Food and Drink

Welcoming in April with both Thai Songkran and some of our own expat’s celebrating Easter, I thought the Starfruit, Carambola, with 91% water, would be a wonderful fruit to highlight! An Easter star and the hydrating needs we all crave during these hot days comes to us on a species of tree native to SE Asia, the Averrhoa carambola. Starfruit, Carambola or Ma-fuang in Thai, fuang meaning “gear”, grows all over SE Asia and in Thailand I have enjoyed the deep orange larger starfruits at any season. There are two main types of starfruit, the small/tart and the large/sweet. The skin is fairly waxy but the whole fruit can be eaten. The flavour is unique and can be similar to an apple, grape, pear and citrus. Some say they are best eaten yellow with a slight greenish tint, but I prefer them when they are more orangey-yellow, much sweeter and just a tad softer, not so crunchy!

These fruits have lots of vitamin C (52% of RDI), most B’s and A, are low in sugar (3%), high in minerals and fibre and has high amounts of antioxidants including some zinc. They can be up to 91% water so a great source of healthy hydration also. The ripe fruit and fruit juice has antidiarrheal effects and has been used in Ayurvedic medicines for thousands of years. In the culinary kitchen creativity reigns. In SE Asia, they are stewed in cloves, sugar and apples. China cooks them with fish and in Australia they may be cooked as a vegetable, made into jams or pickled. I discovered Jamaica dries them and uses them as snacks combined with peanuts. The sour variety makes a nice relish with chopped spices and can be combined with fish or shrimp. I use them as additions to my mangosteen, dragon fruit, mango and papaya tropical fruit platters when treating myself during hot days and look so pretty too with the star shape! Wishing on a star never tasted so good! I am lucky to of found a SE Asian man myself, Mr. Souphanya from Laos, that knows how to organically grow most of my favourite fruits here in Hawaii while I await SE Asia/Thailand to re-open. Shopping at local markets and supporting the local people during these times is a positive human interaction we can have during these times for all involved.

I must mention a slight risk for people with any hard kidney issues like kidney stones, kidney failure or are on kidney dialysis. Starfruit contains caramboxin and oxalic acid. Caramboxin can create adverse neurological effects and oxalic is in many fruits and vegetables but combined with caramboxin and predisposed kidney failure together, I must at least give a slight warning here to not indulge. Taking starfruit juice or even just the fruit on an empty stomach is also not advised for anyone but the normal ingestion of the tropical fruits during the day for most is fine. Please do not let this deter you unnecessarily. It is fine to do juice fasts and fruit fasts etc. as I have written about before, but this particular fruit isn’t one of them for that!

The true native range of this plant is pinpointed closer to Malaysia, Indonesia and S. China than Thailand and has never been located in the wild, like the guava and many other tropical plants. It seems it was domesticated through India and SE Asia in prehistoric times, but it was in the American tropics that it was established just over 150 years ago. Commercial production of starfruit takes places in most tropical places throughout the world now including Hawaii, however, Malaysia is the global leader in starfruit production. The Averrhoa carambola are also grown as ornamentals due to the easy pruning of the mini tree-shrubs which can lead to a decorative addition to any garden yet can be worrying for some as an invasive species since they are quick to spread. Carambola flowers throughout the year with beautiful dainty pink and light lavender flowers which against the background of the dark green leaves can be a gorgeous addition to any garden. The main fruiting season in Thailand is April through June and October through December, which again, for Christmas, is so nice to have the star shaped fruits for decorative fruit platters! One last idea for the kids is to slice the fruit thin and bake them with some sea salt supplying a cute version of snacking. Healthy snacks are always a plus!

I call the painting accompanying this article Blue Skies; Starfruit Surprise because it is in the tropical, glorious, sun filled skies these fruits grow and the element of surprise you enjoy when the fruits are cut in half can be a delight. Happy Spring! May this new season bring some respite to how things have been moving along during wintertime. I am anxious to get back to SE Asia and send you all blessings from across the Pacific headed West! Let us all stay healthy, vibrant, happy and sane!

