12 Kilos or Bust: Stories That Travel: Can you eat this? A typical day of eats in the South of Thailand...

First off, I must apologize for the use of shutter-stock images for this blog post....I have lost my camera charger! Until I have enough time to get to the city, these stock photos will have to do.

Food in Thailand is a very serious cultural affair. I mean, some Thais would rather starve than eat sub-par foods. I have seen this first hand, case in point, with my best friend Queen. When she travels abroad she carries her own supply of chili sauces and when those run out, subsists entirely on chips and salads. I find it hilarious, that while I manage to gain no less than 15 pounds in one month when visiting my homeland in the USA, she loses 20! (Maybe not that hilarious after all.)

I am 'farang': the not so endearing term Thais use for 'foreigners' over here. However lately I have earned some clout in the small community I currently live in, because I have married a Southern Thai man. I am constantly being tested however, with odd questions about behavior, sex and money (both of these topics strangely open to discussion no matter who you are over here), and mostly with foods. "Can you eat this?" is the favorite pastime for all the fellow shopkeepers around our small business, second only to a friendly game of badminton on the beach.

I have also married a Muslim Thai man. When this news was announced to my friends and family back home, the typical response were questions like "will you have to cover your hair?" Well, for my Thai friends (those predominant Buddhists) the first question was of course "will you have to stop eating pork?" Like I said, food always comes first.

So allow me to run you through a typical day of eats in the South of Thailand! Breakfast is usually a hurried affair on the go. Tik and I have to leave our home by 7:30 and catch our boat to Railay at 8 am every morning. Our neighbors just happen to run a cafe and restaurant, which allows us 15 minutes to devour coffee and doughnuts. The Thai doughnuts are thick, but hollow and fluffy inside, with a very chewy dough. They can be eaten plain, or dipped in sweetened soy milk , or even more sinfully and deliciously consumed when dipped in sweet and creamy condensed milk. We take them plain since we eat them with our coffee. Coffee can be black, black with sugar, black with milk, or local style: black with a thick layer of condensed milk on the bottom. We take the layer on the bottom, and stir feverishly for about 40 seconds before we drink our coffee deserts each morning. One coffee usually does the trick, and its thick flavor can stay on your tongue for hours!

Other sweets occasionally accompany our breakfasts. Today I munched on Daifuku, traditionally a Japanese dessert with little surprises in the middle. They are colorful, with a gel like texture, spongy to the touch. They are very chewy inside, and my sweets were stuffed with blueberry jam and chocolates this morning. They are coated with a fine layer of sugar powder and can be quite addictive.

Another local treat often enjoyed in these parts is the appropriately named 'stinky bean.' Not really eaten raw, these beans are cooked into soups and curries and launch a strong bitter taste....I usually pick around these little green buds, but I can eat them, in small doses of course!

Another favorite treat of mine is 'kanom jeen' an assembly of plain rice noodles drowned in curries like yellow fish curry, sweet northern tomato style chili, isaan spicy, green curry and then covered with greens such as: green beans, onions, cucumbers, bean sprouts, herbs and chili powder.

Thai styled BBQ fish, includes all the parts: tail, eyes, and everything in between. Don't worry about the bones, most of them are soft enough to eat. Like river prawns (shrimp) the tails and heads are also consumed as delicacies.

Blue crab is consumed by the kilo in these parts of Thailand. During a particularly rainy day, a few eager fisherman will shore up behind our shop displaying large overfilled baskets of blue crabs, and it's a race to grab the best bits! The women from all the shops and restaurants and mini marts run up to get the first pickings: the females are tastier, but avoid the ones with the blossoming egg sack....the energy spent on the eggs apparently makes the meat tougher. As usual in the animal world, the males are least desirable.

Ok this is one I can not eat! Fish maw, or fish stomach soup. It is a unseemly dark brown color, it smells and the textures alarm me....sorry, but no. Unfortunately my husband loves the stuff. Sorry hon, that won't be on a dinner menu in my kitchen any time soon!

This one I can, do and enjoy to eat: spicy seafood and squid salad. Blasted with dynamite hot Thai chilies and fresh lime juice, this salad is a treat for the senses. It looks beautiful, with bright vibrant colors, smells of the fresh sea, and tastes like a sweet and spicy bomb in your mouth!