Folk Food Fun
Last Sunday we took a drive down to Rachburi, a western province of Thailand, about 2 hours drive from Bangkok. After many stops for refreshments and food, around 5 o’clock, we found ourselves at Jed-Smean Village หมู่บ้านเจ็ดเสมียน , a small and very touching community which normally would have ended up bare and empty like many other villages around Thailand. Instead, this community has been restored in both physical and spiritual from the effort and help of Khun Pattravadee (Contemporary Art and Dance Devotee / Professor) and her students together with the local artists young and old. The pictures in the article below shows the young teens performing contemporary music, mixing Thai instruments with modern Jazz, an amazing performance that you can only see on stage in a special event in Bangkok. But the stage that they perform every weekend around 6 pm at Jedsmean is bare concrete with the backdrop of Mae Klong River and peaceful greenery. We were lucky to have spotted this place, we had great fun watching these kids that otherwise would be spending hours in front of the computer games or who knows what, now they are performing amazing music for audiences and passers by. In the same courtyard, opposite the performing stage were food stalls from local produce and village’s proclaim cooks, bringing their specialties for sales. These are the authentic local Thai food that you wound never find in supermarkets and restaurants in Bangkok, like Kang Prao (แกงเปรอะ) which made of bamboo shoot, herbs and spices and Pla Rha (strong fragrance marinated fish, Thai Style),
Kang Prao (แกงเปรอะ)
Larb Moo Kaw (ลาบหมูคั่ว)
Kamnom Jeen Sour Nam (ขนมจีนซาวน้ำ)
Larb Moo Kaw (ลาบหมูคั่ว) Mince pork with pork skin in spicy dressing cooked over low heat. The secret of this dish lies in Khoa Kaw (ข้าวคั่ว) pounded roasted rice, the more refined, the better it tastes. And Kanom Jeen Sour Nam (ขนมจีนซาวน้ำ) Thai white flour spaghetti served with pineapple, pounded shrimps, coconut milk, ginger and chilies, but this particular cook had added sugarcane syrup as her special touch, the aroma of burnt cane syrup makes this dish much more aromatic than the normal dish you found elsewhere.
A certainly a memorizing trip, with full stomach and full of happy smiles.