Check out Margaret’s other article in this April edition all about Thai Massage! Keeping our minds and bodies active and healthy during these times is extra important. Treating food as medicine can be a way of eating and eventually, we are what we eat since we make new cells everyday with what we put in our mouths. Enjoy Thailand’s fruits and stay hydrated during these hot months! Margaret’s paintings can be seen on www.mejcreation.com and one can join her on her other healthy discoveries.

I never imagined becoming vegan, or a fruitarian or a herbivorous. I still don’t. 

But when I met Maricel, something about her attachment and passion to veganarie moved me. Her stance, her eyes and her voice, all drew me to her commitment. We chatted and I listened to her as she shared her Vegan Crush ideal with me. She has an instagram handle, and this is how she advertises her brand of vegan food aptly named ‘Vegan Crush’. I was not merely curious; I wanted to partake of this journey of hers and get to the bottom of her story. 

I was certain there was one behind those sparkling eyes! I wasn’t wrong. 

They say when the time is right, people come into your life. They also say, when it’s time for transformation of any sort, people are even sent into your life (who sends them?). 

We don’t simply ‘run into’ people; our paths cross when stars are aligned. Young Maricel and my stars were aligned. We met. We spoke. We connected. 

Even as I write this piece, I am sipping from a mug of cocoa that has been churned with walnut milk. It’s a warm afternoon, and I’m barely even a cocoa person. Needless to say it’s a chilled and satisfying mug. And who is this person who’s been nudged awake inside of me?  5 months back I would not look in the direction of any other milk but dairy: in this country it is Meji milk. one of the more popular brands. I love it. I’ve made cottage cheese (paneer) with it, drunk it plain, mixed it with endless cups of tea and coffee, with cocoa, added it to muesli and cornflakes – all the usual stuff. That’s definitely not happening anymore. 

Forward to today: I take my coffee and tea with almond and pistachio milk, and I can’t complain – it’s absolutely delicious and no doubt I will continue to enjoy this warm brew thus for years to come. Maricel has certainly got what it takes to influence those ready. 

I am no vegan I admit: I still love my dairy yoghurt and cream and cheese. I am at the threshold. I am beginning to appreciate the nuances of non-dairy products. A whole new world of ‘milks’ and other nutrients has upsurged, making itself visible. I see the beginnings of a healthier hunger arising within me, nudging out the greed of processed stuff, albeit very, very slowly. The awareness of shoots and leaves and grains and all sorts is crowding out other readymades. I am Indian and love our daals (lentils) and stir-fried vegetable dishes. Paneer? Oh yes, we love our paneer (a form of cottage cheese) and innumerable other dishes I use yoghurt for. That dairy life continues unabated. 

I am no nutritionist, always grabbing healthy stuff from the aisles, or looking to purchase only organic veggies. Nope. I had chips this evening, with a readymade guacamole last night while watching a crime thriller on Netflix, so I certainly haven’t given over to the other side! God forbid I give up completely on the humungous array of delicious dairy offerings!

Meeting Maricel was fortuitous. Tasting her fare, for an entire week, was like an infant eating solids for the first time. The textures and grains she offered were totally new. They tasted of ’nutrition’, they spoke of fresh, unspoilt graininess. They were under spiced and some of it wasn’t even properly salty, but my body sung with it. I did add some coriander and cumin powders to the brown rice, and salt of course, but my mind and my being were awakened to the existence of whole foods. It was astonishingly refreshing. 

During the vegan week, I found myself light and energetic. I didn’t miss the food I was used to eating at all. And it was extremely filling too. I stayed full for far longer. 

I’ll share a fact : if I was full with the food I made, I would normally feel sluggish and sleepy. With Vegan Crush’s food, I felt rushes of creative energy and above all, my tummy was not bloated. My being felt easy and light. There was a tangible difference that my body observed. 

How did Maricel, a German, brought up on a diet of meats and dairy arrive at this juncture? What made her choose veganerie? How is that she now runs a meal service called Vegan Crush – on subscriptions of monthly deliveries or weekly deliveries in the city of Bangkok and has enough takers?

Snatches of our chat below:

• Maricel, when did you give up eating meat and dairy – at what stage and age?

I started my plant based journey while on a world travel tour over 10 years ago when I was about 27 years old. 

