Thailand’s food: Eat up, but mind the flies

Thailand’s food: Eat up, but mind the flies

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent

I’m all for trying new, exotic food. I was in Thailand earlier this spring, and never have I seen such a proliferation of strange, wonderful food to sample, particularly in the legendary, super-crowded street markets of Bangkok.

There was desiccated fish of all stripe and color hanging or heaped in mounds, the sizzle of chicken from the lines of street woks, the smell of bubbling-who-knows-what filling my nostrils, and carts of fruits and veggies, some recognizable, most not. I had to try it all, reaching for a gleaming pile of … something, but Gary, a native and my guide from the Trikaya Tour Co., wisely advised, “Never eat anything with flies on it.” Good point no matter where you are. I stuck to things freshly cooked or iced down.

If you love to eat, you’ll love Bangkok. And if you love to cook Thai food, this is the place to learn. I took three lessons, one at the Amita Cooking Class, another at the Blue Elephant Cooking School and another up north at the Four Seasons Chiang Mai cooking school.

Amita is run by Tam Piyawadi Jantrupon, with a three-hour, four-course lesson costing $100, well worth it. She is a former lawyer and fashion designer who opened the small school at her ancestral home hard by a typical, rather dirty Bangkok canal, the monotone drone of monks wafting over the water from a nearby Buddhist temple, which abound there like Dunkin’ Donuts back home.

Tam was a delight, showing off her small herb-and-vegetable garden, offering us flash-fried flowers such as yellow kradung-nga with iced lemongrass tea before we gathered in her open-air kitchen and chopped, sliced, and diced our way to making things like fabulous pad Thai, a staple of the country, and tab tim krob, a colorful water-chestnut cold dessert in which we used natural coloring from Tam’s flowers. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...................