Traveling can be a soul-enriching experience if done right. This means immersing yourself in the wonders and challenges a place has to offer. Some may be exotic, some too real for comfort, but it’s the authentic, closer-to-reality experiences that will make your trips memorable. So traveling to fantastic Bangkok but not trying out their street stall foods is almost criminal!
With Chinese, Teochew, and other Middle Eastern influences creating an amazing smorgasbord of dishes for you to select from, Bangkok truly is one of the best places to enjoy street food.
Some people, in the process of enriching their soul, end up depleting their health and bank balances recovering from illnesses. That can be a real shame, especially when you’ve invested a lot of time and money making your dreams a reality! Irrespective of the continent you visit, your body can tend to react negatively to unaccustomed qualities of air, water, and food. Which makes skin allergies, different types of fever, and food-tract related problems common.
Luckily, preparing yourself for such challenges is extremely easy? these days, with simple, natural medicines and supplements available in abundance. One of the best examples to tackle diarrhea is Travelan, a product specifically developed to help stabilize your bowel sensations whilst traveling.
Travelan was developed by an Australian Biotechnology company and is a listed medicine on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods specifically indicated to reduce the risk of traveler’s diarrhea when you travel overseas. Clinically proven to be effective up to 90% of the time, Travelan is an effective alternative towards tackling diarrhea while you’re out on the road, which makes it the perfect addition to add to your travel first-aid kit, especially when traveling to high-risk countries like Bangkok.
Many people who visit Bangkok with limited spare time manage to eke out a few hours to at least visit and sample street food in their very own Chinatown – Yaowarat. So arm yourself with antibodies-rich Travelan capsules and get set to try some of the lip-smacking dishes listed below from street vendors in Bangkok!
- Pork Trotters Rice – Yummy, braised pork dish that leans on the sweeter side with lesser vinegar than usually found in Chinese dishes, so you’ll find it less greasy as well.
- Thai Chicken Rice – Bangkok vendors use rougher and thicker variety of rice which is quite dry and absolutely filling. For those taking baby steps into food adventurism, this would be the perfect first experimental dish as rice and chicken are two very common things eaten all around the world.
- Spicy Seafood Tom Yum/Soup – Creamy with lots of jumbo prawns, there’s no place like Bangkok to try this wholesome and mouth-watering dish. Condensed milk is used to give it a creamy texture and added flavor; mixed with fiery spices, it’s like a food party in your mouth!
- Duck rice/noodles – A dish made with dark soy sauce, pickled ginger, and finely chopped green chilies, the duck meat has a sweet tinge to it, and the meat is quite rich by itself. In Bangkok, its common practice to get a portion of clear soup of boiled duck bones with the dish
- Toast-Bread – Don’t be quick to write off this dish which may sound common at first. With a variety of jams, condensed milk or spreads such as less-milky hazelnut and coconut-rich kaya coated abundantly on bread and then lightly toasted, you experience a burst of flavors when you eat this simple dish that’s quite different from the other offerings in Bangkok.
Bangkok is also known for its other street food specialities such as Thai green curry, raw oysters, fried fish, fried bugs like cockroaches, locusts, and crickets, tender coconut ice creams, tea, and fruity desserts made of bananas, mangoes and pomegranates.
Tips to Eat Safe
Just because the street food in Bangkok is inexpensive and plentiful, don’t assume that they’re unsafe. They’re what bring your trip there alive. Stick to the tips shared below and you should be able to breeze through visits in almost any country!
- Research – The climate plays an important role in the kinds of foods suited to you, and how they get digested. Products like Travelan play the balancing act so you don’t catch the worst of the fluctuations, but it would be wise to research things such as climatic conditions, local diseases, precautions against them, etc.
- Eating hours vary from country to country. So try eating when the locals usually eat because you’re guaranteed to get fresh food then, and not stale, bacteria-laced leftovers from the previous meal reserved to be served at odd hours to tourists
- The vendor with a crowd would naturally be the safest bet because you know a high number of people means they’ve eaten food from there before and it’s now become famous by word-of-mouth recommendation
- Check open cooking places for how utensils are used, cleaned and maintained, quality of water used, and insects buzzing around stale food. Lesser variety of dishes means all batches are fresh. Some stalls with larger varieties prepare one item after another and let the earliest one go stale
- Sanitary wipes can be used to wipe down non-disposal cutlery provided. Try places with disposable ones, as it’s common to find them in Bangkok using bamboo and other wood-based cutlery.
- Opt for well-cooked foods over under-cooked ones, especially when it comes to meat
- Foods using a lot of ice or water should be treated as the last option as the water might be sourced locally, filled with bacteria that your body is not accustomed to.
- Taking one or two caplets of Travelan before each meal will significantly reduce your risk of diarrhea, leaving you to travel and eat with peace of mind. Travelan is sold as a dietary supplement in the US and can be purchased online directly from Amazon or Passport Health Clinics.
This article is written in collaboration with Travelan!