Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [104]
Nowhere else is this reverence for food more evident than in Bangkok. The city’s characteristic odour is a unique blend of noodle stalls and car exhaust, and in certain parts of town, restaurants appear to form the majority of businesses, often flanked by streetside hawker stalls and mobile snack vendors. To the outsider, the life of an average Bangkokian can appear to be little more than a string of meals and snacks punctuated by the odd stab at work, not the other way around. If you can adjust your gutteral clock to fit this schedule, we’re confident your stay in Bangkok will be a delicious one indeed.
Return to beginning of chapter
ETIQUETTE
While Thai table manners would hardly ever be described as ‘formal’ in the Western sense, there are plenty of subtleties to be mastered, and using the correct utensils and eating gestures will garner much respect from Thais.
Originally Thai food was eaten with the fingers, and it still is in certain regions. In the early 1900s Thais began setting their tables with fork and spoon to affect a ‘royal’ setting, and it wasn’t long before fork-and-spoon dining became the norm in Bangkok and later spread throughout the kingdom. Some foods, such as kôw něe·o (sticky rice), are eaten by hand everywhere.
The sôrm (fork) and chórn (spoon) are placed to the left of the plate, and usually wrapped in a paper or cloth napkin. In simpler restaurants, these utensils are laid bare on the table or may not arrive until the food is served. Some restaurants place a supply of clean forks and spoons in a steel or glass container on each table.
* * *
THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB
If you’re not offered chopsticks, don’t ask for them. Thai food is eaten with fork and spoon, not chopsticks. When fà·ràng (Westerners) ask for chopsticks to eat Thai food, it only puzzles the restaurant proprietors.
Chopsticks are reserved for eating Chinese-style food from bowls or for eating in all-Chinese restaurants. In either case you will be supplied with chopsticks without having to ask. Unlike their counterparts in many Western countries, restaurateurs in Thailand won’t assume you don’t know how to use them.
* * *
To use these tools the Thai way, use a spoon to take a single mouthful of food from a central dish, and ladle it over a portion of your rice. Then use the fork to push the portion back onto the spoon, with which you place the food in your mouth.
ðà·gèeap (chopsticks) are reserved for dining in Chinese restaurants or for eating Chinese noodle dishes (see Click here). Noodle soups are eaten with a spoon in the left hand (for spooning up the broth) and chopsticks in the right.
Whether at home or in a restaurant, Thai meals are always served ‘family style’, that is, from common serving platters. Traditionally, the party orders one of each kind of dish, perhaps a curry, a fish, a stir-fry, a yam (hot and tangy salad), a vegetable dish and a soup, taking care to balance cool and hot, sour and sweet, salty and plain. One dish is generally large enough for two people. One or two extras may be ordered for a large party.
For the most part, đôm yam (chilli and lemon-grass soup) and other soups aren’t served in individual bowls except in more elegant restaurants or those aimed at tourists. You serve yourself from the common bowl, spooning broth and ingredients over your rice or into your own spoon. Sometimes serving spoons are provided. If not, you simply dig in with your own spoon.
Return to beginning of chapter
HOW THAIS EAT
Aside from the occasional indulgence in deep-fried savouries, most Thais sustain themselves on a varied and healthy diet of many fruits, rice and vegetables mixed with smaller amounts of animal protein and fat. Satisfaction seems to come not from eating large amounts of food at any one meal, but rather from nibbling at a variety of dishes with as many different flavours as possible throughout the day.
Nor are certain kinds of food restricted to certain times of day. Practically anything can be eaten first