A Few Western Staples Thai Cuisine Refuses to Embrace [S7.E70]

Greg 00:00:05 On this episode, we discuss Western food items that haven't really taken off in Thailand yet.

Ed 00:00:12 So if you're wondering if or when you'll be able to get some deli meat as easily as Pad Thai, you'll enjoy this episode of the Bangkok Podcast.

Greg 00:00:37 And welcome to the Bangkok Podcast. My name is Greg Jorgensen, a Canadian who came to Thailand in 2001 because I was involved in the Great Canadian Maple Syrup heist. And if you think I'm kidding, well, I am, but the maple syrup heist is actually a real thing. Look it up.

Ed 00:00:51 I think I've heard about that. Crazy.

Greg 00:00:53 Yeah, they even made a movie about it called. I think it's called the Sticky, actually, just like it just just came out.

Ed 00:00:58 That's great. That's great. Yeah. And I met Knuth, an American who came to Thailand on a one year teaching contract 24 years ago, fell in love with the smell of napalm in the actually, I mean, the sound of motorbikes zipping up and down my soi in the morning, so I never left.

Greg 00:01:14 You gotta be careful with which metaphors you confuse there.

Ed 00:01:16 That's right. No, but I, I really it's funny. I'm not annoyed by motorbikes zipping around. There's something about to me that signals it signals like energy in the morning. You know, because I walk out and I have to get a motorbike to to go to the pier. And when motorbikes, when motorbikes are zipping around, it's like it's it's early morning life.

Greg 00:01:37 I can dig that, but not obnoxiously loud crotch rockets.

Ed 00:01:41 Oh, yeah. No not that. Yeah, just a regular motorbike. Not the annoying people with, like, I guess, bad mufflers and stuff.

Greg 00:01:46 Yeah, that. Yeah. No, you're right, you're right. It signals that the city is is up and bustling. Yeah. That's right, that's right. That's why we love it.

Ed 00:01:53 All right. We want to give a big thanks to all of our patrons who support the show. Patrons get every episode a day early, behind the scenes photos of our interviews, a heads up to send questions to upcoming guests and access to our discord server.

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Greg 00:02:57 That's right. And as always, if you have a comment, show idea or just want to say hi. Head to Banco podcast.com and click the little microphone button on the bottom right to leave us a voicemail that we will play on the show.

Greg 00:03:07 All right. Well, on this episode we heard our Tommy's rumbling. So we answered the call and are making this episode all about food. Now, we were chatting about this, and it occurred to us that no matter how good Thai culture has been at taking foreign food items and adapting them into new and awesome dishes like tomatoes, pumpkins, and chilies, there are still some staple Western food items that Thais have not really embraced with any fervor. And that's what we're going to talk about. Now, of course, there are many Thais who enjoy the items on our list, but we're talking about real widespread embrace and adoption. In some cases, there might be good reasons for this, but in other cases, were genuinely curious about what's preventing it from taking off. Now, Ed, you and I were talking before we just before we started the show about about what some of the things that have sort of broken through into the mainstream here and you brought up basically pizza and hamburgers.

Ed 00:04:00 Yeah, I think that.

Ed 00:04:01 Yeah. So obviously.

Greg 00:04:02 Well, I've been widely adopted.

Ed 00:04:03 Yeah. To me, the big three are pizza, hamburgers and and milk. Dairy milk. Because I think I think traditionally, like the rest of Asia, I think dairy milk was not a thing as far as I know. I'm, you know, we've talked before about Asians being lactose intolerant and things like that. But I feel that ties have adopted milk. It's pretty commonly available. I believe Thai back in the day there was a a big Thai government scandal over the government milk contract in Thai public schools. So I think they've adopted milk. Thai people in general love pizza, although of course they modify it. So they've adopted Pete, they've adopted pizza. And and then I do feel that burgers have crossed the line. You know, you know, McDonald's, Burger King, it's all over the country, specialty burger shops. So I think Thai people, even when hanging around themselves. They might get a burger. It might not be super popular, but I feel like burgers have crossed the line and Thais have embraced the burger.

Greg 00:05:08 Yeah, it's fairly easy to find. I mean, almost any restaurant. Yeah, that has some form of a hamburger.

Ed 00:05:15 And there are Thai burger. There are Thai burger shops, just like there's Thai. Yeah, there's just Thai pizza shops. So we're, you know, we're not just talking about, we're not talking about stuff geared to foreigners. now, again, I don't think burgers are super popular among Thais, but they're I think they're reasonably popular. Like, reasonably.

Greg 00:05:34 I agree, I agree, I think in most towns in Thailand you'd probably be able to find a couple of good burgers.

