bangkok
“ It’ s not only about eating— it’ s a full sensory experience,” says Mark.“ When I first came to Bangkok, I was amazed at how so many food stalls and markets were open air— there was stir-frying, deep-frying, grilling and salad pounding— all like a live culinary theater right in front of you.”
WHERE IT ALL STARTED
Of course, you can’ t talk about Thai street food without discussing its birthplace: Yaowarat, or Bangkok’ s Chinatown. It’ s where many Chinese people settled during the reigns of Rama I to III, making their fortunes doing the jobs that wealthy Thais didn’ t want to do.
“ The Chinese rented row shophouses and started with noodle shops, small restaurants and so on,” says chef McDang, a Thai food scholar and popular TV personality, whose favorite Chinatown stop, like mine, is the oyster omelet stand Nai Mong Hoi Thod.
“ As time went by, tables selling snacks to take home were placed in front of some of the shophouses, so the shops began to spill out onto the street. That’ s really how street food as we know it today was born.”
Chinatown is now a major tourist destination, packed to the gills with people who throng the sidewalks to see flaming woks and exotic fruits. Indeed, the image of the wok hei( breath of the wok) master is so pervasive here that it’ s hard to imagine Thai street food without it— even though, as with much Thai street food today, the wok( and noodles, and won tons and rice porridge) are Chinese inventions.
“ Most modern cooks in Thailand are familiar with wok cooking as a result of their exposure to street food when they
Clockwise from bottom left: An oyster bar in Chinatown; a tuk-tuk; a rainbow over Wat Arun( the Temple of Dawn) and Chao Phraya River; dried red chilies at a local market
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