Traitor in Thai market (1)

Dining in a Thai restaurant overseas once, my parents asked me if there was such a thing as bad Thai food.

In Australia, the country where I was born, Thai food is popular if you are dining out.

Since I lived there, it has supplanted Chinese and Japanese as the Asian takeaway (or even eat-in) menu of choice.

Why? Thai is cheap, light, and tasty. And you don't have to struggle with chopsticks if you would rather use a knife and fork (or even a spoon and fork combination, if you want to look really Thai).

'Yes,' I said. 'You can buy poorly-made Thai food from street vendors, almost anywhere,' I said. 'But mostly it is well-made, because Thais love their food.'

We were eating at a 'Thai' restaurant in provincial Australia where not one cook in the kitchen was Thai, or even Asian. They were young farang, working from Thai-cuisine cookbooks.

They used local ingredients as a substitute for 'real' Thai ingredients which are hard to find there. The dishes had also been modified - made more bland - to appeal to Western tastes.

I didn't complain. When I visit my parents every year, we go to a Thai restaurant the night before I am due to return to Bangkok. I get to recommend the dishes, which is fun.

For the rest of the time, we eat Western food, which is a welcome change from the all-Thai diet I normally get in the Land of Smiles.

But back to poorly-made Thai food. Even Thais can be lousy cooks of Thai dishes.

For the last few weeks, I have been trying to wean myself off one of them.

Every night after work, I pick up three boxes of Thai food from a husband and wife couple who run a shop under a tattered tarpaulin in the market opposite my condo.

Talad Phlu at night

This same generous couple once offered to lend me money for a taxi when I had run out of cash to get home from work.

They have made food for me every night for at least 18 months. Normally we pay them once a month.

Lately, perhaps because they rush to get my order finished before midnight when my bus arrives, the quality of the food they make has deteriorated.

When I heat it in the microwave the next day, some is so awful I can barely eat it.

They know what I like, and vary the dishes they make for me each night. But when I open the lid of their white styrofoam boxes, some dishes look so off-putting that I toss the lot in the rubbish.

Clearly, this could not go on. The monthly bill comes to B2,500. That's too much if I am not enjoying it, or not even eating some of it.

Twenty metres away from their stall is another Thai couple who make similar dishes, which they sell in similar white boxes.

I had bought from them a few times before, when our regular outlet was closed.

They use superior rice. Their food is also tastier, and the price is the same. So why not switch?

now, see part 2