Thai Street Food by David Thompson

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Grand and imposing are words rarely used to describe a cookbook, but David Thompson’s Thai Street Food is both – and some.

A book that deserves to stand out

The substantial size of Thai Street Food is in itself something at which to marvel; the book’s form more like a world atlas or comprehensive encyclopaedia.

Weighing as much as a small child, this book won’t sit on your bookshelf – and maybe that’s the point.

This is a book that deserves to stand out, to be read and of course, for its beautiful recipes to be cooked.

Authentic and raw

Thai Street Food opens with 11 stunning images: a man cooking crab noodles in Chanthaburi market, daybreak at Samut Sakhon market, a moment of serenity in a quiet Bangkok canal, children snacking at a noodle store, the friendly face of a trader, a food vendor with her cart – the next image her happy customers, a moped rider and her little canine passenger, a man writing notes – the wall behind adorned with images of the Thai royal family, a couple at Suan Luang night market in Bangkok, and finally the illuminating smile of a flower seller.

The images, by Earl Carter, perfectly set the tone. The photographs are authentic and raw – the unique sweet/sour scents of Thai street food almost lifting off the page.

Genuine passion for Thai cuisine

“It’s all about the food,” writes David Thompson in the introduction to the book. “Even a fleeting visit to Thailand can leave you in no doubt of this. Walking down the street – almost any street in Thailand – you can only be struck by the variety of food. Markets brim with produce and snacks. Streets often seem more like busy restaurant corridors than major thoroughfares for traffic.”

The words are as accurate as the imagery, with the introduction continuing, showcasing not only David Thompson’s expertise in Thai cuisine, but also his genuine passion and love for the country and its people.

Ideal street food

The book’s chapters are segmented into Morning, Noon and Night.

“Thai Street Food offers a glimpse into the vibrant world of Thailand’s streets and markets, following the sweep of time as day slips into night, and the people and food change accordingly,” David Thompson writes.

Of course, Thai Street Food isn’t just about seafood, but being quick and easy to cook it is in most ways the ideal street food, as anyone fortunate enough to find themselves in one of the country’s night markets will happily testify.

“Even in the smallest markets, the quality of seafood is outstanding,” writes David Thompson.

The seafood recipes kick off with crispy prawn a turmeric wafers, swiftly followed by a mouth-watering selection of kanom jin noodles dishes, including fish and wild ginger sauce, green curry of fish dumplings, bamboo and basil, and pineapple and dried prawns.

Permanent residency

At Noon, we move on to crunchy omelette of mussels, crunchy prawn cakes, fried rice with crab, sour orange curry of fish, crab noodles, prawn curry, steamed fish curry…

In the ‘Noodle’ section of the chapter the recipe for laksa with beef and dried prawns will have you checking prices for flights to Bangkok, whilst the one for crab wonton and barbeque soup will lead you to looking up options for permanent residency.

And we’ve still to get to the best chapter ‘Night’.

Absolutely worth cooking

“Each night market is known to the locals: the know the stalls, they know the food, they know the cooks,” writes David Thompson in the introduction to the chapter, making the point that if locals are cooking for locals, then the standards will be high.

“In tourist areas, the food may be less pleasing. These night markets cater to few known customers, even fewer of whom are likely to return.” It’s a useful warning.

‘Night’ brings us a diverse range of wonderful recipes, including asparagus stir-fried with prawns, crab stir-fired with curry powder, and the stunning yet simple stir-fried clams with chilli jam and Thai basil.

Amongst recipes for fermented fish, steamed fish and deep-fried whole fish, there’s the beautiful and elegant stir-fried squid with flowering garlic chives, whilst in the hot and sour soup of prawns the cure for the common cold must surely exist.

The chapter also includes a section on Bangkok’s swirling, sweltering Chinatown (read about our visit to Chinatown here).

Prawns with glass noodles, and sea bass and black noodles are the pick of the recipes from the perspective of a seafood lover – but let’s be honest, every recipe in the entire section – no, make that the book – is absolutely worth cooking.

The book shouldn’t be feared

These are recipes which are not beyond the home cook by any means.

The handy ‘Ingredients and Basic Preparations’ section at the back of this mammoth compendium of Thai street food offers explainers on some of the more unfamiliar ingredients, along with recipes for such homemade delights as chilli jam and five spice powder.

Thai Street Food is not your conventional cookbook, and its sheer size may be off putting for some. However, the book shouldn’t be feared.

The magnificent photography preceding David Thompson’s introduction continues throughout, providing visual provenance and a sense of place and people to the irresistible recipes contained within the book’s mighty covers.

So beautiful is this book that strangely, for a cookbook, it should be seen nowhere near the kitchen – kept well away from the risk of such spoilers as greasy fingerprints and hot spitting oil.

In fact, it’s not really a coffee table book either – a pretty thing with which to impress guests.  No, Thai Street Food is much, much more than that.

Remarkable piece of work

This is a book for somebody who is passionate to learn more about Thai street food. Somebody wanting to create something magical in their own kitchen.

It’s a book to study, to absorb, to enjoy, to revisit time and again – and learn something new on each occasion.

Simply put, it’s a remarkable piece of work. One which ultimately, like Thailand itself, and in the words of David Thompson: “Is all about the food.”

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