Word: foodes
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Australian chef david thompson has a dry sense of humor, so when he describes his 370-page whopper of a cookbook as "by no means exhaustive," you take it with a pinch of salt. Actually, make that a splash of fish sauce. For this is Thai Street Food, Thompson's passionate and meticulous tribute to one of the world's great curbside cuisines. Thais not only snack between mealtimes, they snack between snacks. And who wouldn't, when almost every street is what Thompson calls a "delicious obstacle course...
...wasn't always this way, he explains in his introduction. Traditionally, Thais were rural folk who ate at home. But in the 1960s, with the country rapidly industrializing, people migrated from the farms to the factories, and food stalls sprang up to feed them. Their customers were once pitied or scorned. Women who bought takeaway instead of cooking for their families were called "plastic-bag housewives." (See the 12 tastiest new foods...
...Today, Thais attach enormous kudos to knowing where the best stalls are found. "Street food, when it's done well, is fantastic," says Thompson. Fantastic and (squeamish visitors take note) usually safe to eat. Vendors normally buy their ingredients in the morning and have nothing left by the day's end. "It makes for scrupulously fresh food. I've had more food poisoning in England...
...Thompson, 49, first went to Thailand from his hometown of Sydney in 1986 and "fell in love with the place." But he didn't care much for the food until undergoing a six-month apprenticeship with a "gruff old guide" called Sombat Janpetchara, the daughter of a palace chef. "She cooked with poise and elegance and a definition of taste that made other foods seem ordinary," Thompson recalls. He returned to Sydney to start his first restaurant, Darley Street Thai, to rave reviews. A decade later he opened Nahm in London, the first Thai restaurant with a Michelin star...
...what about that comfort zone of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps, plus the infrastructure currently funded by the federal government, including bridges, roads and particularly the interstate highways? One analysis by a researcher at the University of Vermont found that the state only gets 75 cents back for every dollar it hands over to the federal center. The secessionists say they'd prefer to save their money and keep it at home. "Not only would an independent Vermont survive," says Naylor, "It would thrive, because it would free up entrepreneurial forces heretofore held in abeyance...