Ed 00:05:40 That's right, that's right. You know, but but oddly. And that's what we want to talk about, there's just certain things that, of course, you can buy here. So everything on the list, these are things you can buy in Thailand. They exist. And Thai people eat them sometimes. But for some reason, these things have not crossed the line. Like they just haven't been really, like, embraced or or ty ified.

Greg 00:06:04 Yeah, right. And like like they're they're staples for us or almost. That's right. Extremely common. but, you know, I think one of the, one of the strengths of Thai food is that it just takes all these disparate flavors and all these disparate ingredients and finds ways to to mix them and re regenerate them into some crazy new things. Like I said, tomatoes were never here. Chilies. We're not trying to Thailand.

Ed 00:06:24 So you know. Yeah. If if Thailand is the Borg, they are good at assimilating. They're good at assimilating certain things. But then but then the Thai Borg actually seems to reject certain things, like an immune system, like, nope, we're not going to absorb that.

Greg 00:06:40 Wow. I'm proud of your sci fi reference. It's pretty, pretty hardcore.

Ed 00:06:42 Thanks. Well, I'm going to start out number one because I think this is the classic one other than pizza, which of course is a big exception. Other than that, ties are just not that into cheese.

Ed 00:06:53 They're not cheese, people.

Greg 00:06:55 Yeah. And I would say, especially the stinky cheeses. Yeah. Blue cheese.

Ed 00:07:00 Yeah. That's right. Like kind of kind of the sophisticated kind of European cheese. Like the fancy cheeses. Yeah. They're not. They're just not that into it. Of course you can buy it. It exists. Go to a nice restaurant. There's great cheese available in Thailand.

Greg 00:07:14 Any any grocery stores they got that are, that are, that are sort of oriented towards having some of their clientele be. That's right. Got all that stuff. The funny thing about Stinky Cheese is that my wife will sit on the sofa eating the most rancid, some tempura like the oh, eaten crab's just the stinkiest food you can imagine. And I'll come out with a bit of blue cheese and she'll be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? That's gross.

Ed 00:07:39 That's gross.

Greg 00:07:40 Yeah. And I'm like, you know. Yeah.

Ed 00:07:42 You know, this is fascinating to me because, I love cheese.

Ed 00:07:46 The reason I'm a vegetarian and not a vegan is cheese. and I, you know, I do. I do try to reduce it, so I, I, you know, I, you know, growing up I was just wholeheartedly at, you know, eating cheese, buying bricks of mozzarella, putting it on crackers like, I mean, I don't want to say daily, but I mean, that was just a standard thing. And then on top of that, eating pizza, pasta, like, I'm a cheese lover, I'm a cheese lover, Midwestern cheese lover. and so it's, it's. But if you think about it, this is a good question for, people in, hot Thai chef hot Thai kitchen. I don't think I, I wonder if there's even any major Thai dishes where cheese is an ingredient. I can't think of one. It's a good.

Greg 00:08:35 That's a really good question.

Ed 00:08:36 It's a good pilot question. but I think it's. Of course, Thais do eat some cheese.

Ed 00:08:42 It's just they haven't they haven't embraced it, man. They haven't gone cheese the way we have.

Greg 00:08:47 Yeah. You don't, you don't like, you don't sprinkle shredded cheese onto your, Thai food. That's right.

Ed 00:08:52 That's right. Yeah. That's not a thing. That's just not a thing.

Greg 00:08:55 When I was when I was growing up, you had, like, like, individual servings of snackable cheese sticks. Of course. No no, no. Like that.

Ed 00:09:03 Yeah. The west. The West is obsessed with cheese. I mean, it probably starts with the French and Italians, but, I mean, it's just. I feel like the West is. We're just cheese eaters, man.

Greg 00:09:14 Yeah, and there's a lot of, like, artisanal cheese shops around Bangkok. But most of them are are run by Westerners.

Ed 00:09:23 Yeah. It'll be, you know, on Sukhumvit and and again, I'm sure. hi. So Thais embrace it. And I have some Thai friends, like. Hi. So Thai friends who are into French food and.

Ed 00:09:34 But it's just by the Thai mainstream. They haven't they haven't embraced cheese.

Greg 00:09:41 Well, maybe one day they'll they'll reach a tipping point and they'll be in for a world of love.

Ed 00:09:44 Well, the funny thing is, they like, again, they've embraced pizza, which is obviously cheese heavy, but that's it. So it's like cheese is like in the pizza box. That's it.

Greg 00:09:54 That's right.

Ed 00:09:54 That's the territory. That's that's cheese territory.

Greg 00:09:57 It's like I won't eat fish sauce unless it's in lab. Lab? Yeah. There you go. And then I'll eat it, you know.

Ed 00:10:03 That's right. That's right. All right. I did number one. You did number two.

