Thai bellies laugh at food scares

Thomas Turk has been warning us about the danger of microwave cooking, pasteurised milk and now GMO corn.

For generations, Thais have been cooking with fish sauce, kapi (shrimp paste), and pla ra (fermented fish). These ingredients are basically made from rotten fish and shrimp. If you sent a sample of pla ra to an EU food lab, the scientists would probably scream and faint after they figured out what it contains. In addition, Thais eat from food carts on roadsides, with one hand waving away flies or fumes from cars. Thais buy food at open-air markets where they walk on a slimy cement floor encompassed by exposed sewer lines. Poultry and chunks of meat hang in warm and humid air.

With that kind of lifestyle, I wouldn’t worry about the “radiolytic compounds” created by a microwave oven, or “the dangerous bacteria, the salmonella” in pasteurised milk, or “Monsanto GMO corn” which may cause cancer. Save the warnings for people in developed countries.  

Somsak Pola

Samut Prakan