silkworms, and water bugs.  My advice: have a chaser ready to go.

But it doesn't stop here, I also opted to try the worms.  Honestly, they didn't look too bad and kind of looked like little fries.  And the taste?  A lot better than the grasshopper that's for sure! One shape, one texture.  They were small, they were crispy, and a lot more doable for me.  Total count: grasshoppers 2, worms 5ish.

Defeated: a word of caution.

It's not an easy thing to admit but I've been defeated..........by a chili (more like 5!).  You see, if you've ever eaten Thai chilies then you know it's more than an instant kick like wasabi.  The spiciness is something that lingers in your mouth, and that's what I like about it, it stays with you.  But not only will it stay, it usually ends up getting more intense as time goes on and continuously eating more of the spicy dish usually doesn't help the situation.  What can I say? It's addicting and a total rush.

This past Saturday, I went to this restaurant called Ban Khun Mae (translation: Mom's house) down near Siam Square.  Usually I'm not a fan of going somewhere so packed with tourists but I accepted as I was with a friend who was visiting and it was a 2-story traditional style Thai house with a woman playing some kind of instrument.  We ordered a couple dishes: a bowl of Tom Yum soup, some duck curry, and a Papaya Salad.  I'm thinking that because it's filled with a lot of tourists, they probably don't prepare their dishes as spicy.  OH BOY, now here's where the story gets good.  I had been eating the dishes for a bit now when I needed to stop.  Something was coming....

Remember how I talked about spiciness building up? Well, think of it like a song where it crescendo's.  Each minute that passed was more intense than the previous.  What was probably about 10-15 minutes felt double or triple the time that it actually was.  I kept drinking my ice water, sat there waiting for it to cool off but I could hardly even speak.  I muttered a couple words to my friend, "spicy...aaaahhhh....hurts...." and tried to calm it down by eating some rice.  My eyes started to quiver, on the verge of crying but no tears come out.  My mouth was burning and I knew that this one was going down in the books.  All I could do is sit and wait it out.

Finally, the spiciness started to subside and I started picking at the dishes wondering which one was the guilty for this incident.  After closely examining the Papaya Salad, I solved the mystery:

The tricky part is that the string beans often look like the chilies.  So that's my lesson to you readers: make sure to look down and see what you're eating in each bite because there might be a surprise waiting for you as there was for me! I must have eaten a couple chilies by accident, oops! Can you tell the difference between the string beans and the chilies?

The land of smiles and the hungry capital

So here I am in Bangkok, Thailand:

It's the best weather I've ever been in for this part of the country.  Note to travelers: come around November when the city has cooled down dramatically, it makes a big difference.  I tend to find myself out here every 2 years or so and though I'd like to travel to other parts instead, I always look forward to being here.  Each time I'm here in this city, I discover more new food.  The streets remain lined with food vendors and the people are eating all the time.  Now I know where I get this characteristic from!

It's common here to eat out all the time for every meal: breakfast (which is the same type of food as any other meal like rice or noodle dishes), lunch, and dinner.  I have a theory that there are probably a couple more meals in between that were invented, an excuse to eat, you know.  
 

Above is Pad See Ew, it's a pan-fried noodle dish that's one of my favorites and when the thick, rice noodles are a bit burnt, it's even better! Here in Thailand, I spend most of the time getting down and dirty and eating out on the streets just like the locals.  It's comforting to eat out on the small, plastic stools with self-serve spoons and forks.  I love getting my food prepared in front of me and served within 2-3 minutes.  It's quick and it's fresh because each vendor usually only sells a couple items.

Probably one of the spiciest dishes in the world is Papaya Salad (Som Thum in Thai), pictured above.  You can order it as spicy as you want and the chili can get pretty intense.  It's so refreshing, so flavorful, and an absolute necessity that you try this if you haven't already.  Each time I pass by it, my mouth waters thinking about it: the shredded green papaya, the cherry tomatoes, the roasted peanuts, fish sauce, lime, a bit of palm sugar, dried shrimp, and fresh chilies all mixed together in a clay mortar.  It's barely 10am here and I'm already thinking about what to eat.  But then again, that's usually my first thought when waking up.

Introductions and all that jazz

Hellooooooo hello! It's great to finally get this up and running and I am very excited to share with you guys my culinary adventures around the world.  While most of my restaurant reviews from Los Angeles and select parts of the U.S. are posted on my Yelp, I've decided to create this blog to continue sharing my appreciation of food on a global level.

Like all of us hear music differently, we all taste food differently.  My love for food has grown tremendously over the years and as a traveling foodie, I have no doubt that it will only continue to flourish.  So bring your appetite along for the ride and your smiling faces.

 (Photo: Casey Chang @ LudoBites 6.0)

Sincerely,
My Hungry Monster