There are way too many misconceptions about vegan food, and one of the biggest misconceptions is that it is difficult to get and it is very pricey. Let me tell you that vegan food is the most common and among the cheapest food on earth: it includes grains, beans, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits. All these foods are available all over the world. What makes it challenging though is that it isn’t easily available around the corner. 

One of my survival kit during my travels was happycow — an app where you find vegetarian/vegan restaurants and shops near you, anywhere in the world. I carried a book called the “Vegan passport” which explains what you can eat in every language. It was easy enough to get by with this passport.

The endless options of plant based cuisine is what has sparked my passion for cooking. 

So throughout my travels I collected favourite recipes from locals, restaurants, friends and created a vegan version. It became a neverending journey. 

• What is it that you read about dairy exactly that made you sit up and take notice of your intake, and made you question your food habits? 

Milk for the calf is created for it to grow from 40kg to 400kg within a year. All the necessary  ingredients of hormones, vitamins, fat and proteins form part of this nutritive drink to achieve this result. Human milk is created to grow a baby from 4kg to 75kg within 20 years. It should be obvious that the formulas of both milks are completely different, right?

Which is why I believe cow’s milk is not designed for human consumption. I also think it very odd that no other animal drinks milk from another species. You never see a lion drink milk from an elephant, do you? And if you look closer you’ll realise that there is no other species that still drinks milk once it is grown up. There is a reason why milk is only available for a specific period of time. 

One knows that cows need to be pregnant in order to produce milk. Unfortunately it is very sad how this is handled. The mother cow never gets to see her babies and is milked until she is no longer productive. It is only natural to think, ‘how can something that was created in misery and despair be a source of health and vibrancy?’

– when did you come to Thailand and realise that your dream was to set up Vegan Crush and help all those who were turning vegan? 

I came to Thailand not knowing that I would stay on for 6 years. All I knew was, I wanted to share what I have discovered and offer support to those who are on a similar healthy journey. Getting started on a plant based diet can be challenging. It’s a matter of changing one’s perspective. If one is convinced of its value, it is entirely possible to turn vegan. 

It only seems difficult because it is something new and we have to educate our senses to a completely different viewpoint: how do we consume food and what it is we are putting into our bodies?

 Vegan food can be so much fun and when done right you feel an immense health shift within a matter of a week itself. The birth of Vegan Crush was my attempt to illuminate and feed anyone who is willing to take the plunge. 

• What does being vegan really mean to you Maricel?

Being vegan is so much more than just the way you eat. It is an act of being more conscious and empathic towards animals, the planet and yourself. Our loved ones are no longer limited to family anymore. It has made me reflect on many of my behaviours that did not feel right. 

Food carries a quality of energy that impacts your own vital and psychological energies. Once I started fueling my body with whole plant-based foods, I became more sensitive and empathic toward my environment and above all, to my own needs. It gave me a sense of peace and calm I had not felt earlier. It was the best decision I have ever made in my life and I couldn’t be more grateful to have had the ability to put it into action. 

Yes, it is a very powerful choice and provides more independence, because food can either debilitate or nurture one’s health. 

I believe everyone can benefit from replacing or reducing dairy products. There are many more plant based milk options as well, depending what you want to use it for. And if cheese is your vice don’t be fooled: the process of making vegan cheese is exactly the same. Instead of cow’s milk, nut milk is used to create cheddar, blue cheese or even cashewrella! 

After listening to all Maricel had to say, I began questioning everything that went into my mouth that was dairy based. Could one truly become vegan overnight? I don’t know. Awareness is the first step, and she has certainly put many thoughts in my foodie head. I have begun looking at vegan options in restaurants for one. They are all very interesting, and call out to me. I hope we all try and understand the reasons behind Maricel’s change of heart and mind, and her dream of providing healthy food for those willing to make a life change. 

I don’t anymore wonder what a ‘vegan person’ looks like. Jokes apart, becoming vegan is a powerful choice, and a durable one. It can also be an experiment with whole foods and see where it takes us. It is not only in one’s imagination, but an undeniable reality that food fuels our mental and physical energies. The sluggishness that arises from eating heavy, and sometimes oily meats is not desirable. Processed foods are possibly the worst intake for someone looking for a healthier and cleaner existence. The additives that go into readymade meals are horrific on a long term basis. 