Greg 00:10:06 All right. Number two is is is an interesting one. You know, somebody's going through this list. Some of them I actually think I might give a little bit of pushback to here.

Ed 00:10:14 It's a little.

Greg 00:10:14 Bit.

Ed 00:10:14 Borderline. It's a little bit borderline. But yeah.

Greg 00:10:17 Yeah. So number two is is a broad category.

Greg 00:10:20 And it is just bread. That's right. Bread of.

Ed 00:10:22 All time. You know obviously you know Asia is a right you know the standard carb in Asia is rice. It is and I think because of India and roti. And so I think that Thais have imported certain types of bread from other parts of Asia, but in general they're also just not bread people. You know, when I go to an Italian restaurant and I have proper Italian bread and oil and vinegar. That is just not a Thai thing. They just don't have bread sitting on the table that you eat itself.

Greg 00:10:58 They just. Right. You're right. Yeah. But I think that a lot of Thais are very comfortable just eating bread, but maybe not in the form that you or, I think, like smearing peanut butter on it in the morning or. Right, or, you know, sandwiches or something like that, like my wife will will just nor the hell out of a soft roll of bread like the size of her head.

Greg 00:11:19 She loves it.

Ed 00:11:19 Oh, but but but did she get that? She didn't get that from you. So is that a Thai thing to buy? Like a big roll of bread?

Greg 00:11:26 No no no, no, she's done that long for her. It's not like I introduced her to bread. She's like, what is this magical?

Ed 00:11:31 No, no no no, I know, I know, she knew what it was. But, interestingly, I don't remember, you know, now I live alone, but I was married for quite a long time. I don't remember my wife or sister in law or mother in law. I don't remember them sitting around eating bread. I just have no memory of that. I mean, obviously not all ties are the same. Yeah, maybe.

Greg 00:11:51 But. But when you go to a grocery store, you're right. Like all the bread section. I'm just thinking of the one close to me. Like it's all specifically for foods. Like there's, like, bread wraps, there's tortilla, there's multigrain bread for sandwiches, there's buns for hamburgers and hot dogs, but nothing, you know.

Ed 00:12:06 Thais do sometimes eat Mexican food, but they haven't embraced Mexican food. So yeah, you can you can buy wraps or you can go to a Mexican restaurant. And I'm sure ties on a special night will go eat Mexican. You know, some Thai people, but they, they're like. And of course, if there is like I said, if there is an infiltration of bread, it comes through India, you know, pita or India or maybe Lebanese. So Lebanese food is reasonably popular. But again, it's not I wouldn't say it's really embraced by ties. It's it's there, it's there. There's a fair number of, you know, people from the Middle East in Thailand. But again, I still think it's on the edge. I'm going to stick with this. I'm going to say Thai people are not they're not bred people.

Greg 00:12:51 Yeah, I would agree with you. I think it's on the edge.

Ed 00:12:53 But it is on.

Greg 00:12:54 The edge. It's pretty close to being to being mainstreamed or at least close.

Greg 00:12:58 Yeah. You know.

Ed 00:12:59 It's.

Greg 00:12:59 Close. Easily, very, very easily affordable and available. A lot of meals.

Ed 00:13:04 The third thing is somewhat similar. The third thing is a little bit like bread. Thai people are not wine people. so wine again is available. I have some Thai friends who drink a lot of wine, but I just think that this is a beer and whiskey culture.

Greg 00:13:23 Yeah, I agree. I think for a lot of Thai people, wine for them is like it is for me. And I'm not a big, not a big drinker. But wine is something you do in a certain social situation, at a certain place, at a certain time. And outside of that, it's not really something you do.

Ed 00:13:39 That's right. It's, It's funny. When I was growing up, you know, middle class, classic, middle class, suburban, Midwestern guy, right? I only associate I associated wine with some fancy event or church since I grew up Catholic.

Greg 00:13:58 You know.

Ed 00:13:59 That. So I.

Greg 00:14:00 Drinking.

Ed 00:14:00 Blood and my my dad drank beer. Like, watch TV and watch football and drank beer like a like a like an American man is supposed to like we didn't, you know, we had we had some wine bottles, like, stuffed away for the occasional party my parents would throw. So, you know, that's America. That's not Europe. So, you know, Europe wine is, you know, it's on. It's on the table. It's like. It's like water, right?

Greg 00:14:24 Yeah, exactly.

Ed 00:14:25 so but in the US, wine is is even though again, where I grew up because of what I grew up, it was like a fancy thing. It's way more accepted than here. You know, like the popularity of, like, California wines. Like why now? It's it's not, it's not like low, so, you know. So it still has a little bit of a.

Greg 00:14:53 A little.

