Food and drink, always a winner!

POK POK The Drinking Food of Thailand:A Cookbook    by Andy Ricker and JJ Goode. 

                  

I must say this book brought back the exciting sights and smells of Northern Thailand, siting at roadside stalls eating combinations of foods that were added by me pointing and hoping for the best. Downing a beer or two with a small side snack and watching the world go by. (I steered clear of the whiskey.)

Just for that tug on the memory strings, I enjoyed this book.

That was in the early 70's and my love for Thai food has never diminished.

Drinking Food is not as Ricker says, 'full-on meals.' 

It is 'a subset of [Thai] cuisine ... called aahaan kap klaem, or “drinking food.” In Thailand, you almost never see people drinking without something to eat. Rocker continues, 'I have yet to enter a Thai establishment where there’s booze but no food on offer. That impromptu alley bar, for example, might have set out drinking fare at its most basic.'

I love the way the recipes are accompanied by stories about the how, when and why of them.

Some recipes I won't use, some aspects of recipes I won't use. For instance, Dancing shrimp calls for preferably live shrimp. Those I will find hard to come by. However fresh raw shrimp can be used.

Although there's only a handful of recipes I would use, this is a helpful and insightful look into Thai food and culture, accompanied by photos that made me feel that I was right there.

A NetGalley ARC

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