So, whenever you travel to a new country, you will always experience the wonders and joys that are interesting foods. I was no stranger to trying to eat bizarre things--I live in a country were "bad" cabbage is a staple, so I generally enjoyed exploring the offerings of Thailand's culinary adventures. Granted, I also have a bad problem: If I am dared, I always rise to the occasion. It is a bad problem to have when exploring foods--it means I eat some pretty ... odd foods.
We'll start out easy:
Pad Thai. A staple of Thai Food. Everyone knows it. Everyone loves it!
Coconut Milk--from a Coconut!
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| Sam, our tour guide, offered us some of the best strange foods on the trip. He was great! |
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| Not much meat to eat. Lots of tendons and bones. But not ... bad, per se. |
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| These really didn't have any flavor. They were put into a soup and just added protein. If they tasted like anything, I guess I would say... milk. |
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| Yes...Ant Larva--that is also another word for maggot. Yummy! |
And finally, just for kicks and giggles--Horse Pee Egg.
Horse Pee Eggs are a regular chicken egg. You take, yes, horse urine and clay and mix it together. Then you cover the egg in this mixture and let it sit for 3-4 days, up to a week. This allows the egg time to oxidize and the shell turns to a nice pink color. (These eggs are not food dyed--it is all natural!) This also changes the inside of the egg--it is not some gooey mess anymore, but more along the lines of a soft- boiled egg.
Want to see?
Looks delicious, right?
You might also be wondering how in the hell someone got Maggie to eat the precious picture. Remember me mentioning how I always live up to a dare?
We were on the sleeper cabin from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and some people were hungry, so we all headed down to the dinner cabin. It is small and there weren't any open booths, so we split up a little bit and I ended up sitting next to two French man. (There were a LOT of French people in Thailand!) Well, I open my mouth and am immediately pegged as an American. Now, these French Men were nice, don't get me wrong, but they were French. And if you've met French people, you know what I mean. Just the slightest bit condesencding, and superior--super nice. I mean, they were buying us drinks. But, they started to share their food and you knew that they were doing it for a laugh. First they shared their peppers. And holy Sh*t...those babies pack heat! I was practically crying--and my spicey food tolerance has sky rocketed from Korea.
Then they point to their Horse Pee Egg.
French Man: "Have you eaten before?"
Dumb American with a bad reaction to dares: "No."
French Man: "Most Americans won't eat 'em."
Dumb American who's curiosity got the best of her AND has a bad reactions to taunts: "What are they?"
French Men: "Egg."
Jan--fellow Intrepid Member and a very lovely Belgium man: "That's Horse Pee Egg, Maggie."
French Men: "As I said, Americans don't eat egg. Will you?" taunt. leer. laugh. FRENCH. taunt.
Dumb American who doesn't like having people assuming that just because I'm American means I fit into any sort of stereotype: "What do they taste like?"
French Men: "Like egg."
Jan laughs.
Dumb American who refused to miss an experience that is sitting right in front of her, all gooey and tauntingly: "Fine. Give me a fork."
I have proof that I ate this thing. May I present to you something I like to call, "Before and After"
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| Before. |
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| After. |
It didn't taste "bad" per se. Seriously...it was the texture that was so gross. It tasted like a soft boiled egg (that "eggy" taste)--just really slimy and a little under-cooked. Ergg...nasty. Everything else I would eat again if asked to -- or if it was impolite to turn down--but Horse Pee Egg is the one thing I would probably say, "I'm sorry; I don't want to eat that" to a hostess.
Surprisingly, my ventures into the culinary delights of Thailands weird foods did not get me sick. I was worried about food poisoning, but I just made sure that everything was piping hot and only bought things that were made in front of me. Some of the best food I had on the trip was what our local, tribe guide Gee made for us on the trek. Here's Gee over a fire, making wonderful-ness in a skillet.
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