Traveling in Thailand

you don't even have to eat it on the street if you don't want to

In most parts of Thailand, you can’t walk 100 meters without stumbling upon a humble looking merchant cooking up something, often using just a small pushcart as a kitchen. Around lunch or dinner time, crowds of people often stand in line or sit at the impromptu tables often set up nearby. If you grew up, as I did, in a city where street food was limited to hot dogs, sausage sandwiches and pretzels around Fenway Park, it would seem a little strange that everyone, from all levels of society and all walks of life, would be waiting in line in the hot sun to sit on a plastic stool and eat food cooked out on the sidewalk. There’s an air-conditioned restaurant across the street! The food’s not even expensive. Come now. read more »

When you think about how much I love eating, and how great the food in Thailand is, it’s amazing I’ve been blogging a whole month without talking about food at all. That is about to change folks, since I have three food-related posts coming up. This is the first. Stay tuned for other posts about street food and brunch in Bangkok in the next week or so.

Thai Cooking

As part of my research for the upcoming Moon Bangkok, I spent a lot of time investigating cooking courses in the city. There are many, and I will be listing some good ones (from inexpensive to super fancy) in the book. When my sister came to visit, one of the things she really wanted to do was take a class. But honestly, I had a been-there-done-that feeling. So I asked around and some friends suggested one-on-one lessons instead. read more »