Ed 00:14:53 A little bit of a fanciness to it. But wine is pretty damn mainstream in the US.

Ed 00:14:57 Like, it's it's not for fancy events only. No way, no way.

Greg 00:15:02 I would say it's almost mainstream here among sort of mid to upper middle class Thais who like to go out and socialize like it's there's tons of wine bars, and most restaurants of any, of any caliber will offer wine. So it's not hard to get at a lot of places. But it's like like I said, it's got to be in a certain situation.

Ed 00:15:23 The other twist, the other twist to this, which I've bitched about back in the day, I think it was on my top ten list of I think it was on my top ten list of things I would change if I was a prime minister is, or if it wasn't on the list, it should have been. Is that there are.

Greg 00:15:37 I got to.

Ed 00:15:37 Do that show. There are heavy import taxes on wine. So I think part of the reason wine is not fully adopted here is that the government really, I think, is protecting the local beer and whiskey, companies and industry.

Ed 00:15:53 So maybe if, wine wasn't so damn expensive, maybe then it would be fully embraced by Thai people.

Greg 00:16:00 That's right. Just needs that little nudge to get it across the line.

Ed 00:16:02 Yeah. So? So bread and wine, maybe they're kind of borderline, but I still think that Thais haven't really adopted it, in my opinion.

Greg 00:16:12 Well, the next one is something that I am a huge fan of. Me and Jerry Seinfeld see eye to eye on this and I'm dating myself, but that is breakfast cereal.

Ed 00:16:20 Definitely not a Thai thing. It's just a box. Yeah, yeah, I grew up obviously eating breakfast cereal and I don't I don't do it anymore. But I remember when I was, dating my fiancee, who became my wife, and I was, I was still I was buying breakfast cereal and milk, and, I always asked her if she wanted some, you know, and. No, like, never like she was doing her.

Greg 00:16:45 Yeah. My wife is like, why would I want that? Yeah, I can get.

Ed 00:16:48 Yeah, exactly. That's exactly right. That's exactly right, Couto. And it's.

Greg 00:16:53 Rice.

Ed 00:16:53 Soup. Yeah. Khao Tom is a little bit like cereal. It's like a bowl of something. But. Yeah, my wife just wanted. No, no, no part of breakfast here.

Greg 00:17:01 I'll tell you, man. Let me give you just a little background on my relationship with cereal. But back in the day when I was a freelance writer, every time I sold an article of any of any, you know, stature, I would celebrate by going out and buying a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch because it was like 450 baht a box back then. Right.

Ed 00:17:19 But but it's really healthy. It's such a healthy food. I think it was worth it.

Greg 00:17:22 Oh, yeah, of course, of course. But man, I love cereal. I mean, dude, I might have a I might have a bowl of cereal after we're done recording tonight. Midnight bowl of corn flakes with very cold milk and and a long time dream of mine that will probably never, ever happen.

Greg 00:17:36 So I don't mind saying it on the show here. I would love to open a cereal restaurant in Bangkok.

Ed 00:17:42 Well, you better be for foreigners, man. That's the whole point.

Greg 00:17:45 That's what I'm saying. I think, I think, I think cereal would be a big comfort food for a lot of people who are traveling here.

Ed 00:17:51 Oh, okay. You know, there's always the hope if you if you can do it right, maybe you can get ties to adopted and you can make millions.

Greg 00:17:58 Dude, you could have, like, layers. You could start with cornflakes and then add a little bit of grape-nuts on top for roughage, and then top it off with some sugary ones. You can put honey on it. You can put maple syrup on it. You can put all kinds of toppings on it. Wow. I'm telling you, man, cereal is a real.

Ed 00:18:12 You.

Greg 00:18:12 Got plan? Real food.

Ed 00:18:13 You got plans? You got plans. It's funny, you are actually making me feel nostalgic because it is how I grew up.

Ed 00:18:20 But then, for some reason, I stopped. I don't even know exactly how it worked out, but I'm just not a cereal guy anymore.

Greg 00:18:25 But come over to your place. I'm gonna bring a box of cereal. We're gonna sit down and have a good old time.

Ed 00:18:29 All right? Me and my soy milk. I'll put my soy milk on it. That's that.

Greg 00:18:31 That'll that'll work. Yeah.

Ed 00:18:33 All right, all right. So, what is it? My is my turn now.

Greg 00:18:35 Your turn to go next.

Ed 00:18:36 Yeah. The next thing is deli meat is just not a Thai thing. Thais love meat. They love pork. They love chicken. They're not super into beef. We could almost put beef on this list, but not quite. Like not quite. Yeah, I mean, they they do have beef dishes, but for some reason it's it it's really pork and chicken. Like the Thai people Thai people are upset. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. But not in like a sliced form.

