Last Updated on June 24, 2019 by PowersToTravel
In Thailand vendors spring from the sides of the roads at any vehicle slow-down, at a traffic light, at a toll, at a turn. Covered by scarves to protect themselves from pollution, they hide under umbrellas and then rush into action. (More like a stroll in this heat!)
What are they selling? flower charms for good luck on the road, candy, sticky rice, lottery tickets.. Wait, did I say “sticky rice?”
One of the features of the Chiang Mai Tour Center tour we enjoyed the most were the small gifts that our guide would present, as a way of teaching the culture and customs. I’m definitely not a person to buy an unknown food from a street vendor… I imagine all those germ waiting to attack my digestive system. Before you think I am overly paranoid, let me tell you about each of our trips to places with non-potable water: Morocco, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico. In each of these lovely destinations, as very careful as I was, I would experience one nasty digestive issue which would take me out for a day. With my reglan (for vomiting), immodium (for diarrhea), and forcing of liquids, I would recover relatively quickly, but I would be saddened and stressed to have missed out on a great adventure, or to have screwed up our travel plans. As far as I am concerned, my digestive system is my weakest link.
So, I would never choose an item from a vendor, unless pushed into it by a gracious guide such as Bom, who explained to me exactly what I was eating and how the vendors prepare it. “Sticky rice” treats are made of sticky rice, naturally. I’d never heard of sticky rice before, just jasmine rice and carolina rice and the rices on the local Stop-n-Shop shelf. Sticky rice is a special mushy rice.
So, food from a vendor, in a car? What the vendor does to create an easily-carried, fresh snack is to obtain a hollow bamboo tube into which they press a folded banana leaf (as a cork), cooked sticky rice with a couple of black beans added for interest, top it off with another folded a banana leaf to secure it, and steam it. Kind of like the Thai version of a granola bar in foil wrap.
To enjoy it, you pull off the banana-leaf wad, discard the first half inch of rice, peel down the bamboo like a banana peel, and eat the lovely gooey rice, which has a naturally sweet flavor.
Knowing that it was simply cooked rice (and a stray bean or two or three) which although I don’t like them didn’t stop me), and that the questionable parts (top and bottom) were discarded, I dove right in. It was so good.
We were presented with rice cakes with roasted peanuts on top, spun sugar in tortilla rolls, which I tasted but chose not to indulge in due to the caloric content, and tamarind wafers. Now tamarind is another Southeast Asia flavor which was not familiar to me. Usually brown, it wasn’t appealing visually, however Greg is always first to try the new foods. He’ll check it out, and then recommend to me “eat” or tell me “you really won’t like this.”
He gave me the go-ahead, I tried the tamarind and found it delicious too.
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Check out this article of mine too:
Thailand Travel Blog – Itinerary, Impressions and Diabetic Travel Tips
