[MikeS]

I'm going to Thailand in three weeks and I see Thai street food praised to high heavens (well, from the clean places - probably plenty that are better passed by) on all the travel sites and blogs I've read. And not just from backpackers on a very strict budget.
Are they all lying, or just different tastes in food?

[Kdog]

Why would they lie? I wouldn't read much on those Lonely Planet sites anyway they're shit.
There's lots of good food everywhere as long as you order stuff you're comfortable with (they do eat some weird stuff). If you're nervous about cleanliness you can eat in some air conditioned places for a bit more money. But don't forget, you will not escape the Asia traveler shits so be prepared.

[MikeS]

(10-07-2014 04:24 PM)Kdog Wrote:  

Why would they lie? I wouldn't read much on those Lonely Planet sites anyway they're shit.
There's lots of good food everywhere as long as you order stuff you're comfortable with (they do eat some weird stuff). If you're nervous about cleanliness you can eat in some air conditioned places for a bit more money. But don't forget, you will not escape the Asia traveler shits so be prepared.

I was referring to RioNomad saying that street food is "garbage".

Without having tried Thai food yet (outside of Thai restaurants in the west) I'll certainly agree that depending on your type of diet it's obviously worth paying attention to the type of dishes you order. I think quite a lot of them might be a bit generous on the noodles or rice for instance?
But paying attention to eg. the carbs can obviously be necessary in any restaurant or supermarket.

[Paul B]

Thai food is probably the best tasting garbage you can put in your body. Look at this shit:


Pad Kee Mao


Pad Thai


Khao Soi


Tom Yum Goong


Massaman Curry

All of the above are carb heavy and loaded with sugar, but fucking delicious.

[berserk]

(10-07-2014 04:49 PM)MikeS Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 04:24 PM)Kdog Wrote:  

Why would they lie? I wouldn't read much on those Lonely Planet sites anyway they're shit.
There's lots of good food everywhere as long as you order stuff you're comfortable with (they do eat some weird stuff). If you're nervous about cleanliness you can eat in some air conditioned places for a bit more money. But don't forget, you will not escape the Asia traveler shits so be prepared.

I was referring to RioNomad saying that street food is "garbage".

Without having tried Thai food yet (outside of Thai restaurants in the west) I'll certainly agree that depending on your type of diet it's obviously worth paying attention to the type of dishes you order. I think quite a lot of them might be a bit generous on the noodles or rice for instance?
But paying attention to eg. the carbs can obviously be necessary in any restaurant or supermarket.

Garbage probably refers to the quality of ingredients, not taste, which is usually good to great. It's the cheap cuts of meat, lack of vegetables and old palm oil, sugar and such that makes it unhealthy. Too much rice, not enough meat too.

[Kdog]

^^Yeah exactly... I always try and eat only half of the rice/noodles, and ask for extra meat. But I agree they do use a shitload of oil their for cooking, which is hard to avoid.

[Brodiaga]

I disagree that Thai soup is garbage. Soup, like Tom Yam, is healthy because it fills you up and doesn't have too many calories. Many countries with obesity problem would benefit from more soup in their diets.

[Afarang]

(10-07-2014 01:32 PM)MikeS Wrote:  

I'm going to Thailand in three weeks and I see Thai street food praised to high heavens (well, from the clean places - probably plenty that are better passed by) on all the travel sites and blogs I've read. And not just from backpackers on a very strict budget.
Are they all lying, or just different tastes in food?

We mean in terms of it being healthy or providing quality ingredients. 99% of street food I have eaten on the street has been fine and I've never gotten sick. I was told (so correct me if untrue) but a lot of vendors go to smaller markets and buy lower grades of meat that would not pass Tesco/ Big C/ Tops standard.

I've also ate at places where they had rats running past and I never got sick. The three biggest problems are quality and the amount of MSG they use and the oil. They will reuse the cheapest oil for days/weeks.

[WanderingSoul]

I never said that Thai soup is garbage. Who wrote that?

But Thai street food is garbage, even if it Is soup. Low calories doesn't mean it's healthy. It can taste really good, but it is made with low quality ingredients. Shit oils, MSG, lots of added sugars, low protein and high amounts of simple carbohydrates. Getting sick isn't much of an issue.

I still eat it sometimes, but it you care about your health and how you feel, you dont want to live off of it.

But we are getting off subject. I'm not saying dont eat it, I'm saying eating 30 baht street food for all of your meals is no way to live, at least long term. So yes, you can do it and you wont die, but it isnt much of a lifestyle. People get all bent out of shape because they love street food, but that's mostly people who have never lived here. Street food tastes great often times and I like eating it occasionally, but it's unhealthy and made with low quality ingredients so I don't want to live off of the stuff.

