Food That Can Make You ILL

[Neal]

No, I am not going to name names as I am not that stupid but I have a story to tell. Maybe it is a fantasy, or maybe it is really real.

As you know I am on dialysis. I must watch how much and what I eat and drink. It must be clean.
Well I was trying to give someone some business that has a small little place, sort of like a cafe. I ordered some soup and some things were sent over. Great! The soup was excellent! Next week I order more. It arrives lets say it at about 7pm and goes right into the refigerator. 12 hours later is dialysis and my NEW helper "Bee" scoops out a big bowl and we go to the hospital. 3 or 4 hours later I am hungry and Bee goes to the hospital refrigerator and takes out the soup and microwaves it as he has done before. It comes in the room. It has an odd odor and an even more odd taste. The nurses run in a moment later look at the table in front of me and soup and grab it. They are telling me it is bad and it has stunk up the little kitchen we use in the hospital as well as the hall to the room. It did smell bad but I assumed it was something that was a new ingredient. I get home after dialysis, go into the refrigerator where the soup is still very cold to see it is bubbling and has a sour odor.

What do you do? Well I call and get a 20 minute discussion the ingredients came that morning from the market where the person shopped and were fresh. He says impossible and he is taking it back to show the woman he bought the chicken from. Save it he says and give back the 880 baht 2 tubs of soup. 3 hours later he is sending over some other soup. What arrives? Rather than 880 baht 2 tubs of soup is a container with 3 bowls of soup and 2 cups of twistie pasta he says are for "free". Free???
Free??? Two tubs and in return I get 3 bowls??!!! It cost me 880 baht for 3 bowls of soup and i may get sick from what I already consumed!?

Well of course all this is a fantasy and in no way points to any one individiual. I just would not do that!!

iT IS JUST A WARNING TO ALL that no matter how much you think you may trust someone to cook your food, be careful. Already I have been told of several others who don't go to little hole in the wall "cafes" because they have had bad food and the runs. Sorry for the details but it is now 12 hours later and the gurgles in the stomach have been gurggling and the toilet trots have been trotting for the last hour. NEVER AGAIN. Sorry old man. :old:

[christianpfc]

Shit happens. (literally in this case) I had my own problems (diarrhea) with Thai food, but I was unable to connect it to a meal or a place. I hope I will get used to those bacteria in Thailand that do not exist in Europe and that cause these problems. The problem might lie in storing the food. Do you often keep food in the fridge and warm it up for eating? As a tourist, I don't keep any food apart from some fruit and sweets.

I think you can't blame the place. I eat at "hole in the wall" places or on the street all the time I am in Thailand and had problems only twice.

[adman5000]

I have been very lucky and seldom have had any illness from food or water in Thailand.

The worst problem I ever had was from water rather than food. I always drink bottled water only, no ice, wipe the top of the can or bottle off first, and always use a straw. The place where I was staying (not a hotel and not in a tourist area) had there own water filtering and unbeknownst to me gave me a bottle of water filled from this system that also served many other Thais rather than give me a sealed bottle of store-bought water.

I then traveled to Pattaya and got very ill. Fortunately I was talking to a Doctor staying at the same hotel and he advised to drink rehydrating solution (packets from 7-11 or Pharmacy) and to go to the hospital if it did not resolve itself within 24 hrs. It did not quickly clear and I went to Bangkok Hospital in Pattaya where they gave me meds/antibiotics as they said what I had was cholera-like. It did not seem to bother the Thai but it sure bothered me. They did not seem to understand why I always request SEALED BOTTLED water.

On the food side, I have never had much of a problem. Although one time I was with a Thai guy who was hungry and I asked him if he wanted to get something from a foodstall near us and he said NO, they are not clean. So I took him to dine at one of the hotels in Pattayaland and he was fine with that.

The other thing is that if I do have a bowel problem, I never take any anti-diarrhea. My body seems to respond better if I get it out of my system as quickly as possible. I just keep drinking water or ginger ale.

[aot871]

I have to watch everything i eat or drink as i suffer from IBS , but i still end uo with the trotts after my first 2 days in pattaya. I think a lot has to do with the change of the climatic conditions but that would not affect neal as hes an expat used to the weather

[Neal]

I appreciate your thoughts but want to let you know that within 12 hours of posting the above story which may be real or fantasy, that I have been contacted by 4 other people who have experienced the same illnesses and problems within these last two weeks from the EXACT SAME "cafe" style restaurant and have told me that they will never return. While I appreciate discussions on water, ice etc, this is turning out to be a very serious problem with ONE place my "dream fantasy" is about.

[cameroncat]

In twelve years of trips to Thailand, my 3 experiences with Food Poisoning all involved Shell Fish (Crab or large shrimp). I'm going to avoid it in the future. I have friends that avoid Ice, but I've never had problems with that. Most Thai facilities don't have ice making machines and use bagged ice. Not sure about KFC, McDonalds etc. They may make their own ice but must used filtered water. Millions of tourists eat and drink at those places without getting ill (other than from the taste of the food LOL).