Ed 00:19:03 And actually our bread thing and our deli meat actually come together as a sandwich. Thai people don't eat sandwiches.

Greg 00:19:14 No. And that's another thing that I have a deep love for is a really nice sandwich. Oh that's right.

Ed 00:19:19 Yeah. Even not even something simple. Even something as simple as peanut butter and jelly like Todd's just. That's not a Thai thing. They never adopted that thing. No. no. And so deli meat, I remember, you know, I went, you know, I've got a I've got a long history of trying different diets. You know, I'm vegetarian now, but I was, like, low carb paleo for a while. And in, in the States, like sliced turkey meat is very common. It's very cheap. It's delicious. It's obviously low carb and turkey is relatively low fat compared to some other meats. So I mean like a turkey sandwich or just even just turkey meat is just a classic low carb thing. And, you basically can't can't find a turkey is not a thing here.

Ed 00:20:04 But even things like, like sliced, obviously you can get sliced, chicken, you can get chicken slices in the States. I'm sure you can buy them here. I'm sure they have it at Villa, but that's just not how Thai people just don't eat food that way. Or don't eat, don't eat meat that way.

Greg 00:20:21 I'm going to push back a little bit on the turkey thing, because I always have a, I guess, a package of sliced smoked turkey breast in my fridge. my son loves them in sandwiches. I love them.

Ed 00:20:33 No, but you you corrupted him. That is not a Thai thing.

Greg 00:20:36 Oh, yeah. I'm not saying it's not a Thai thing. I'm just saying it's. It's fairly easy to get. Okay. Yeah, but the deli meats, the cold cut platters. Yeah. again, you've got to go out and look for those.

Ed 00:20:47 It's there. You know, if you're again, if you're at an international, grocery store, they will have deli meat, but actually, it's not very extensive.

Ed 00:20:55 I couple I'm not sure what the current state is in. But back in the day, me and my buddy were trying to find, like, pastrami and corned beef and, like, true, true deli, like, kind of New York deli, right? Right, right. which is actually big, pretty big in my hometown. And that is pretty hard to find, I think. I'm sure. I bet you can find in the end, you can find anything you want in Bangkok. but not definitely not a Thai thing. Deli meat. Definitely not a Thai thing.

Greg 00:21:24 Yeah, no, I agree, I agree. the next thing here is, is a is a pretty vague sort of category of stuff, and it started with one particular thing, but I'm just going to sort of group them together and say Western condiments. Now, things like mustard and ketchup are very common, but when you get into things like salsa and honey mustard, those are a little harder to find. But the big one for me is relish.

Ed 00:21:50 Well, I will say this even even ketchup and mustard, they're not that popular. Like what? Like in the strange and most bizarre thing, if two people are going to catch up on anything, it's probably pizza.

Greg 00:22:05 Pizza? Yeah.

Ed 00:22:06 Exactly. You know what I mean? So, you know, it's I think, you know, ketchup, mustard, relish. You're absolutely right. These have stayed in a Western box, like they're available, but they're in a western box, and Ty's just haven't incorporated that. They don't put this stuff on Thai food.

Greg 00:22:27 Yeah, they're only like you only eat them with certain foods. That's right. Salsa. It's only when you're in a Mexican restaurant. Ketchup. Only with pizza. Or if you're in a hotel and you get some sausages. That's right. But relish. I rarely even see. You have to really look for research to find it here. It's not even a thing.

Ed 00:22:43 Agreed? yeah. It's funny how ties do eat certain types of pickles.

Ed 00:22:48 Certain types?

Greg 00:22:50 Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen a tie taking a big bite out of a Vlasic. Right. Classic pickle, you know.

Ed 00:22:56 That's right. Yeah, but but but they do eat pickled stuff, like various types of pickled stuff.

Greg 00:23:02 Like.

Ed 00:23:02 That I don't like. You know, it's like there's something about pickling and fermenting that if it's not, you know what I mean? Like, if it's not the exact type of pickling or fermenting that you're familiar with, it's just weird and gross.

Greg 00:23:15 Right. Like pig's foot or something.

Ed 00:23:17 Like all foreign. All foreign forms of pickling and fermenting are gross.

Greg 00:23:23 Anything done by a babushka in her cellar is not something I want to eat.

Ed 00:23:26 That's right, that's right.

Greg 00:23:27 Yeah, that's a good one. Okay. What's the next.

Ed 00:23:29 One? the next one is butter. And you and I talked about this a little bit, but I'm going to stand by this. I think ties in general. And this also ties into the lack of bread, that they're not into that bread.

Ed 00:23:42 And even if so, I wonder. So you said your wife does chew on bread, but she doesn't put butter on it, whereas in this.