[Chaos]

The shit oils really annoys me in SEA.
Street food can be good as a sprint, but if you are doing a marathon you better find other solutions.

However, I do like every now and then to grab some BBQ sticks on the street, but they are plastered with so much spices,sauce amd sugars so it's impossible to know the quality.
I don't wanna be paranoid but I think downing streetfood in SEA might have been the reason for my stomach being in turmoil for five weeks.

Slightly off topic, but I like the Japanese mindset about eating raw meat and fish.
It's a good way of filtering out bad meat and fish.
The taste is very earthly and sensitive, you can taste if the fish has been living in polluted water hole or not. And while eating raw mest and seafood you can filter out the low quality food in a second. The real taste is not hidden with marinades, sauces or spices.
Almost impossible to eat a bad piece of raw meat and fish.

Put a raw piece of meat of low quality in your mouth and you will spit it out in a second.
If it's covered in sauces,sugars and marinades you might not notice anything...

[w00t]

(10-07-2014 11:15 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

I never said that Thai soup is garbage. Who wrote that?

But Thai street food is garbage, even if it Is soup. Low calories doesn't mean it's healthy. It can taste really good, but it is made with low quality ingredients. Shit oils, MSG, lots of added sugars, low protein and high amounts of simple carbohydrates. Getting sick isn't much of an issue.

I still eat it sometimes, but it you care about your health and how you feel, you dont want to live off of it.

But we are getting off subject. I'm not saying dont eat it, I'm saying eating 30 baht street food for all of your meals is no way to live, at least long term. So yes, you can do it and you wont die, but it isnt much of a lifestyle. People get all bent out of shape because they love street food, but that's mostly people who have never lived here. Street food tastes great often times and I like eating it occasionally, but it's unhealthy and made with low quality ingredients so I don't want to live off of the stuff.

so what do you recommend eating longterm?
what about the food courts? theyre really cheap too

[Veloce]

(10-07-2014 11:15 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

I never said that Thai soup is garbage. Who wrote that?

But Thai street food is garbage, even if it Is soup. Low calories doesn't mean it's healthy. It can taste really good, but it is made with low quality ingredients. Shit oils, MSG, lots of added sugars, low protein and high amounts of simple carbohydrates. Getting sick isn't much of an issue.

I still eat it sometimes, but it you care about your health and how you feel, you dont want to live off of it.

But we are getting off subject. I'm not saying dont eat it, I'm saying eating 30 baht street food for all of your meals is no way to live, at least long term. So yes, you can do it and you wont die, but it isnt much of a lifestyle. People get all bent out of shape because they love street food, but that's mostly people who have never lived here. Street food tastes great often times and I like eating it occasionally, but it's unhealthy and made with low quality ingredients so I don't want to live off of the stuff.

This is spot on. I did notice that I felt very lean and light my first week in bkk, but after 5 days of street food it got old real quick.

There are proper sit down restaurants in any city. Navigating them or finding a good one is another matter. In Bangkok I highly recommend Som Tam Boo Maa. Top notch Isaan food.

You'll learn to sniff out good/bad restaurants. The first indicator obviously is if there are non-Thai dishes on the menu. Skip that place. Second indicator is if the menu is too big. Skip that place too. Third indicator is if they're serving regional dishes that are from all over the place: Som tam, Yam wunsen, laap ped, pad kee mao, and massaman curry all on the same menu? Skip it.

You want to find a restaurant that specializes in something. Some places do curry over rice, these are great. Some places specialize in seafood. Some places specialize in noodles and noodle soups. These are the places to hit.

This guy is a bit of a nutjob, but his intel is pretty great: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/blog/

Edit: wanted to add that my digestion has never felt better. Not sure why. I think everyone has different gut health. I've now eaten in two of the most notoriously bad parts of the world for food safety (SEA and Mexico) that people complain about, and walked out unscathed. By contrast, my two trips to Paris left me on my deathbed both times.

[Afarang]

I get someone to cook most of my own food. Works out to about 30 baht a meal, portions are much bigger, olive oil used and much better meat and veg.

[WanderingSoul]

(10-08-2014 01:47 AM)w00t Wrote:  

so what do you recommend eating longterm?
what about the food courts? theyre really cheap too

Food courts won't be much better. It's all the same shit. I literally just got done eating at Terminal 21 food court on the way to work from immigration.

I've been fucking up my diet for the past month and feel worse than I do when I make the effort to eat the majority of my meals at home.

I'd say cook your own meals when possible. I bought a 500 baht electric grill from Tesco that I use to grill up meat.

[Bushido]

^^ Afarang, that food looks amazing! How did you go about arranging that? Do you buy the groceries yourself or is that outsourced too? Seems like you are living the dream!

