When does food always taste best? When you taste… hungry! During out week in Budapest (pronounced with an -esht) Taste Hungary offered us a discounted (19,000 FT → 5,000 FT/ person) food tour of the city. And if they like truly not very good jokes, they can totally use that one I started with. Seeing as a food tour is just about the number one thing I could possibly want to do at any given moment, we accepted.

We arrive at the Central Market Hall just a few minutes before 10:00 AM. It looks like it could have once been a train station and sure enough, that’s entirely wrong. Instead it has retained its original commercial purpose since it was designed by Samu Pecz in the early 1890′s and it is clearly still a popular spot for locals and tourists alike. Our guide Judit appears flashing a copy of The Food and Wine Lover’s Guide to Hungary as identification. There is a maximum of six people per tour and today is a full one. The other four tourists give us something of a demographic shock. We’re expecting older, richer couples from somewhere close like the UK .What we get are Americans who are about our age. Two of them are even from Northern Virginia like me!

We start the tour on the second floor and Rachel breaks her fast on some Unicum. The other three women in the group partake as well while the other guy and I teetotal totally. This liqueur is often considered a national drink of Hungary and has a strong herb and cinnamon aroma. It is made from a secret recipe of 40 herbs which the Zwack family kept out of Soviet hands when they fled the country. During the socialist regime, a fake, communist Unicum was created. In the 1990′s, the Zwack family was able to return to Hungary and once again begin producing their original formula. This formula, in Rachel’s opinion, tastes kinda gross.

Luckily for Rachel’s alcohol tolerance, we soon move on the a lángos stall. Lángos is the ultimate food for someone who needs some alcohol soaked up. It’s a big piece of fried dough covered in toppings, most often sour cream and cheese. Judit bought two for the group. Unlike the lángos that immigrant Hungarians consume in Transylvania which has a sweet filling, in Hungary the snack is almost always savory.

Moving away from prepared foods and souvenir kitsch, we descend the escalator to the ground floor for an enlightening experience at one of the many overflowing cured meat counters.

We try the mystery sausages one by one. First is a a common Pick brand pork sausage. It’s a pretty good, though not very especially remarkable.

Next we have pork tongue. And seriously, if you like meat and have never had tongue, you’re really missing out. This one tastes much like pot roast.

Thirdly we have a pork liver pate, it reminds me of one of my favorite sandwich ingredients from when I was a kid. I’ve recently come to realize that when I ate braunschweiger in my formative years, I was eating liver (surprise! :O) .

Next comes a pork kolbas. It is intended to be like a sausage you might cure at home so the composite chunks are larger.

Then we try another kolbas. I take a bite and it is vastly superior to the previous one. It’s chewier, aged longer, and more heavily seasoned. “This one’s horse,” says Judit.

Finally, we finish our whirlwind tour of cured pig with a pork salami. Pork became a dominant meat in Hungary during the Turkish occupation. The locals realized that if they farmed a meat that the invaders (as Muslims) wouldn’t eat, it wouldn’t be in danger of being taken.

We are slowly wending our way towards the cheese counter when we come across one of the most unexpected parts of the market. Take a look, before you scroll past the picture, see if you can guess what it is.

If you guessed wild mushroom shop, you’re totally wrong! This little number is a free service provided by the government. People bring in whatever mushrooms they find in the wilderness, and a mycologist tells them whether they’re edible. Apparently these exist in food markets all over Hungary.

Our cheese tasting arrives. First is a fresh springy goat cheese. Next, a smoked, dry, moderately sour cow cheese. And third, a salty, grainy sheep túró. Túró, called quark in English, is ubiquitous in Hungarian cooking. To finish everything off is a much beloved Hungarian sweet, túró rudi which consists of the aforementioned cheese covered in chocolate.

For our last stop in the market, Judit takes us to the basement to view fish, wild game (!), and an admirable array of pickles. Most notable among these is the pickled whole baby watermelon.

And off we go to explore Budapest’s delicious underbelly. First off is a peek at the city’s growing artisan chocolate scene. We have one flavored with tarragon and one with sour cherry pálinka (a fruit brandy).

And so, after hours of eating, it’s time for lunch. This means Belvárosi Disznótoros, a butcher’s shop whose meat counter has been eclipsed by its meal offerings. Our meal consists of a veritable (brown) rainbow of meat. There is (uncured) sausage in paprika, liver, and blood varieties with mustard and horse radish. We have (succulent) duck leg with a sweet red cabbage. Also present are noodles with sour cream, (ever-present) túró, and, of course, bacon. And to round things out there’s a turkey ragu and a variety of pickles. There’s even a free sample of (American style) biscuits made with pork cracklings.

Since we’re all still starving (not true), we head to the venerable Auguszt for a plate full of cakes. As you might expect, we start with a túró cake. We soon move to a very Hungarian apricot poppy cake. The walnut cake is Rachel’s favorite while I prefer the custardy krémes cake. Not to be forgotten are the nutty Esterházy cake with it’s signature design and the Dobos cake which despite it looking like a drum and the name translating to drum, was named after its inventor, József C. Dobos.

Finally, to digest, we head over to what is by all appearances, a mad scientist’s candy store.

And it is soon time for the wine tasting, or for me, the fanciest-lemonade-of-my-life tasting.

Hey! Rachel here. Bear with me, as I am no wine expert but I am learning. Our wine tasting consisted of three different wines. The first was a Tokaji Furmint, a white wine from the Tokaj wine-producing region in northeastern Hungary.

Our final wine, shown above, was a Tokaji Cuvee, a dessert wine made from a blend of Furmint, muscat, and one other varietal that I didn’t quite catch properly. It had a strong sweet scent which reminded me of pear. The flavor, too, was very sweet, and the alcohol content was just 10.5%. I enjoyed it a lot and counted it as my favorite.