Yes, many places want thier customers to return so they they keep thier places clean and food fresh. Some may just over order and don't have the financial means of throwing away outdated or stale food such as the one in this "fantasy" and when reports start to pile up about people getting ill from ONE place, well it needs to be discussed. As I said, I am on dialysis and cannot afford to be ill as the repercussions can be far more serious than the average person. We are now up to 5 PMs reporting the same place and within the last two weeks. DaBoss

[donald1]

As a Cafe owner myself; I have to say that all 5 people who may have experienced this should individually talk with the owner. I keep a very clean place but
sometimes things happen "outside" of my control, in my case it was from my chicken purveyor. Luckily it only affected one dining party but the Chicken company took all the responsibility and follow up. I know Thailand does things differently but there has to be some sort of checks and balances.
I would also suggest being vocal to your friends about it to save them possible illness.

[Diec]

Oh Bossy what a dreadful fantasy scenario...your poor little bee must have had a terrible cold and his little nose was all stuffed up to not be able to smell the putrid smell coming from the soup since he's done this before. And then there is you probably a little light headed from the dialysis process going on and thought you were eating a new and exotic spice, when in effect it was spoiled food. Good thing none of those nurses had a cold and were able to smell the awful smell and save you, this could have gone all kinds of wrong, good thing it didn't.

And donny, that is very fortunate for you that your chicken purveyor took full responsibility and admitted it was there fault they sold you spoiled chicken. And to not only do that but to follow up and let the customer know it was entirely their fault and none of yours is just exceptional! If only more Thai businesses were this scrupulous.

I have been fortunate enough to have never gotten sick from the food or water. I did however get a little ill the couple of times I've gotten ripped off lol!

[Geezer]

I wrote, and edited this post several times. Being aware of the defamation laws in Thailand I have decided I should only post this:

Judging from the experience of a friend and myself, one should exercise caution when thinking of dining at a certain caf├й.

Perhaps if there are now several people all complaining of the same issues from the same cafe ( wherever that may be cough cough ) perhaps someone could / should notify the owner as he ( or she :-) may have an actual health issue going on within the premises that they are not aware of and if it's over the course of a few weeks then obviously not just one dodgy chicken or something that is the cause - on my god at least I HOPE over two weeks that its all not from the SAME dodgy chicken !!! lol ( but I'm sure that's not it - he said warily) ??

[Neal]

I am sure he is well aware of his problems as my fantasy above stated that there may have been a 20 minute discussion on the topic as well as return of food replacing it with less than 1/3 its value. No follow up phone calls from him as I am sure he is embarrassed. I am sure if one instance like the other cafe owner above, it would be an oddity but we are talking several people over 2 weeks. It is not the supplier or maybe it is if one is using someone who keeps things around forever, but either way I am sure one has to know there is a serious problem and that customers are gossiping. :3some:

[Captain Swing]

Woody Allen, "Annie Hall" [first lines]
Alvy Singer: [addressing the camera] There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."

Sorry about your trouble, Boss, and I understand why you felt you were insufficiently compensated (I think a full refund would have been more appropriate), but I couldn't help thinking of this quote. Did you really want two more tubs of soup?

P.S. Didn't Dodgy Chicken used to be a member here?

[Neal]

You are /were absolutely correct and I had thought about it. The thought od switching two large tubs for 1 container that had about 3 bowls was what was annoying. I forecasted that the individual did not have the funds nor desire to give a refund. The thought of compensation like this was very annoying that he thought he could get away with this.

[Neal]

I have a cook who cooks for me in my home 1 day a week from New Orleans Restaurant. He cooking is very good but I was running low on soup (almost out). In the one day he cooks there are only so many hours in that day that he can cook things. I thought I would throw a little business his way and as I said, ther first large batch of chicken soup/stew he sent my way was eceptional. From the PMs I have recieved and still have, the cleanliness at his little cafe and freshness of food has gone way down and well as his personal hygene. I don't know as I have never visited his little spot as I understand it is difficult to get to.

As far as my needing to be very careful in what I consume, you are right and I try to be super careful but may I point out that all older people should be careful. We just don't have the stamina to get through our little sicknesses we used to have.

[stevehadders]

I find it quite shocking that the owner of this "cafe" hasn't contacted you. I fully understand he may be embarrassed, but surely he wants to get to the root cause, solve whatever the issue is , and ensure it isn't repeated. Failure to tackle the root cause will surely mean his businessis in jeopardy, but more importantly he is risking the health of his customers, which obviously is unacceptable .

As an aside, I am rarely ill in Thailand, thankfully. On a trip to Cambodia both myself and my Thai friend were violently ill (projectile in both directions!...I know you all like the facts :) ). We were sure it was the little restaurant place we stopped at on the drive from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap in a taxi as we both ate exactly the same thing. It was most unpleasant....and I wouldnt wish it on anyone.