Street Fare

Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Visitors to Southeast Asia are often told street food offers the most authentic dining experience. There is a sweaty thrill to chowing down with the locals.

Thailand, though, is the top location for Britons suffering food poisoning, according to a Norwich Union Plc survey, which might remove some of the sweetness from those roadside iced- pineapple chunks or spice from that late-night tom yam gong.

Yet you can safely savor fabulous food cheaply in Bangkok at eateries such as Suda, on Sukhumvit Road. If you're happy to pay more, Celadon at the Sukhothai Hotel serves food that is a match for any Thai cuisine I have tried anywhere. Hotel chains such as the Hilton and the Marriott aren't such good bets.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... hTW_GVtgqY

Similar Threads:

• Pay your cab fare
• Thaifly - Cheap Air Fare from the U.S. HELP PLEASE
• Baht bus fare??
• Paris (CDG) to Singapore - $450. Sorry, fare GONE!
• Taxi fare

Thailand, though, is the top location for Britons suffering food poisoning, according to a Norwich Union Plc survey, which might remove some of the sweetness from those roadside iced- pineapple chunks

I have pineapple chunks and melon chunks from the street vendors downstairs most days and have yet to suffer any illness from that source for years and years

Over the years your system becomes more like the locals. If it doesn't kill you first.

[bing]

Many of us spend 2 or 3 weeks on vacation in Pattaya once or twice a year. If you are even a little bit smart, you will not eat at street food stalls. I know one of the staff at one of the top gay venues in Boystown a few years ago, (Hmmm perhaps more like 10 years ago) ate some food from a rolling cart and then spent a few days in hospital for food poisoning. His friends were not sympathetic, "Dummy ate street chicken on a stick, he should know better." It may look fine and may be, but not for the tummy of a farang visitor.

this is true..only the English who hve been brought up on the most hideous diet in the westrn world react so badly. You really should eat more of the variety of bugs and beetles available at roadside restaurants..very nutritious.

[TrongpaiExpat]

Over the years your system becomes more like the locals. If it doesn't kill you first.

Just took me a few months. I had been comming to Thailand on Holiday for years and was never with out imodium and kept an eye out for the hong nahm where ever I went.

It was not the change of diet, in farang land I cooked mostly Thai food. It had to be the water, the water used to clean food, not drink.

I now seldom have a case of the runs I must be adjusted to the Thai flora and bacteria.

You really should eat more of the variety of bugs and beetles available at roadside restaurants

And for all those Westerners who want to rush off to Isaan (in the hope that the boys there are more beautiful and less expensive than the Isaan ex-pats who populate the bars in Pattaya and Bangkok), the market in Udon Thani is full of gastronomic delicacies of the creepy-crawly variety

Street fare is no dirtier than restaurant fare. Often, it's much fresher since it's purchased in the morning and sold off completely before the end of the day. It's also mostly cooked in front of you, at high temperatures.

There's no telling how long that cheeseburger bun has been in the deep freeze by the time it's served to you, and whether or not the "chef" who assembled it washed his hands after using them to wipe his bum, Thai style. Anywhere you dine, it's a crap shoot (so to speak).

I tend to avoid most street food, but if the stall looks clean and the bicycle well cared for I am not adverse to a bit of charcoal grill. It's best to catch them when they are just setting out, then the vendor will have just had a good wash and you can also see how well the food has been kept, clean damp wash towels covering clean bowls of bright pink sweet smelling meat, and you should be fine. It also helps if the vendor is a tidy clean youngish man, with a lovely set of sparkling clean teeth, set in a heart breaking smile.

It also helps if the vendor is a tidy clean youngish man, with a lovely set of sparkling clean teeth, set in a heart breaking smile.

If he's close by your apartment it also gives you the opportunity to make sure he's clean all over by inviting him back ... for a shower