Alexandra Anderson

I have only recently gotten back from Thailand, and I do miss the culture and food. Mostly the food. I got back to Rutgers and within hours I was at H-Mart, a Korean market that carries a lot of products I knew I would need to recreate my favorite Thai dishes. I had the recipe book from our cooking lesson, and I used it to guide my shopping list. I got lots of coconut milk, some fruit, spicy sauces, jellies and more. But there were a few ingredients I even asked them about at the market, but they said they didn’t carry pandan leaves or guangal, key ingredients in many Thai soups. At first, I was shocked. How could this Asian market not carry these basic ingredients. But of course, it was actually a Korean market. I had forgotten one of the biggest lessons I had just learned from the trip. In America, we often group all Asian cultures together, and don’t bother to look into the nuance of each country’s customs. In Thailand, I learned all about how they have specific chili’s with a distinct taste. In Thailand, they have their own system of writing and many regional dialects within the country. Just one country south, in Malaysia, they have their own script! Which is different from Chinese, which is different than Japanese, and so on. Of course H-mart didn’t have Thai specific ingredients, it was Korean!

 

Must recreate these dishes!

So of course, when I was making my Tom Kha Gai later that night, I used a few substitutions. In the end, I think it came out pretty good, and made me feel like I was back in Thailand. As I move forward from this trip, I will always be seeking Thai food, and thinking about how complex every place is. It means something different to whoever you talk to, and it will always be its own place in southeast Asia, with a distinct culture, and even within the country itself.

First glimpses of the USA

We got to visit Phetchabun, a remote mountainous province of Thailand. It was a long drive from Bangkok, but we got some remarkable changes in landscapes along the way. From city, to plains, to mountainous roads with many switchbacks. Our most adventurous day came when we went up even higher on the

mountain to visit the farms and production sites. We went into a pickup truck bed, and wound our way up even higher. Our ears popped because of the elevation. We got to visit the lettuce production center, which was really just a shop-sized warehouse, and discussed the pros and cons of going organic.

They had a cooperative there, so they could all pool their resources. It was really cool to see examples of farmers coming together to better their industry. Without the cooperative, it would be too dificult for the family run operations to get their product to market, and get money. The whole mountaintop was filled with these small farms alongside their homes on dusty winding roads. One farm had rows and rows of lettuce, waiting for the harvest. They were all different colors and at different growth stages. There was even some baby greens that were in their little compost planter. And of course, we were on a mountain, so we were on steeply sloping ground. They let us take some home, and I enjoyed two whole heads of lettuce on the way back down the mountain. Delicious!

Somehow, the day got even cooler when we made a stop at a Buddist temple. But it wasn’t any ordinary temple, it was 5 Buddhas, all sitting together like Russian nesting dolls. It overlooked the mountain valley below, and I could see why they put such a beautiful monument here. There was another temple like area, that reminded me of Gaudi, the Catalan architect who used cracked pottery in his works. The whole place was whimsical and very beautiful. It was a great day, academically and culturally.

In Kanchanburi, we had the opportunity to see a wide range of of food production. One of the most interesting was a visit to a vegetable processing plant. It was River Kwai, and they had everything from baby corn, to canned corn! It was quite interesting getting to try the canned corn in Thailand, because I always think of it as a flavor from home. I live in an area surrounded by cornfields, and each summer I watch as they grow taller and taller. We have a lot of fresh corn in the summer, and canned in the winter. This tasted exactly like it. It was also hard to believe they were sending these products, from a rural part of Thailand 5 miles from the Myanmar border, to markets all the way in Britain. I am very suspicious now about their sustainability.

We also had the chance to make our own food while we were at MUKA! We got a rice noodle making demonstration. It was much more complex than making pasta, and it was all because of the level of gluten. Rice doesn’t have much compared to wheat. So, we made a slurry and spread it on a pan. We then went to a steamer, and let it set. When it came out, it was solid! Then, it went into the cooler so we could work with it. Mine never came out that perfect, so when we used the pasta machines, I had to do some adjustments. Then, it came out and we added it to a noodle soup. I was pretty impressed that we  made the noodles successfully. If I had a big steamer at home, I would actually do it at time.

We also got to visit a melon farm! The farmer quit his previous job, and decided to use organic farming methods to grow melons for the Japanese market. He took us to his covered greenhouse rows, and we got to see the young melons. At the front, they even sold melon slushies! We definitely got a good taste.

For a cultural activity, our hosts took us to a traditional village. We got the traditional outfits, and got to walk all over. They had different structures of a typical village, and farms, gardens, houses, and docks. It was beautiful and very fun to explore. At the end of the night, we got an amazing dinner-dance experience. I felt the most in Thailand feeling I had experienced over the whole trip. It was beautiful.

