Word: streets
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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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...
...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...
...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...
...Despite the acclaim, Thompson still pounds the streets for inspiration. "Street food is not always purely Thai food," he tells me on a stroll through Bangkok, his second home after London. "It's often food that's been imported from other cultures and assimilated." Satay hails from the Malay-speaking world. Khao man gai, a popular chicken-and-rice dish, was introduced by 19th century immigrants from China's Hainan province; their descendants still sell it on Bangkok streets. Pad Thai, perhaps Thailand's most recognized dish, is also indebted to China. "It's Chinese noodles stir-fried, but with...
...electricity and heat, using wind-, solar-, biomass- and hydro-power. They want to establish a Bank of Vermont owned by the people of Vermont - freed from the arbitrary controls of central bankers - as well as a local alternative currency, with Vermont pension and operating funds invested not in Wall Street but in locally owned financial institutions. "We favor devolution of political power from the state back to local communities, making the governing structure for towns, schools, hospitals and social services much like that of small, decentralized states like Switzerland," declares the group's "21st Century Statement of Principles...