Greg 00:23:49 No. And I even asked her before the show, I said, at your house, like your mom's house or your condo, like your family's condo, do you have any butter in the fridge? And she was like, no, we never we've never had that. That's right.

Ed 00:23:59 Yeah, yeah. That's right. Whereas in the States, we you know, I grew up with a tub. We always had a tub of margarine and a stick of butter. Always. Right. And of course, typically we're putting it on bread or toast. But I feel that it's much more general. We're not putting it on everything, but it's just kind of common to just grease stuff up. It's kind of I mean, these days, now we think of it as unhealthy or fatty and, but and ties do cook with oil a lot. So they definitely have embraced fried food.

Ed 00:24:30 So they're not they're not anti fat. You know what I mean. Right. Like they love fat. Like they love fat like everyone else. But, butter is not a Thai thing.

Greg 00:24:42 Well, when I was growing up, we. When we cooked rice, we would drop a pad of butter into the rice to give it, like, a little bit of a greasy, flavourful thing, but.

Ed 00:24:49 Well, you were.

Greg 00:24:50 Kind of like, there's no Thai food. That's right. You would apply butter too.

Ed 00:24:54 That's right. Well, I mean, in theory it could be rice, but they don't do that, right? I remember putting. I remember putting butter on rice. I, you know, you were kind of surprised, but I remember putting butter on steak when I was growing up. I mean, I don't I don't know when I, I don't know when.

Greg 00:25:08 Butter on.

Ed 00:25:09 Steak. I maybe I don't know, I remember that I'm not making I don't think I'm hallucinating.

Ed 00:25:14 I remember putting butter on the steak.

Greg 00:25:16 The only time I've ever heard of that is a story that someone told about Chris Farley, back in the days when he was on Saturday Night Live, and he would go out to a steak restaurant, and each with each bite of steak on his fork, he would put a little square of butter and he would look at them and go, it needs a hat. And then he would eat it.

Ed 00:25:35 I didn't I don't remember saying it needs a hat. But, anyway, I.

Greg 00:25:40 Just it was dead a few years later, so draw your own conclusions.

Ed 00:25:43 Oh, this is an interesting thing. Ties to eat. This is another thing we could add to the list. Ties definitely eat potatoes in certain things, like massaman curry. But they don't eat. They don't put. I can't think of a Thai. Don't really put potatoes on a plate like Germans and Europeans like there's a lot of potato dishes.

Greg 00:26:03 Meat and potatoes.

Ed 00:26:04 Yeah, but but is there, this is another question for pie Lin.

Ed 00:26:08 Are other Thai potato dishes because because that's another thing we would put butter on. We always put butter on potatoes.

Greg 00:26:14 Oh yeah. Yeah. And sour cream too. That's probably another thing we could add in here too. But yeah. but yeah, there's. But the thing about Massaman Curry is you. Right. There's potatoes in that. But that even that is specifically a Southern Thai thing. That's right. Or even like a Malaysian dish, you know.

Ed 00:26:30 Yeah. I wonder if.

Greg 00:26:31 I think I mean, don't don't quote me.

Ed 00:26:33 Maybe we could even maybe we could even just say potatoes are not a tie thing.

Greg 00:26:37 Maybe, but only and maybe, I don't know, that might go back and forth.

Ed 00:26:41 Yeah, maybe it's only a southern tie thing, but I will stick by this, tie. People are not butter people.

Greg 00:26:47 Yeah. That's that that was a good one, too. well, let me take the last one on our list. And that is something that is near and dear to my heart in more ways than one.

Greg 00:26:57 bacon.

Ed 00:26:57 Bacon. Yeah. To me, this I find this fascinating because ties love pork. I mean, they are love. They might be. They just feel like they might. Oh, did we Google this once? I feel that ties must be the biggest pork in the world. But they were not right.

Greg 00:27:12 They were. Yeah, it rings a bell, but I can't remember.

Ed 00:27:17 they love pork, but they just don't. And they also love frying stuff and cooking stuff in oil. But bacon is just not. I don't even remember. I think of it if I think of bacon in Thailand, I think of a hotel breakfast.

Greg 00:27:32 Yeah, right.

Ed 00:27:32 Right.

Greg 00:27:33 That's stack of bacon on a couple of pieces of bread.

Ed 00:27:35 I mean, that's what I would expect to see it. But, I don't remember my wife ever making it. Ordering it.

Greg 00:27:44 No.

Ed 00:27:45 Even though they love they. It seems like something they should be into.

Greg 00:27:50 And specifically, it's so delicious. Like. I mean, pork is good, but bacon.

Ed 00:27:57 Bacon?

