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| The khan toke (file pic) |
We now eat our meals northern style, around a bamboo tray on the floor.
Maiyuu staggered in the door the other morning with a round bamboo tray, called a khan toke, on which we have eaten all our meals since. He bought it in old Thai market where we live.
'Eating khan toke' (ขันโตก) is a tradition passed down from the Lanna Kingdom in the North - and now we have our own taste of it in our humble abode in Thon Buri.
Food which accompanies rice is placed on the tray. Families gather in a circle around the tray and help themselves.
It is designed to take the dishes we eat with rice, though northerners also use them as general purpose trays.
The khan toke looked large in his hands.
'A man in the market sells them,' he said.
I go into that market at least half a dozen times a day. How come I had never seen them?
Maiyuu also bought a selection of northern food to eat on our khan toke, and made a few more dishes to accompany them.
Did I mention that we sit in front of the TV? That's probably why Maiyuu bought it, but it is a romantic addition to the household nonetheless.
'Don't spill anything!' Maiyuu said sternly. I have clumsy fingers.
When the meal was over - we ate lobster and a few curry dishes for our first meal, and khao tom pla before bed - I carried the tray back to the table, where it sits when not in use.
In Chiang Mai, visitors can dine in the khan toke style at the Khum Khan Toke restaurant. After dinner, guests watch Thai traditional dance on stage, including the fingernail dance and candle dance.
Some khan toke tables are multi-leveled affairs with legs. Ours is circular and made from humble bamboo, but others are crafted out of wood.
Love those bowls with the lids!
ReplyDeleteI like them too - they are just so dinky. I watched a show on TV last night about a woman in Bangkok who sells bowls made of fired, coloured glass.
ReplyDeleteThose bowls were beautiful, and cheap, too.
Everything from Chiang Mai is so charming... In Isaan the dishes are put on the floor, over a straw mat. So uncomfortable!
ReplyDeleteHonestly I ate all regions of Thai food but never from the North until I met some Ladyboy performers who invited me to have meal at their apartment in Penang after the nightly shows. Gosh! The food preparation looked damn ugly and funny esp the Tom Yam! They told me it is Northern style BUT they were really delicious and yummy! They just don't decorate the food like Paktai or BKK style. What is your favourite Thai food?
ReplyDeleteJun: I couldn't eat like that, bending my head towards the floor all the time. It would be bad for the back.
ReplyDeleteNor could I eat the way the people in that video do [see blog post], standing up. Meals should be taken in seated position, hopefully not too close to the floor.
Twilight Zone: I have no particular favourites, as I enjoy most of what is put in front of me.
I have become addicted to rice...if I do not eat rice at least once a day, I feel flat and insipid.
We do something similar at my place over there. I didn't know what the table is called.
ReplyDeleteIn an apt with two bedrooms (sort-of)
there are only two chairs, we are three so it would be rude to leave one standing or eating on the floor alone. I do insist on knife and fork -no fingers and find it slightly uncomfortable to eat in that position, but its a breeze compared to the authentic bathroom.
We've only dined twice, together, in Lanna restaurants. Once was at Lanna Thai @ Suk 38. The ambiance and service were fantastic, but we were too conservative and had mainly Bangkok-style cuisine.
ReplyDeletebkkdreamer,
do you happen to come across any restaurants that serve Lanna food in khan toke style in Bangkok. will be there next week! :)
BODYholic:
ReplyDeleteI am afraid I know of no such restaurants in Bkk. Have you tried a Google search?
Only a brief search but the results were not helpful (probably because I did not dig hard enough). No problem, will ask round next week. Thanks.
ReplyDelete