Thai food gets dull (1)

After years of surviving on Thai food alone, I am now branching out into western food, thanks to my Thai boyfriend, who is cooking foreign food for us every day.

Branching into western food - in Thailand? How shocking!

Foreigners flock to Thai restaurants in their home country, because they are cheap and in vogue.

When they visit Thailand, I am sure they enjoy eating Thai food here too, as it's more 'authentic'.

Yet many foreigners who live here do not seem to get to grips with a wholly, or even mainly Thai diet.

The food is too spicy, they say, or too dodgy.

'I don't buy food off the street,' my foreign friends at work tell me.

Off the street? They probably mean the wandering vendors who push carts selling fried chicken or squid on a stick, common in the tourist and business district of Bangkok.

Yet not all vendors are the wandering type. Some have semi-permanent stalls, just off the street, where they have catered to customers for years.

I usually buy from them...but even there, I can get bored with Thai food.

I live in a Thai market, a long way from the tourist district. Here, Thais are fussy about the food they get, partly because the price keeps going up.

In the centre of the market, a styrofoam box (one serving) of Thai food can cost B35. If I walk deeper into the market, into a small street 10 minutes away, I can get it for B5 less.

Thais who live in the market also complain about the price difference - but who can be bothered walking for 10 minutes when you feel hungry?

Every night, I order food from a stall in the market. It is run by a husband and wife team. The wife cuts the vegetables, while her husband cooks.

I wish it was the other way around. Some men are sloppy when they cook. This guy, who smokes heavily and cooks bare-chested, tosses in the ingredients and waits until they look hot enough to put into a styrofoam box. That's one order, ready to go.

I take one of his boxes of food to work, which I heat in the microwave when I get hungry.

Last night, as I was picking through a dish of fried rice and minced beef, I found a glob of shrimp paste, which he had thrown in without bothering to stir.

I am tempted to cancel our standing arrangement with that pair, as the food is often disappointing. Sometimes I can barely bring myself to eat it.

We pay the bill once a month. I keep ordering from them, because it is convenient to pay that way rather than having to find the money every night. Sometimes I am just too tired.

But you pay for what you get. One order from them costs about B35. In a Thai restaurant at the local shopping mall, which serves much better food, and where the owner pays higher rent, I would pay B80-100 for a dish.

now, see part 2