Greg 00:27:59 Yeah. I don't know why. I don't know why.

Ed 00:28:00 I guess bacon is just achieved in the West. Bacon has just achieved this. The status of the the ultimate indulgence. It's it's reached. It's reached the status of. Everyone recognizes that it's horribly unhealthy and you shouldn't. It's like smoking, but then everyone embraces it anyway. It's like, you know, it's like where we're smoking has been rejected by, like, you know, 95% of people. Bacon's been rejected by like 5% of the weirdos like me, you know, whereas everyone else is like, yes, this is destroying my heart. But please give me more.

Greg 00:28:38 More, more.

Ed 00:28:38 More.

Greg 00:28:39 Bacon. Yeah, it would be so sort of discombobulating to see a Thai meal spread out on the mat on the floor. You know, like the summertime, the lob, the sticky rice, the weird pastes, the leafy salads and.

Ed 00:28:50 The weird pastes.

Greg 00:28:53 The plate of bacon. I played a very strange.

Ed 00:28:56 But I think they would love it.

Ed 00:28:57 I think if you could. Maybe. Maybe you should open next year. Breakfast cereal shop. You should have a bacon shop. I think this is a business opportunity. For real. Maybe we can introduce bacon to Thai people.

Greg 00:29:11 Oh my God, I thought Greg was heavy before, but Jesus, the last year has been really rough on him. I wonder why he's had cereal for lunch and bacon for dinner.

Ed 00:29:18 Maybe just a breakfast shop where, you know, we got the cereal option and the bacon option. Maybe, maybe like, maybe throw something in like pancakes and French toast, which also are not Thai things.

Greg 00:29:28 Maybe we could have just a round the world breakfast shop where you can get breakfasts from around the world. Different variations, different cuisines, different cultures.

Ed 00:29:36 But I want to, I want to, I want to convert Thai people. That would be the interesting thing. Can we get Thais to make it their own? That would be. That would be the the greatest accomplishment. Maybe bacon with Chile, maybe that'll be it.

Ed 00:29:48 You put chili on bacon, Thai people to eat it.

Greg 00:29:51 Well, what about like, jalapenos wrapped in Chile or wrapped in bacon? I mean, yeah, and, like, what are they called? Chile poppers or something like that?

Ed 00:29:57 That's right. That could work.

Greg 00:30:00 Right? I seen some business opportunity, but yeah, that's a good one. And it's a shame because bacon bacon. So that was eight eight foods that we could think of that are great and are certainly enjoyed in Thailand, but for whatever reason just have not broken through to the zeitgeist yet. And maybe they will.

Ed 00:30:17 Maybe they will do that.

Greg 00:30:18 Maybe they will, maybe they will. And if you have any others that you think we missed, by all means let us know. Send us a message. All right. Let's get into some lovely live with one of us takes a particular aspect of living in Bangkok, which we discussed to decide if it's something we love about living here, loathe about living here, or I've come to accept, is something that we have to learn to live with no matter how we feel about it.

Greg 00:30:36 And this weekend, what have you got for me?

Ed 00:30:38 All right, I got a classic one. it really has two parts. They're actually different, but I feel that they're related to each other. So, what is your take, or how do you react when you're in? it's typically like a somewhat low. So toilet situation. Bathroom situation. So it's not a fancy place. So you're dealing with a Thai kind of bathroom situation? but but let's say they have a toilet. Not not just a hole in the ground. Not a squat toilet. Okay, okay. No, not a squat toilet. But they have the sign that says no tissue in the toilet, so, like, do not flush tissue down the toilet. It's funny. What? What is your reaction to that? Like do you first. Do you comply. Do you, do you, do you do you put the toilet paper in the wastebasket or do you just put it down the toilet anyway?

Greg 00:31:37 This is funny. This is evil.

Greg 00:31:38 And I talked about this in season two, and I've been thinking about bringing it up again, but it always struck me as a little bit like distasteful. So I sort of shied away from it. So I'm glad you did it. But no, I, I think it's so gross to keep the toilet paper.

Ed 00:31:53 In a wastebasket.

Greg 00:31:54 Close to the person in a wastebasket right next to me. That's right. Like, I don't understand how that's even remotely sanitary or acceptable. So, yeah, it's just everything. Everything goes into the toilet for me. and I have not. I've not had a problem yet.

Ed 00:32:07 Yeah. I've always been a little bit confused by this because presumably the what I've assumed is that maybe for traditional reasons or technological reasons, it's that the the plumbing or the pipes for some reason, were, weren't designed for toilet paper. And the worry is that toilet paper is going to clog the system. I think this must be the premise why While they don't want you to do it right.