We may all indulge in a takeaway, or packaged food once in a while, but may it be the exception. 

Can’t live with it, can’t live without it – and I’m talking about good, nutritious whole food. 

Give it a new meaning, shall we!

Let’s move toward the light. Let’s become whole. Thank you Maricel for being the forerunner of good tidings and great nutrition. 

Part of what makes Thailand so appealing to expats is Thai cuisine. And it used to be that you could sample it on the cheap through the country’s world-famous street food scene, which for so long has been lauded for its portability and its flavourful offerings. Sadly, a ban on street food beginning in 2014 debilitated a once booming street food scene, with vendors forced out of the sidewalks where they used to serve some of the most scrumptious yet affordable dishes this side of the world.

This decision to clear Thailand’s sidewalks and walkways didn’t necessarily ‘kill’ the country’s street food scene, but its impact is far-reaching, having caused a loss of livelihood for many and reduced profits for others. It also means that street food, so accessible everywhere once upon a time, is now a bit more difficult to get, and just a tad pricier as opposed to many years ago. But at least there is a silver lining: You can recreate the street food experience right in the comforts of your home! And the guide below will outline exactly how you can do that.

Get the right kitchen tools and equipment

First things first, make sure you have the kitchen tools and equipment commonly used in making Thai street food. In particular, you’ll need a wok, as it is vital to Thai cooking—and in Asian cooking as a whole. That said, the best woks are seasoned cast iron or carbon steel ones, which means they have been warmed, cooled down, and oiled so that dust won’t accumulate on the surface.

You’ll also need a mortar and pestle, preferably granite, as you will use it to make different kinds of pastes, like chili paste and green curry paste. An alternative would be to use a food processor or blender, though you’ll be sacrificing flavour if you go that route. That’s because pounding herbs and spices in a mortar lets you extract every bit of flavour, thereby making them more flavourful as compared to cutting them into tiny pieces using a food processor.

Another thing you will need is a rice cooker, as some Thai street foods like Khao Kha Moo and Moo Ping are served with rice. The former – pork cooked in soy sauce, sugar, and spices until juicy and tender – is served with ordinary white rice. The latter – grilled pork skewers – often comes with sticky rice. So, it goes without saying that you will need a good rice cooker if you want to try these kinds of street food.

Fortunately, the best rice cookers nowadays make cooking rice a breeze. They are also innovative and incredibly multifunctional, with features that are beyond what meets the eye. For instance, there is a keep warm function that will keep your food warm, but not burnt, for hours. There is also a steam option, which is perfect for prepping vegetables—key staples in some Thai street food such as Pad See Ew and Som Tam.

Finally, it would be great if you had a grill, as that means you can prepare all-time favourites, like Thai Chicken Satay and Sai Ooah. You can also use it for family barbecues, get-togethers, and special occasions, where you can cook Thai style barbecue.

Try these recipes

With your equipment on hand, you’re now ready to cook some awesome Thai street food. Here are three recipes to get you started:

Pad See Ew

CREDIT: stu_spivack via Wikipedia under a Creative Commons License (No changes were made to the image.)

Pad See Ew is basically just fried noodles prepared with soy sauce. You’ll need sen yai, or Thai flat rice noodles (300 grams), your choice of chicken, beef or pork (200 grams), Chinese broccoli, garlic, an egg, light and dark sweet soy sauce, and some sugar.

Now, heat the wok and add some oil. Once the oil is hot, sauté the garlic and then stir-fry the meat. Toss in the rice noodles, along with the Chinese broccoli plus 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce, ½ tablespoon of dark soy sauce, and ½ teaspoon of sugar. Stir and cook the noodles for a minute or two, adding some oil when they get dry. Then, push everything to one side of the wok and crack open an egg on the empty side. Scramble the egg before mixing it with the rice noodles and meat. Fry for another 30−45 seconds and your Pad See Ew is ready to serve!

Kao Niew Ma Muang

CREDIT: Dennis Wong via Wikipedia, under a Creative Commons License [No changes were made to the image.]

Kao Niew Ma Muang is tasty treat of sliced mangoes served with sticky rice and coconut cream syrup. For this dish, you’ll need ripe mangoes, rice, coconut milk, sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Start by cooking the rice, making sure that you wash it 5−6 times to get rid of the extra starch. Then, set your rice cooker to the sticky rice option. At the same time, make the coconut syrup by heating the coconut milk, sugar and salt over medium-low heat.

