Joy Reading a Thai-English Dictionary!
Thai people make their Thai food recipes with care. Thais’ never seem to be in a hurry while preparing food. At times it will take my Thai wife over an hour to make something that in America wouldn’t take more than half that time. Making Thai food slowly and with care is part of the culture and one that is different rom American culture.
Thais’ are predominantly Buddhist. Buddhism emphasizes being in the moment and not being concerned with the past or the future. Thais’ seem to be practicing this awareness of the present as they prepare each food and cook each meal. My Thai wife washes the vegetables with care. She removes the skins of cucumbers with care. She cuts the vegetables, pork, chicken, all the food – with care. She combines Thai food ingredients with care. She stir-fries food with care. She does everything slowly and with attention.
When I ask her – “How long until dinner is ready” Her reply is never less than 20 minutes. And that is AFTER I’ve asked her 30 minutes before that. In fact, in general this slow and careful approach doesn’t stop with food. It is in driving, walking, talking, and doing just about anything.
Except eating Thai food!
Thai people eat fast and don’t speak very much during a meal. There are times when they sit around the table for a while and talk – and drink beer or whiskey or something – same as all cultures. But, if they are there just to eat – they eat their food and vacate pronto! Often times by the time I finish eating my food with a group of Thai people they are kind of watching me anxiously to see when I’ve finished my last bite. When it looks as if I’m done – they’ll jump up and start leaving!
On two occasions they’ve tried to leave before I was finished with my delicious Thai food! I really enjoy my Thai food and I usually like to finish everything on my plate. BUT, if I put down my spoon during any point in the meal – they take that to mean I’m finished and ready to go.
My Thai wife, “Joy” is not this way. She is a slower food eater than she is a food cooker. This is a nice change. I have never seen any Thai person eat slowly before meeting her. She is really different from Thai people in many regards. She was raised in Isaan (the northeast) and that is obvious in her speech and her good natured and wholesome personality. But, many times I have to ask myself if she’s really Thai…
Ok, I’ll stop hijacking her blog and let her post more recipes. She’s been posting quite a few lately… she has so many Thai food recipes finished in the computer, video taped, and photographed that I cannot keep up. We need to have two computers here since I can’t give her mine often because I’m working on 5 blogs of my own! Come April we may have another used one (for me!) and she’ll be able to use this one. She should really be cranking out the Thai food recipes, photos and videos at that point.
Stay with us and enjoy… make sure to download some videos – everything is free!
🙂
Sawasdee Krup,
Vern
