Not Your Traditional Salad – Ten Thai Dishes That Redefine the Word

For many westerners, the idea of a salad is pretty simple, and usually revolves around lettuce and other veggies. But once you start exploring other culinary trends, you’ll find that ‘salad’ is a pretty broad term, and nowhere is that more evident than in Thailand. The Thais use a multitude of fresh ingredients to make up a large variety of dishes that technically qualify as salad. I’m a huge fan of all of these, and here are ten of my personal favorites.

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Fresh from the Grill – Charcoal Roasted Thai Food You Can’t Miss

From the streets of Bangkok to the beaches of Phuket, you can find a tantalizing selection of Thai food that’s freshly grilled and waiting to be eaten. The alluring aroma of grilled meat can be smelled easily in most every village, town or city you happen to be in, and finding a delicious, hot snack is never difficult.

As an example, a trip to Thailand would not be complete without sampling a handful of bite-sized sticks of grilled meat right off the grill. Moo ping (moo=pork, ping=barbecued), are little pieces of pork marinated in sweet soy sauce, pierced by a bamboo skewer, and cooked to juicy perfection. Other choices include chicken hearts, chicken intestines, and even the beloved all-fat chicken anuses (although you won’t find too many foreigners lining up for those). Meat on a stick is often accompanied by a small bag of sticky rice, and alternating bites of smoky meat with little balls of gooey rice makes the perfect on-the-go snack.

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How to order noodle soup in Thailand

I’m not ashamed to admit it. The first few times that I tried to order a bowl of kuay tiaw (noodle soup) in Thailand, I failed miserably. It’s not that I didn’t end up with a bowl of noodles. I just didn’t have the answers for all of the questions the vendor asked me. Who knew there were so many variables at play?

While it’s certainly not rocket science, your first trip to the local kuay tiaw stand can be intimating. So before you take your first plunge into Thailand’s favorite late-night snack, take a moment to review the formula. While the order of your selection doesn’t really make a difference, the following ingredients are listed in the order that most people choose them.

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