{"id":10653,"date":"2017-01-19T02:18:58","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T07:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10653"},"modified":"2017-01-19T02:18:58","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T07:18:58","slug":"a-new-taste-of-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10653","title":{"rendered":"a new taste of Thailand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u0e27\u0e31\u0e14\u0e1e\u0e23\u0e30\u0e18\u0e32\u0e15\u0e38\u0e14\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e2a\u0e38\u0e40\u0e17\u0e1e-
\u0e27\u0e31\u0e14\u0e1e\u0e23\u0e30\u0e18\u0e32\u0e15\u0e38\u0e14\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e2a\u0e38\u0e40\u0e17\u0e1e- Wat Phra That Doi Suthep<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u0e2a\u0e27\u0e31\u0e2a\u0e14\u0e35\u0e04\u0e23\u0e31\u0e1a Sawadeekrap<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Welcome to beautiful Thailand! Filled with stunning temples, smiling locals, spicy food, and a tai-kadai language, this authentic culture craves study from all disciplines. While\u00a0sharing my unique adventures and pretty pictures, I aim more to delve into the vast abyss that is Thai culture, too often assumed to be pad thai, pretty girls, and white beaches. \u00a0With my background studying cultural anthropology, paired with language and political science,\u00a0my time in Thailand will be focused on deconstructing the importance Thais place around their food, as well as how tourism has changed the meaning, practice, quality, and importance of eating as a Thai. Since a little kid drinking \u0e0a\u0e32\u0e40\u0e22\u0e47\u0e19 chaa yen <\/em>(Thai iced-tea),\u00a0my mom instilled a passion for Thai cuisine. It is important for us, as humans who require sustenance, to appreciate the food we choose to eat. Anthropologist\u00a0Gillian Crowther, author of\u00a0Eating Culture<\/em> (2013), reminds us of the function food plays in our lives. “Food is our everyday creative and meaningful engagement with nature through culture…humans don’t just randomly feed; we select, fashion, concoct, and make an edible assemblage that fits our imagining of food” (Crowther 2013:XVIII). Food, therefore, is the simplest form of the selective choice of\u00a0environmental manipulation for human advancement. Changing the environment from object to artifact for the sole purpose of consumption\u00a0creates the basic definition of a culture; placing hierarchical importance on objective material in a human’s life. Food, therefore, is vital for\u00a0understanding any culture.<\/p>\n

My first week in Thailand was overloaded with new flavors, textures, smells, and sights. With a home base at Uniloft in the neighborhood of\u00a0\u0e2a\u0e38\u0e40\u0e17\u0e1e\u00a0Suthep<\/em>\u00a0close to the campus of Chiang Mai University, I am luckily\u00a0far away from the touristy center of Old Town, where authenticity within cuisine is quickly diminishing. On\u00a0\u0e0b\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e40\u0e08\u0e47\u0e14\u00a0Soi 7<\/em>, carts serve\u00a0dishes from\u00a0\u0e02\u0e49\u0e32\u0e27\u0e0b\u0e2d\u0e22\u00a0Khao Soi\u00a0<\/em>(traditional chicken bone & beef liver soup) to\u00a0 \u0e02\u0e49\u0e32\u0e27\u0e44\u0e01\u0e48\u0e17\u0e2d\u0e14\u00a0Khaw Gai Koah\u00a0<\/em>(fried chicken on rice). At my favorite restaurant, \u0e02\u0e19\u0e21\u0e08\u0e35\u0e19\u0e2b\u0e25\u0e48\u0e21\u0e40\u0e01\u0e48\u0e32 \u0e2b\u0e25\u0e31\u0e07 \u0e21\u0e0a\u00a0kah nom thien loo khaw laam ngoo,\u00a0<\/em>I order\u00a0\u0e2a\u0e49\u0e21\u0e15\u0e33 Som Tam,\u00a0<\/em>spicy papaya salad–crisp, refreshing, sour, sweet, salty, and spicy, all masterfully combined together in perfect proportions,\u00a0leaving your mouth in awe of its magic.<\/p>\n

\"
\u0e2a\u0e49\u0e21\u0e15\u0e33 Som Tam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All these dishes are prepared by one woman cooking on a single burner stove, with 1 wok, 1 knife, and 1 spoon. Watching these chefs prepare the 30 orders that come in at the same time is a miracle in itself. No measurements, just different spoonfuls of\u00a0\u0e19\u0e49\u0e33\u0e1b\u0e25\u0e32\u00a0nam plaa\u00a0<\/em>(fish sauce),\u00a0\u0e19\u0e49\u0e33\u0e15\u0e32\u0e25\u00a0shugar,\u00a0<\/em>\u0e19\u0e49\u0e33\u0e21\u0e30\u0e19\u0e32\u0e27 nam manow\u00a0<\/em>(lemon juice),\u00a0\u0e1e\u0e23\u0e34\u0e01\u00a0prik\u00a0<\/em>(chili), and\u00a0\u0e16\u0e31\u0e48\u0e27\u0e40\u0e2b\u0e25\u0e37\u0e2d\u0e07\u0e2b\u0e21\u0e31\u0e01\u00a0khoon loo mak\u00a0<\/em>(fermented soy paste). It is amazing that different combinations of these simple ingredients create such a varying palate that defines Thai food.<\/p>\n

Since I have been here, two Thai students have reached out to help me and Christian, an ethnographic film major, with our Thai and learning the ins and outs of Chiang Mai on their motorbikes. Recently, Mew and Chitsa took us out to try a Thai dessert,\u00a0\u0e02\u0e19\u0e21\u00a0kha-nom\u00a0<\/em>(literally ‘dessert’). This cereal of coconut milk, ice shavings, corn, stale bread, green noodles, and fermented water chestnuts coated in a waxy red sugar was devoured by my new friends. Even for my adventurous diet, watery coconut milk with salty corn didn’t sit well with me. Despite my intolerance for the dish, Mew and Chitsa were ecstatic that two Americans were willing to try something so foreign. Their positive attitude and excitement made me feel at home in such a new environment. Their smiles and laughs were\u00a0parallel to that of many Thais, where my desire to share in their local\u00a0culture makes thems\u00a0proud of their heritage and traditions. That makes me feel great, showing someone that what makes them who they are is valued in the eyes of someone completely different from them. So, I look forward to\u00a0continue try new things, learn more Thai, and become as local as possible\u00a0with my three new adventurers.<\/p>\n

\"Christian,
Christian, Chitsa, Mew, and myself<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u0e2a\u0e27\u0e31\u0e2a\u0e14\u0e35\u0e04\u0e23\u0e31\u0e1a Sawadeekrap! Welcome to beautiful Thailand! Filled with stunning temples, smiling locals, spicy food, and a tai-kadai language, this authentic culture craves study from all disciplines. While\u00a0sharing my unique adventures and pretty pictures, I aim more to delve into the vast abyss that is Thai culture, too often assumed to be pad thai, pretty girls, … <\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,1],"tags":[204,231,266,509],"class_list":["post-10653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thailand","category-uncategorized","tag-chiang-mai","tag-culture","tag-food","tag-study-abroad-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}