Who’s afraid of street food? – 03/13/2024 – Zeca Camargo

You disembark at Sala Daeng station in Bangkok and your eyes are hijacked by the chaos. Without knowing exactly what to focus on, a curious object catches your attention as it appears in front of you: a bag of food.

The Thai capital is reputed to have the most delicious street food in the world. And that’s no exaggeration. From the day I tried one of these bags, I fell in love, seduced by the smell first, then the taste.

More squeamish travelers may avoid trying something in a strange country, in the middle of the street. I myself think it took me a while to create that courage. But when I started tasting it on the sidewalks of the world, I never stopped.

I’ve already lost count of how many restaurants I’ve recommended here in this space, in cities as diverse as Lima, Lisbon, Tiradentes, Johannesburg, Kyoto, Maceió, Florence. But there’s an extra touch of adventure when you decide to get out of your routine and simply take the risk of ordering something that the salesperson can barely explain what it is, at least not in a language you can understand.

These are choices that are often based on what the nose registers: the smell of roasting chestnuts on a winter afternoon; bacon frying on a griddle; a broth that resembles the aroma of a curry; the strong presence of rosemary.

I rarely make mistakes. Even when I was more daring, like one night in Rangoon, Myanmar, when, faced with a selection of skewers, I chose one whose barbecue chef’s description was clear: chicken cloaca.

No, it wasn’t bad. And no, I didn’t feel sick. I wouldn’t repeat it, but I can also say that about most of the dishes I tried in highly recommended restaurants in London…

Where, in fact, there is also excellent street food, as a walk down Brick Lane on a Sunday morning can prove. New York is another large city that has high-end food vendors, as seen in the lunchtime queues on the side streets of Fifth Avenue.

But of course there is a special charm in trying local food from a place off the beaten track, even at the risk. Yes, I face everything, but once in New Delhi, I had to ask for help.

Walking with Tuli, a great Indian friend, through the Old Delhi neighborhood, he suggested to me: “Only eat what I hand to you.” Never has advice been so precious.

I tried almost everything in the torrid heat of the Indian capital. But there was a guy who, squatting on a tiled counter, broke a shell like that of a biju with his dubiously clean hand and dipped it in a cauldron with a sweet and, perhaps, rotten liquid…

Even with this terrible description, I was tempted to taste the delicacy, but Tuli forbade me to touch it. But he himself ate about three portions. And it’s there, strong to this day!

Returning to Bangkok, to convince those who are still afraid to eat something on the city’s streets, the large shopping malls decided to bring food stalls inside them. And no one did it better than Icon Siam.

In the endless competition to be the most luxurious address in the city, this relatively new commercial complex was even more ambitious: it reproduced an urban village in its basement! Like Disney…

The feeling is the same as being outside, but you are in the comfort of the mall’s air conditioning. And the food… as delicious as if I were outdoors in Sala Daeng. I went crazy there and ate everything!

Got sick. Not because I ate something bad, but because I put in more food than I had eaten on any other day of my vacation.

Repentance? None…

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