Add the coconut syrup into the cooking rice in two batches, with the second batch coming after you have stirred the rice. Once the rice is cooked, set the rice cooker on warm mode and make the coconut sauce by heating coconut milk in a saucepan and adding cornstarch liquid. Whisk and let cook for a minute or two. Your Kao Niew Ma Muang is now ready!

Moo Ping

CREDIT: Ayara Thai via Pinterest [No changes were made to the image.]

Moo Ping is actually just pork barbecue skewers. But they are made with lean meat that makes them more flavourful and satisfying, especially with the sticky rice served with them. For this street food, you’ll need 500 grams of boneless pork shoulder cut into strips, 3 minced garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons of caster sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and 125 mL coconut cream

For Moo Ping, the key is marinating the pork at least overnight. So, create the marinade by combining all non-pork ingredients into a bowl and adding about a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Place the pork into the marinade and set aside. The next day, put the pork on bamboo skewers, grill, and then enjoy!

Of course, good food is better enjoyed with loved ones or familiar faces, and that is often the case when people make their way to Thailand’s food vendors. So, prepare the food as best you can, then eat and share them with your family (and friends when get-togethers are okay again). In this way, you’ll be able to truly recapture the Thai street food experience—but in the comfort of your home.

Yindii is a mobile application to connect consumers with food cafes to tackle climate change. It is an anti food waste application designed to help restaurants, cafes and grocery stores with their excess food which might go to waste. Yindii helps battle an escalating food waste problem and helps restaurants to gain potentially lost revenue. The food on the application is half the price, the consumer gets a good deal and a feeling of satisfaction for helping to reduce the carbon footprint of food wastage.

I met Louis-Alban-Batard-Dupre, Yindii founder and tech entrepreneur in an eco market in Bangkok when the application was launched. The business model which focuses on reducing carbon footprint immediately caught my attention so I asked him what inspired him to launch Yindii and he told me, “33% of all food produced globally is wasted or lost every year. That is close to a billion and a half tons which is never consumed, accounting for 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions around the globe. This is an ecological disaster! The growing problem of food waste is challenging to solve for endless reasons including logistics, the complexities of short lived items and the lack of a set market which is what we are working to help solve. All the food available on Yindii is delicious and untouched, coming from premium places, that just cannot wait to be eaten”.

Yindii was established with a simple mission: to ensure delicious unsold meals are tasted and not wasted. It is Thailand’s first food rescue application connecting consumers with restaurants and cafes which have excess food products at discounted prices. I have discovered some interesting cafes through Yindii and love that I can get surprise boxes at discounted prices.

by Billy Brigham 

Wine! What exactly is it? Where does it come from? And where is it going to be in the future? These are the questions I find myself answering the most often as a Wine Ambassador. 

Let’s start with: What exactly is wine? 

Wine is defined as an alcoholic beverage made from fermented wine grapes. However, wine can be made from any fruit, but wine grapes are most commonly used. Wine grapes are slightly different from your regular table grapes from farmers markets or shops. They are smaller in size, contain more bitter tasting seeds, have thicker skins, and are sweeter in taste. All these factors contribute to the flavourful wines you know and love. By crushing the wine grapes, we can extract the sweet juice inside, then by adding yeast, the fermentation process occurs! The yeast will eat the sugars converting it into alcohol after a few additional steps, your wine is ready to enjoy.

Now that we know how wines are made let’s discuss the different types of wines. There are many different types, because of the different grape varieties. You may notice many of these when walk down the wine aisle and see Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Shiraz. All these grape varieties, whether red or white, can be traced back to one species of grapevine, the Vitis Vinifera. Each wine producing country tends to plant a different variety of the Vitis Vinfera, which is how there are thousands of different grape varieties around the world. When you think of Spain, most people think of Tempranillo, for France, Pinot Noir, and Australia, Shiraz. But the most planted red grape variety in the world, is the Cabernet Sauvignon grape with approximately 340,000 hectares (840,000 acres) planted globally. Some of the most well known regions for planting Cabernet Sauvignon include: Bordeaux, France; The Coonawarra, Australia; and Napa Valley, USA. While it is not surprising to hear Cabernet Sauvignon is the most largely planted red grape variety, many wine enthusiasts, myself included, would be surprised to find out the most planted white wine variety isn’t Chardonnay or Riesling, or even Sauvignon Blanc but Airén with 218,000 hectares (538,700 acres). It is planted almost entirely in Spain, and is used to make brandies, sherries and still white wine that is consumed almost entirely domestically.