[Veloce]

I don't know how Thai business models work in relation to food, but just remember this:

At least in the U.S., the industry standard target food cost is 25%

What that means, is if you order something for $16, it cost the restaurant $4 to make. $4 worth of ingredients. Not very much is it? Probably not using the highest quality ingredients for $4 right?

I don't care what the restaurant tells you about "only the highest quality ingredients". Horseshit. They'll tell you anything. The only way to control what goes into your body is doing it yourself.

[Afarang]

(10-08-2014 04:12 AM)dreambig Wrote:  

^^ Afarang, that food looks amazing! How did you go about arranging that? Do you buy the groceries yourself or is that outsourced too? Seems like you are living the dream!

Buy it myself from Tesco/Tops. Both have pre packed sources such as red/yellow/green curries, masamans etc. I usually buy that, about 500g of chicken for 50 baht and then veggies, and coconut milk. Follow the instructions and there you have it. Or you could buy the stuff and get a girl to cook it.

A few of the pre made sources have an ingredient list in english, and mentions they do not contain any MSG, additives etc. I always pick them.

Off the top of my head this would be the pricing for a home made meal.

500g of chicken fillet = 50 baht (65-70 baht for breast)
packet of source = 17 baht
veggies = 10-30 baht
coconut milk = 23 baht
Rice = 3 baht per meal

The list above would get me 4-5 meals, which works out around 25baht per meal. I do add salt and stuff so you could add that into the costs, but still would not go over 30baht meal.

[davyjose]

As been said before, Thai food while undoubtedly delicious is usually full of crap like excessive amounts of salt, sugar and MSG, not to mention it's probably been cooked in the worst kind of oils also.

Best way I've found around this is to establish a relationship with a decent local restaurant, let them get to know your face and get them to cook their food just the way you like it. With me it's cooked in coconut oil, no MSG and very little salt and no sugar.

Failing that cook your meals yourself, but I find the above solution works well from both a cost and time standpoint.

The Thais either don't know or don't care about nutrition, and it's up to you to educate them on how you your food should be cooked.

[w00t]

ya it seems you really have to scope out some trustworthy suppliers or do it yourself
buying random stuff seems kinda sketchy

bought a mango shake today and it was like half a mango, tons of ice and approximately a kilo of sugar... really unbearable stuff

I successfully escaped the travellers shits though by staying away from most street stalls (sometimes whenk drunk its hard to control yourself)

[davyjose]

(10-08-2014 06:58 AM)w00t Wrote:  

ya it seems you really have to scope out some trustworthy suppliers or do it yourself
buying random stuff seems kinda sketchy

bought a mango shake today and it was like half a mango, tons of ice and approximately a kilo of sugar... really unbearable stuff

I successfully escaped the travellers shits though by staying away from most street stalls (sometimes whenk drunk its hard to control yourself)

Yep. Most of those stalls selling "smoothies" are fucking garbage. Ice that will hurt your head more than a BPD chick, and enough sugar to turn your brain ADHD.

You can pick up a decent blender for around 750-1000 baht and load up on coconut milk, bananas, kiwis and whatever else you need for decent smoothies and shakes.

Looking into a getting a juicer next, but aside from ordering online I've no leads for getting a semi-decent one locally.

[Afarang]

I bought a Philips blender, was only 500 baht or less I think. Make my self a nice shake each morning with banana, mango, peanut butter oats and milk. Used it every day for 2 months + no problems and looks as good as the first day I bought it.

[The_CEO]

Great list.

I concur with Basil that it doesn't make sense that LA is listed as more expensive that Santa Monica. If anything, should be flipped.

Good compilation though.

[w00t]

I tracked all my expense in chiang mai last month and spent 34k baht

that included everything... rent, gym, phone, food, buying some clothes, spending some money on biz crap and blowing way too much on booze and dates

for 30-40k you can live pretty well here. bike is gonna be about 3k and you need about 1k a month for visa bullshit.

you could probably live on 20k but youd be bored to tears

[ManAbout]

(12-10-2014 01:29 PM)w00t Wrote:  

I tracked all my expense in chiang mai last month and spent 34k baht

that included everything... rent, gym, phone, food, buying some clothes, spending some money on biz crap and blowing way too much on booze and dates

for 30-40k you can live pretty well here. bike is gonna be about 3k and you need about 1k a month for visa bullshit.

you could probably live on 20k but youd be bored to tears

What part of town are you in?

[w00t]

I stay right off nimman which is probably one of the most expensive areas

nice condo with couch, flatscreen tv, a soft(!!!) matress and outdoor sink on balcony with view to doi suthep

with cleaning service 4x a month its 7200 baht per month

you can get a lot cheaper too. there are nice places for 4500 baht with pool.

if you want it real cheap I met a girl from mae rim nursing school who pays 6k for her dorm room... per year!