First Bite, Bangkok
July 10th, 2008
Grilled Bananas
Bangkok, Thailand – I’ve never been crazy about the starchy, one-dimensional Cavendish banana that is ubiquitous in the U.S. I can’t remember the last time I had one and I wouldn’t be all that sorry to see it disappear from American markets. That aside, it was a banana, not noodles or a curry, that was the first thing I tasted in Thailand.
Thailand has over fifty varieties of bananas (kluay) that are prepared in a myriad of ways from fried to coated in syrup to steamed in pudding. It’s often the first solid food a Thai baby eats and there many more dishes to savor through old age.
The banana I had was grilled over a hot pan. I came across it making my way through the Bangkok’s largest flower market (Pak Khlong Talat). Early in the morning, I wasn’t quite ready to embrace the savory side of breakfast so I had sought out fruit. An older woman was tending to a small grill of bananas that looked irresistible. I pointed and she poked around on the grill finding one that was sufficiently cooked. Removing its blackened skin, she slid it on a stick and for 10 baht it was mine. Its flavor was sweet, pleasantly sour and rounded; its texture was silky and smooth. Finally, a banana I could enjoy.
Grilled Banana Vendor in the Pak Khlong Talat
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:22 am
[...] Talat, my noodle soup vendor had cleared out, the fried chicken lady was nowhere to be seen and the grilled bananas I usually bought were gone. This was not good. I was supposed to be giving Michael Laiskonis, [...]