Where does it come from?

To start, let’s go back to the very beginning. The first traces of wine can be found around 6000BC in Georgia. People shifted away from the nomadic lifestyle and wanted a more stable living place. This allowed for more experimentation with food and drinks – and ultimately, the creation of wine. Fast forward a few centuries, and the ancient Greeks were using wine as a tool for worship, which later carried on to the ancient Romans. As time went on, the way for producing wine improved, and the places growing vines expanded. During the medieval era, wine became a common social beverage for all, partially to its links to religion and heavy production from Benedictine monks. The monks had vineyards all over France and Germany, including, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne and Frankfurt. One famous Benedictine monk, Dom Perignon, was the first to discover how to make bubbles in wine through a second fermentation. With this discovery he accidentally created what we now know as Champagne.

For many centuries, places like France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece have been the biggest producers of wine. They have created many traditions about how to produce and grow their wines. Specifically, they are very particular on the type of barrels, minimum time for ageing, and grape varieties allowed to grow in certain regions. These rich traditions, which have largely remained unchanged, awarded these countries the title of ‘Old World’ wines.

As the world’s footprint began to expand with the British, Spanish, and French colonies, the desire to have wine in these colonies also grew. Places such as the United States, Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand all began producing their own wines. Soon enough these countries became very good at growing different varieties and developing their own styles and techniques. Since they were new to making wine, they didn’t have these set traditions and rules to follow, which allowed them to be innovative and experimental with new ideas. The prime example would be the screw cap instead of the traditional cork. A screw cap seals the bottle better, keeping the oxygen out and allowing the wine to stay fresher for longer. Almost all wines with a screw cap will originate from a New World country. Additionally, the New World wines are releasing more innovations wine into the category. For example, Australia’s Jacob’s Creek experimented with ageing wine in matured whisky barrels, and in 2014 released the Jacob’s Creek Double Barrel Shiraz a wine matured in Scotch whisky barrels, making them first in the world to do something like this. In New Zealand and -America, the growing trend of wine in a can, for a more transportable and sustainable packaging, has started to soar. All of these innovations are allowed in the New World of wine but are against the traditions of the Old World.  

Where is it going to be in the future? 

One of the things that I love about wine is that it is continuously changing and developing, particularly people’s perceptions and consumption methods. In recent years wine has changed from being the formal drink your parents would consume on a Sunday night, to the fun and social drink younger people prefer. One of the biggest growing trends in the wine industry has been related to the craze of Rosé, heavily driven by younger drinkers in their mid 20s to 30s. Rosé has also been amplified by big A list celebrities releasing their own wine labels, like rapper Post Malone, actor John Malkovich, and pop star Kylie Minogue. When before the wine of choice may have been a bold red or oaked white, people’s choices have led to new styles and varieties being produced that are lesser known. 

Not only are the styles of wine changing, but so are the ways we consume them. Wine has often been a traditional drink served with a meal, but the growing trend of wine cocktails is adapting those traditions. Wine cocktails are a new take on a traditional cocktail, with a wine being its base. This new way of drinking wine has seen huge growth due to Covid-19 lockdown measures, with more people spending time at home concocting their own drinks. Many took the opportunity to post their new creations online helping boost the trend and is likely to be one that we will be seeing a lot of in the future!

Wine has a long history in our shared cultures and is continuing to grow in all different ways. But one staple value of wine that has remained the same, is that wine is meant to be shared. The foundations of wine are built to bring people together. Wine most commonly comes in a 750ml bottle, not just to look nice, but because it is the ideal amount to share with friends, therefore making people come together. Although the wine varieties we drink may change over time, the way drinking wine may change, even the regions where we get our wines from may alter, but one thing that will always remain the same is that wine will always be made for sharing.