Adaptable Eating: February 2019

Both Thailand and Vietnam had much to offer for gluten free and vegetarian/pescatarian eating, however, I did eat some noodles that may have been suspect as they did not look like rice noodles. But got no acne as my personal indicator that there was wheat in the noodles-it could have been the side effects of doxyclycline medicine taken for malaria prevention though. Be aware many dishes use fish sauce and dried shrimp, so if you don't eat seafood, you'll have to ask them to leave off these items. Today's post contains my top 5 must-do's in Thailand and next time I'll share Vietnam's treasures!

1. Prepare ahead of time with the right tools!

If you speak Thai, or lucky enough to be travelling with someone who does, then this won't be much use to you...however, my travel mate and I collectively just know English, Chinese and a little Spanish.

For all the cities in Thailand or Vietnam we went, whether large or small, the vendors might know English, or they might not. You may have tried to watch a video on pronunciation but you could still get sideways glances-such much tonal based in the SE Asia languages! I also found some vendors that could neither understand my likely poor pronunciation or did not read/maybe did not have glasses to read-but usually having the following helped me navigate.

For non-native speakers in either country, it can be helpful to:

Have written out (in Roman letters and the Thai characters) to verbally ask questions about the dishes (if you have food allergies, sensitivities or preferences) or show the vendor.
Download Google translate's dictionary in case your Wi-Fi or network connection is weak. Even in the big cities we had this issue with our phones.
Have a cheap calculator to pull out to negotiate prices for your meal if it isn't printed/posted elsewhere.
Upon returning I came upon this nice resource for vegans visiting Thailand, downloadable audio clips to play for a vendor.

2. Eat Khao Niaow Bing (Grilled sticky rice)

We could find these at night markets and permanent markets in Chiang Mai as well as Krabi. Cheap and filling-but do make sure to ask the vendor which ones are vegetarian or vegan as some use meat or egg. We had sweet ones with banana and taro root.

3. Go for a cooking lesson while you are in Chiang Mai.

We paid $40 USD in Nov 2018 for Benny's Home Cooking school for a ~6 hour lesson that includes transportation and samples too. She had hundreds of glowing reviews on Trip Advisor. All expectations were met. While at the market she had us sample Chiang Mai sausage-not vegetarian though- the grilled rice, and a rice-based Thai pancake.

We made five different dishes: appetizer, soup, noodle dish, curry and dessert. She will accommodate everyone-vegetarian, gluten-free, peanut allergies, you name it-no menu depending on which day you go-you'll make what you want from her extensive choices any day she is having classes. My friend and I also got hooked on the fun blue peaflower drink (she sells the mix there as well)-it's a cool party trick or if you have kids I think they will really enjoy it. You can get her pre-made curry paste for days when you don't have time to hand-grind or source all the ingredients.

She gives a nicely printed book with all of the recipes inside. She gives clear instructions and demonstrations, the class size is limited to ensure she/her helpers can get to you, and has great pacing skills.

Go to Trip Advisor to see available dates (link above) and sign up! She does fill up!

Yes, you get to grind the fresh ingredients for curry!

Beautiful Soups

Stunning spring rolls with the peaflower

Hot wok! Beware of the Pad Kee Mow (Drunken noodles) you could get chili aromatics up your nostrils!

In the foreground, this is the chef/teacher Benny!

4. Eat Khanom Krok (Rice pancakes)

Look for the cast iron equipment to find these beauties. Chef Benny told us that Thais often enjoy dishes involving both sweet and savory together. These bite sized gluten free pancakes that use rice and coconut milk as a base also have green onions inside.

5. Wua Lai Road/Saturday Night Market in Chiang Mai

When you arrive in SE Asia, you will immediately understand why night markets! For the climate factor and the pure size compared to outdoor markets I've seen in the US. Los Angeles and Bay Area folks may be able to better shed light on Asian night markets in the US though. More so I check out farmer's markets wherever I live and travel.

I liked having fruit shakes/smoothies for "survival". I know some relatives were concerned about food sanitation while I went abroad, but I had also read some blogs/online articles that most major cities are safe with their ice -I didn't have any stomach problems until the last 3 days of my trip while we were in Vietnam. Anyway, you can get the shakes at night markets, restaurants or street vendors. It varies as to whether they have real fruit, have powders for the boba type drinks or syrups. The quality varies too-how much ice is put in vs fruit. I have no real tips for this-just be prepared to have varied experiences. But you are paying about $2 USD for smoothies you'd probably get for $4-6 in the US.

Also pick up giant bottles of water at the Circle K or convenience store to hydrate. You can find the Eno-salts at the stores for electrolytes, or maybe you are a bit of a pack-rat like me and brought Emergen-C for the plane so that can also help with dehydration. We had so many different tropical fruit smoothies during our trip to Asia! I think my favorites were kiwi (pictured below) , passion fruit and jack fruit.