Ed 00:32:32 I mean, that must be. Yeah, that must be the premise. But, again, I usually break the rule. Not always, but I usually break the rule, and it's never been a problem. And the weird thing is, they even have these signs up at my university, which has what appear to be very modern bathrooms and toilets. Yet they still have the sign.

Greg 00:32:54 Yeah, I've talked to a few people who are sort of knowledgeable, not not plumbers, but they know how buildings are built. And they've said, like any building built within the last 25 years in Bangkok, like, unless it's a particularly like off grid, one should be able to handle most toilet paper. But I mean, they don't speak for every building, obviously, but I can't see how, you know, a wadded up roll of toilet paper is not going to is going to be a massive problem.

Ed 00:33:20 So but to you, does it sorry. Are you are you. So essentially you're kind of a loathe like you don't like this idea that you can't put the toilet in the toilet paper in the toilet.

Greg 00:33:30 I think it's low. I think it's unless you're in a, like a really old place or a very tiny place. I think it's right. fearmongering. But again, I'm not a plumber, so. Okay, maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree.

Ed 00:33:41 I'm probably. I'm probably a light loathe. It's mostly because I just don't get it. I don't understand what the issue is, what the problem is.

Greg 00:33:51 Right? Yeah. I mean, either. And I just I just think it's keeping the toilet paper close.

Ed 00:33:56 Okay, well, since I mentioned it, I'm gonna. I'm gonna make this a twofer, a twofer. Oh, okay. And related to this. And this is this is in a much more low scale thing. What what what do you make of. Or do you ever use the big tub of water with the scoop.

Greg 00:34:15 You know, to flush the toilet? Yeah. Because that means, like, a lot of times.

Ed 00:34:18 Okay. So do you.

Greg 00:34:19 Okay.

Ed 00:34:19 Okay.

Ed 00:34:20 But I think it's also the premise of this thing is you're. I think you're supposed to use it to kind of wash yourself like it's in place of the hose, and I. know I never do that. I never.

Greg 00:34:31 Dude, I've got. If I ever, if ever I'm going out into the boonies or on a bike ride, there's always a little packet of wipes nearby. That's right.

Ed 00:34:37 I don't even understand how, but I believe, am I correct? I believe that the scooper. It's not just to put in the toilet. You're supposed to pour it over your ass. I guess.

Greg 00:34:49 I, I think I think you're right. You're supposed to use it to wash yourself.

Ed 00:34:52 Yeah, and I never. But then I never do that.

Greg 00:34:55 But then, you know, half the time you come out and there's no soap or anything there anyway. So I'm really I'm really at a, at a loss as to what they expect here.

Ed 00:35:05 So funny we we will talk about anything on the Bangkok podcast.

Greg 00:35:10 I will say though, that many, many, many studies have shown that squat toilets are far more healthy for your body, sanitary for your nether regions.

Ed 00:35:19 I haven't used one, I haven't I haven't used one in years. But that that's that's a classic foreigner thing, which I'm sure has been discussed on the show. Although it's so it's so it's such a it's a kind of a, a Thailand 101 thing that we're way beyond that talking about.

Greg 00:35:33 I'm going to keep I'm going to keep this topic going and say, I randomly saw a little gif on Reddit the other day, and it was a, a toilet that was like a it was a, a sit down, toilet like Western style, but the bowl was curved like it had a big dip in it. Oh, so it was sort of like a squat toilet, but it was like halfway between a hybrid.

Ed 00:35:53 It was like it was a hybrid toilet.

Greg 00:35:55 A hybrid toilet. I thought it was a really great solution.

Ed 00:35:58 Well, I rarely I can't remember the last time I used a squat toilet, but I remember getting over my hesitancy.

Ed 00:36:05 So in my in the first couple of years, I traveled more within Thailand. So I was confronted with the squad toilet thing, and at first they're very weird. But once you get over there, it's not a big deal.

Greg 00:36:15 Yeah, although I'm getting getting up there now, so it's, getting harder and harder to use.

Ed 00:36:21 All right. Anyway, so there you go. Love to live with toilet edition.

Greg 00:36:25 Toilet edition. Right.

Ed 00:36:27 All right. A final thanks to our patrons who support the show. Patrons get a ton of cool perks and the warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that they're helping and are never ending. Quest for cool content. Find out more by clicking support on our website and connect with us online. Where Bangkok Podcast on social media, Bangkok Podcast on the web or simply Bangkok Podcast at gmail.com. We love hearing from our listeners and always reply to our messages.

Greg 00:36:54 That's right. You can also listen to each episode on YouTube. Send us a voicemail through our website that we'll feature on the show.

Greg 00:36:59 Hit me up on blue Sky. Greg, thank you for listening. Everyone. Take it easy out there and we'll see you back here next week for sure.