Traditional Thai village

After some time in class, and enjoying the sights of Bangkok, we had a joint cultural and academic activity, a cooking class! We went over the the Institute for Asian Languages and Cultures, and were let to the Thai traditional house. It was up on stilts, because it would prevent flooding when the rainy season came. We were down on the ground level, and there were several stations that were set up around a demonstration station. Our chef spoke limited English, so we had a translator help us out. We had a ton of ingredients on the table some were familiar, other not. I saw cilantro, spices, and coconut milk. I would have to wait till later to learn the names of the others. Up at the front, the chef demonstrated first how to make Floating Lotus, a traditional desert that was coconut milk with little rice dough balls. I am used to vanilla and sugar and wheat flour desserts, The chef explained how Thai cooking aims to balance flavors, so you are not overwhelmed by one flavor, like sweet… The desert would have salty, sweet, and creamy flavors. Making the rice balls out of flour reminded me of making pasta at home. But they used glutinous rice flour, from sticky rice, instead of semolina wheat flour. Rolling the balls into a pea size took some patience, and they assured us the smaller the ball, the softer it would get as it cooked in the coconut milk. Next was spring rolls, and they gave us filling made in advance. All we had to do was to roll them into the rice paper. Obviously, everything in the kitchen is easier said then done. After a little practice, Megan, my cooking partner, and I, successfully rolled a whole plate of rolls. Time in the frying pan would tell if they were done well. Next was Tom Yum Gung, my top Thai soup. The chef was very exacting about the whole process, and made sure we were doing things in the right order for the dish to taste perfect. We followed chefs directions, and added a lot of lime and cilantro at the end to make the flavor pop. I was so impatient, because all our dishes had to be eaten at the end. Thankfully, good technique involves taste tests as the dish progresses. Our final dish was panang curry. I had no idea there were multiple types of curry up to this point. I was excited to try any curry, really. For this recipe, we had to make our own curry paste! Meg an I used all our strength and mashed up many spices and peppers for the dish. We added a few things that were hot, but not too many. We mixed it all in, and added pork to complete the dish. Finally, we were ready to feast. Everything came out great, I was so proud. They even gave us recipe books, which I was excited to use as soon as I got home. The experience was fun, and the food tasted so much better for it.

We all arrived in Thailand in the wee hours of the morning, and I immediately fell asleep on arrival at our rooms. The next morning, we woke up to the tropical sun shining through our windows, and I was ready to be in Thailand. We stepped outside, out of the AC, into the tropical heat to walk to our classroom on Mahidol University Salaya campus. Professor Matthews gave us a rundown of the class, and our expectations. I was really excited about all parts of our itinerary. Before we knew it, we were on our way to our first destination. Salaya Market was very overwhelming to me. Of course I don’t speak or read Thai, so I was unable to understand really anything that was happening. All the new foods were so different. The meats were a little weird, but the fruits were so cool. I had watched some Netflix specials about the food of Thailand, and the fruits were the things I wanted to check out the most. So, I decided to buy some lychee. I had no idea how the market worked, so I used my non verbal communication to get 20 baht worth of lychee by pointing to the huge pile and giving the woman a 20 baht bill. And it worked! I got about 6 lychee, and 20 baht is around 66 US Cents. i used my fingernails to cut the stringy pink outside in half, and a fleshy, juicy white fruit came out. I took a little bite. and all my stepping-out-of-my-comfort-zone-ness was rewarded. It was so good! I at the whole thing, and tossed the seed. I offered it to others, and had the rest of the fruits. I was really pleased that it went well. Encouraged by my progress, I decided to try some food food. Ryan, a classmate, and I, decided to split what looked like a curry. We were amazed at the incredibly low price of everything, and we felt like kings at the market. Once again, I was happy I tried the food, because the curry was great too. I didn’t really know what was in it, but it was good. Here is a picture:

Later that evening, Professor Matthews took us on a street food adventure. We went down this one endless road that had food stalls with little seating areas on all sides. We struggled to pick a place because we didn’t know anything about our options. We did settle on one place, and nothing was legible. I downloaded Google Translate that has a feature that uses a camera to translate text, so we were able to use it to figure out what to order. We got some rice, soups, meat skewers, and veggies to share. The whole spread got passed around, and I was eager to try the Tom Yum, because I was heartened by the positive experiences I had that day, and by my earlier tasting. It was amazingly delicious, and amazingly spicy. I went through so much water to quench my poor mouth. The whole meal was us getting thrown into the deep end of Thai cuisine. It was a new experience, but I really enjoyed it. At the end, I won our bet to see how much the bill would come to in USD. Only $30 for a feast for 7! I knew the trip was going to be great.

The Tom Yum Gung: