So I noticed foodie Evan Kleiman of KCRW in that other City of Angels has unilaterally declared May 1st Global Street Food day. Good to see America tasting some of its much-celebrated diversity. Although the hipster horde of Los Angeles may have recently discovered catering trucks serving up lengua and all-things con carne, the joys of street food are largely absent from the American diet. I'm sure health codes and dysentery dissonance are factors.
But while Americans focus on 'square' meals in carefully scheduled nutrient-consumption rituals, much of the world cruises through life grazing from stalls, booths, mobile kitchens and gutter-kettles tended by stooped oldsters.
In Thailand, street food isn't an option - it's what's for dinner. Each thanon and soi in Bangkok is lined with stalls selling trays or bags of eats-to-go. Many Thais don't cook at home and most residences lack stoves. (It's hot enough already.) Instead Thais either grab a plastic stool for a quick meal or take home plastic bags stuffed with tom yum goong, som tam and other spicy curry, noodle and rice dishes. Or one of the many, many mystery meat-on-a-stick satays, from dried squid to chicken knuckles. Dinner for a dollar.
As a longtime vegger, I can't say hyper-carnivorous Thailand's streets are the palate paradise of those in India, where a plate of Samosas ($6@Paru's on Sunset) can be scooped up fresh out of the pot for less than 10 cents.
Under a plastic tarp to shelter from the monsoonal rains, revelers during the 2010 Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand, peruse trayloads of the spiciest Vegan food I've ever tasted. (Photo: Todd Ruiz)
Abstaining from meat is considered a righteous Buddhist thing to do, but most Southeast Asians can't be bothered. In a very unscientific assessment, a 25-year-old Thai friend of mine estimated that he eats 10 pigs-worth of pork per annum. But for 10 days in October every year, yellow flags are strung above many stalls throughout the city to herald the Vegetarian Festival, a fortnight of eating je, which is really closer to Vegan. No meat, no dairy, no eggs -- also no garlic. (It may excite the senses and un-Buddhist passions!) On the southern island of Phuket, with its huge Chinese enclave, the festival takes on a mystical element with the inclusion of spirit-possessed men engaging in bloody self-mutilation and incendiary antics.
Not to say there aren't some good veg kitchens to be found. My favorite vegetarian cuisine on the planet is somewhere between a restaurant and a stall. I've been du-du-du-du-duhhh lovin' May Kaidee's cooking for more than a decade, ever since first visiting Bangkok. It is unfortunately located near the backpacker ghetto/mecca of Khao Sarn Road, but tucked around on a small soi, or alley, this is easy to overlook.
Also, the Supreme Master herself has one of her vegan "Loving Hut" restaurants about one click downriver in Thonburi, next to the Marriott. (Note: For those unfamiliar with Supreme Master TV -- check it out. Supreme network headquarters? Arcadia, Calif.)
