Is Food from Street Vendors Safe?

[chilli13]

if i could choose one thing to import for good to farangland it'd have to be a streetstall or a bloody whole soi of 24/7 food&drinks hawkers - hell why not the whole nana north&south sois or cowboy please oh buddha the greatest you

[Guest]

I think I'd import Long beach and for drunken after hours the Nana parking lot... Would fit Long beach behind the Opera and the parking lot up in Pigalle!! Paris would be paradise!

[chilli13]

I'm not too familiar with long beach, but I'd make an exception & trust you on that one - welcome home to paradise

 

For me I could modify my wish(thanks again almighty buddha) & import still a crowded soi crawling with yummi food & drinks, then coco cabana & for the hell of it the infamous parked lot

[Guest]

I got sick twice in the first month I was in Thailand and I believe it was due to street stall food. Maybe even the same vendor because I moved after that month and was fine after that. I ate street food almost every day for the next 5 months and didn't get sick.

 

Damn that shit is good......

[Central Scrutinizer]

ib13 said:

street food takes the full range from awfull grub to absofuckinglutely delirious mmmmmmm tasty stuff that may cost more than expected.

one have not lived untill tried at least one good & bad one

 

 

 

 

 

IB13,

 

I agree. It depends on each individual vendor. I notice my Thai women will pass by seemingly good street vendor operations, seeking something only they seem to be able to discern (I'm clueless as to how they choose one over another). They'll pass dozens before choosing one they deem suitable and arroy mahk. I do notice they will usually pick a spot run by a woman, as opposed to a man.

 

We run our own restaurant in Surin. There are many differences in what one can buy and serve. Rice is a big issue. You can get a kilo of rice to cook and serve that costs you 12 baht a kilo, or the larger better tasting rice can cost as much as 22 baht a kilo (we use the latter). Same goes for your meats. Cheap cuts compared to select cuts. You'd be amazed at the differences in cost. Since most Thais seem to eat on the street because of the lesser costs of the foods served, and the convenience, I think they have certain criteria the stall must meet for them. Something a lot of us probably cannot see or discern for the most part when looking over these soi foodstalls. For me, it's the taste. If I find one I like, I stick to that stall. I've never gotten ill from the soi food stalls (knock wood).

 

Cent

[Boo Radley]

I think a lot of the street food has a higher level of bacteria in it than people are used to in the West, since it's often just left in the sun building up bacteria. In the West, it would be stored in a fridge. If you get ill from it depends on your immunity. Some people seem to be ok with it, others end up with Bangkok Belly!

[chilli13]

Good observations there & thanks a lot for the update on rice price who nobody else seemed able to come up with(in inflation thread)

 

I'm not sure local people are really able to actually 'see' or judge whether one street stall is better than the next one (of the same kind), but surely they may be picky & not go for the first the best even if they're very hungry as thais tend to be most of the time!

 

They may simply rely on sampling experience & tips from family & friends(food is a major isue that you can be sure gets discussed a lot) as there's only that many street stalls in the areas they frequent & soon enough they learn which ones are worth visiting.

 

My wife for example have her favorite stalls in her local sois around the house. Then there's the ones in pratunam reknowned for pad thai among other things. As mentioned a shitload of quality black noodle soup stalls at victory.

At school, uni etc. they soon learn to frequent the best value ones also & so on so forth. Of course they splurge & frequent 'real' restaurants now & again also ::

Then far out in outer ladpra there's the superb lao somtam & larb stands & conveniently in nearby soi is the 'ice cream' dessert guys

 

Its all really simple I guess - if clued in or with locals ::

[thalenoi]

The gf has a bad day if she does not eat her ratio of som tam here. On Saturday and Sundays we have at least 5 som tam vendors hitting the beach on motorbike carts, but I have to agree with the gf, only one has decent som tam para. She has the guys mobile and sometimes calls the man to ask him when he intend to stop at our doorstep.

 

Chumpon has a small night market with mainly food stalls and the gf will be very selective to pick a vendor similar to Cent's experience. I also have no clue on what her selection criteria might be.

[Central Scrutinizer]

IB,

 

"& thanks a lot for the update on rice price who nobody else seemed able to come up with(in inflation thread)"

 

Well, just a week or so ago we brought a relative's rice stock from last year's crop to be sold for some baht they needed to bring in this year's crop. From what I gathered there is also a difference in the money they receive per kilo for the older rice compared to the new rice crop. Sis told me, as I asked her how much per kilo was being given by the rice co-op who buys the stuff. I forget now what it was (I think 11 baht a kilo for the old stuff), but can ask again if you or anyone is interested in these prices. I do remember thinking that what the co-op buys it for isn't too much more than what it is sold for in the shops and stores. A couple baht a kilo difference.

 

I was told the cheaper rice is very hard, even when cooked, and not very flavorful or aromatic. Lots of different levels of rice it seems. Interesting watching how they check the rice inside the bags with these prods which scoop a handful out of the bag right through the burlap for inspection. Also you drive up with your truck full of bags of rice onto a scale. They weigh your truck. Then you drive over to another spot where your rice is unloaded by some guys. They open the bags and return the bags to you when they finish emptying them. Then you go back to the scale and get weighed again. They give you cash for the rice weight right at a window by the scales.

 

Cent

[gummigut]

Another interesting thing about food stalls, in my experience, is that the quality in one area tends to fall into a narrow band. Rarely do you have two excellent food stalls and the rest crappy. Or visa versa.

 

For example, the Sukhumvit/Thong Lo has excellent food stalls. The food stalls near me on Rachada are pretty good.

 

Prakanong, if I remember correctly, has some pretty good food stalls.

 

Then their are a TON (20+) of food stalls on Saphan Kwai and they almost all suck. There is an area of Sutthisan where the food stalls all suck. And I know of an area in Lad Prao where all the food stalls suck.

 

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