The Foods of Thailand (Photo journey from my trip!)

Today you are going to come with me here to Thailand, where I’m going to take you on a food adventure! If you’re reading this, I know you probably love food as I do, and definitely appreciate the look and colors of beautiful natural foods.

I’ve been primarily doing cooking classes here this trip to Thailand, but have a few hours each day where I wander around and check out local markets. These pics from all my cooking class and street adventures. Let’s begin!

 

After being around the world (several times :) ), I think Thailand is perhaps the most vibrant place in the world to eat a plant-based diet. There are just SO many different veggies and herbs- some that we also have back home, but so many unique and different ones also!

I’ve been using a mortar and pestle a lot, for the first time in my life really. You need it to make traditional chili pastes, Som Tom (green papaya salad) and more.

Sweaty, sweaty! April and May are the hottest months of the year in Thailand, and cooking over a wok just heightens the amount of sweat that pours all over my body. But I’m not complaining! I much prefer humidity to dry climates. I think my skin loves it too. You can do a half day cooking class at the May Kaidee cooking school in Bangkok, which I did, but then they helped me design a 2 week program with a senior teacher, that was catered to me and the ingredients I wanted to work with. It was the first time they had done it, and I’m very happy scheduling worked out and I was able to create what I wanted.

I’ve been eating loads of mangosteen every day, which has incredible antioxidant properties and is one of the most beautifying fruits in the world.

Thai people love noodles and rice! If I do eat some noodles, they are gluten and egg-free and are the rice or bean sprouts-based varieties.

Jackfruit anyone? It has a very unique, rubbery- sort of taste!

On the right are kaffir lime fruits. The juice is bitter and not used, but we use the zest of the skin for some chili pastes and recipes.

Minced kaffir lime leaves are delish.

Fresh mint!

This is the inside of the banana flower, which we chopped up to make a raw salad.

Limes, everywhere!! I need to always have a lime tree now wherever I live, because I now use so many limes.

These are various chili pastes sold in a traditional market in Bangkok that I went in to visit. Most people buy chili pastes,

they don’t make them, which I can sort of understand after seeing how much work it is. There were some interesting ones, including a

cockroach-based one!

I created my own curriculum with ingredients I wanted to work with. Since I didn’t want to use any tofu, we used a lot of

mushrooms, other veggies such as pumpkin and more! All amazing Beauty Detox ingredients.

 

In lots of dishes we used several types of mushrooms, including king oyster, oyster, enoki and many others.

Spices galore!

 

Yummy galangal and kaffir lime leaves!

Fresh herbs from the garden outside.

 

On the street, I would get a bag of fresh fruit for 20 Baht, around $0.67 or so, the sweetest, freshest, most amazing mango, papaya, pineapple, etc. you can imagine! Just heaven.

 

I love the pumpkin here- what we call Kabocha squash back home. I eat it daily in my curries and other recipes I modify to be

Beauty Detox-style. :). Yes, recipes coming here soon!

This beautiful flower is one we would barely cook…drop into a soup and then just turn off the heat.

The bottom ingredient is known as “stinky bean” to some. Delicious when cooked a bit.

I learned a little fruit carving also, which is a traditional way to celebrate feasts and special ceremonies.

 

Peeling the banana flower to get down to the white, edible middle.

Here is my main teacher, Oh, that was exacting and super precise- and demanded that of me. Just what you need in a good

cooking teacher!

Durians everywhere on the street- whole and cut up. This fantastic fatty fruit is an acquired taste (and smell to some), but I find it

creamy and delicious.

Every day, the cooking space is so visually beautiful everything seems like art to me as we cook.

Roasted eggplant salad- Thai style!

The ingredients are just naturally are- with their color and shapes, don’t you think?

 

 

At the market you don’t have to get an exact weight for any one item. You can just fill up one of this baskets with exactly

what you need and they will figure out the price for you.

I hope you had a great food journey with me to Thailand!

Are you hungry now? Hopefully you feel inspired to eat a lot of veggies at lunch and dinner!

Stay tuned for more Thai adventures…and Thai-inspired recipes, coming your way. :)

Have a beautiful day. Enjoy this very moment.

Lots of love,

Kimberly