Terra Thai

Thai Street Foods 101
It’s 6.00 a.m. and you are in Bangkok, Thailand, waiting for a bus to go to work, and you see it there in the push carts in front of the bus station. Not today, you told yourself. 8.30 a.m., you arrive at work, and it’s there at the stalls around your office building. You keep your head low and walk in. 12.30 p.m., you decide not to go out for lunch, but then you see it on your co-worker’s desk, and have to close your eyes. 7.00 p.m., just when you think you have avoided it, a phone rings. It’s from your spouse, and you are asked to buy it home for dinner.
Thai street food is everywhere, all day. From early in morning to late at night, you can find snack foods like Lettuce Wrap (#1) or complete meals for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Street food has only been popular since the 1960s when more Thais moved into cities to find work and eat out. Traditional spicy curry dishes, usually cooked at home, like Beef Panang Curry (#7) and Green Curry (#8) found their way into the street and have become an important part of the street food repertoire.
The Chinese immigrants in the twentieth century also brought with them hawkers selling pre-cooked, ready-to-eat foods from their home town. Many of these deceptively simple dishes like Chicken Rice (#4) and Sweet BBQ Pork over Rice (#5) have been popular ever since.


-