The wine tasting reminded me that I should really take a class or read a book about the art of wine appreciation because I don’t know what I’m doing. They did give us a sheet for tasting notes that asked very specific questions which I found very helpful. Now back to Jeff.

So, is it worth the money? If you like food and it can in any way be reasonably fit into your budget, do it! It was one of the Top Highlights of my Trip ®. If you are interesting in eating with Taste Hungary yourself, check out their website.

Disclaimer: As mentioned, we were offered a discount for this tour in exchange for a review. However, we really did enjoy it a whole lot and we are sure you will too! All opinions are our own.

We really ate well in Turkey. And that’s because Turkish food is one of the most delicious cuisines we’ve encountered. Here are our favorite foods, and where to eat them in Istanbul, or elsewhere in Turkey in some cases.

İskender Kebab

Kebab is a Turkish word simply meaning “roast meat.” In this dish, extra thin strips of lamb (in Turkey known as “meat” as in, “would you like chicken or meat?”) are draped over bite-sized pieces of bread and covered in some rich tomato based sauce and plain yogurt. The first time I tried it, the chef came out with a pot of liquid flavor that I can only assume were meat drippings and poured a generous helping over the entire dish. The best iskender has very thin meat and the bread is crispy.

Where to Find It: İskender was invented in the late 19th century by a man named İskender Efendi in Bursa – the name is actually trademarked by the restaurant he worked at. I didn’t make it to Bursa to eat at the famous Bursa İskender, but luckily you can find good versions elsewhere.

• Istanbul: Kasap Osman, Hocapaşa Sokak 22, near Sirkeci Train Station. This was in the Istanbul Eats book, and we thought it was pretty okay. Had we checked their website, we would have known that there were reports of lower quality here. It was still the best iskender we ate in Istanbul.
• Ankara: Tevhid Et Lokantası, Anafartalar Mehane, Anafartalar Cd No. 10, not far from the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. We stumbled upon this place, popular with local businessmen, and had the best iskender of our trip.

Kuru Fasulye

These are basically Turkish baked beans. If baked beans were awesome. It’s beans stewed in a tomato based sauce, sometimes with meat.

Where to Find It: Kuru fasulye originates in the Black Sea region.

• Istanbul: Fasuli Lokantası, various locations (website is in Turkish but has all the locations listed). This one is also in the Istanbul Eats book, but that’s not where we found it. We stumbled upon the Çapa location because it was near our Couchsurfing host’s house.
• Istanbul: Hüsrev Lokantası, Dedeman Is Merkezi, Yıldız Posta Caddesi 48/1, not far from Gayrettepe Station. I found this on Foursquare since it was near where we were staying. While these beans were the most expensive we ever found, at 12 TL a bowl, they were also probably the most delicious. Though Fasuli, above, was very close in quality.

Kumpir

Simply a loaded baked potato, where cheese and butter and mixed into the fluffy potato. The most common toppings are olives, pickles, mayo, and ketchup. Greasy tasty student food.

Where to Find It: Look for it in student areas, mall food courts, and the like. While I didn’t find any especially notable kumpir vendors, I have read that the ones in Ortaköy, Istanbul are the most popular.

Kaymak

Ever have clotted cream? It’s okay if you say no, most people haven’t. It’s richer than almost any food I can think of. It’s like someone concentrated cream and put it in a solid, spreadable form. It is basically the same thing as kaymak. Except where in the US you pay exorbitant prices for for enough to cover the top of one scone, in Turkey it’s a cheap breakfast food that is served in huge slabs covered in honey with (just like everything is served with) an endless basket of bread. It is also sometimes eaten on top of baklava, making it ridiculously rich.

Where to Find It: From our kaymak experiments, we found that the quality doesn’t vary hugely. It’s pretty much always good. But we have a recommendation for you anyway.

• Istanbul: Karaköy Özsüt, Yemişçi Hasan Sokak No 9/11, Karaköy, near the waterfront. Open since 1915, this place serves up a nice plate of bal kaymak (honey and kaymak) for 7.5 TL, pictured above.

Yaprak Sarma

A classic mezze – vine/grape leaves stuffed with seasoned rice.

Where to Find It: Yaprak sarma is, happily, very widely available.

• Istanbul: Çiya Sofrasi, Guneşli Bahçe Sokak No 43, Kadıköy, not far from the ferry docks (within the market area). Now, the thing about Çiya is that they change their offerings often. So I can’t actually promise you that they will have yaprak sarma on their cold mezze bar. However, if they do, it will be the best you eat. And if they don’t, well, I doubt you’ll be sorry that I told you to eat there.

Adana Kebab

When Americans think of kebab, these are probably one of the three things most people think of. There is shish kebab, AKA: chunks of meat on a stick. There is doner kebab, AKA: strips of meat cut from a spinning meat lathe. Then there are Adana and Urfa kebabs which are basically ground lamb combined with spices and grilled on a stick. The only differences between them is that Adana is spicy and Urfa isn’t. Whatever spices they add are like crack. It’s often served with rice and/or bread, peppers and tomatoes, and sometimes with onions.

Where to Find It: Both Adana and Urfa kebabs give away their city of origin in their names. They’re both from southern Turkey. They are also both pretty ubiquitous on kebab joint menus throughout Turkey. We don’t have anywhere particular to point you – perhaps go to a place with lots of people, or that smells good.

What’s your favorite Turkish food?

Yangshuo, China is very much a tourist town. According to some locals I spoke with, it used to be most popular with Western backpackers (who are still abundant), but today there are more and more visitors from other parts of China. Most of them are rich, as you need to be to travel as a Chinese person, and that apparently makes them very demanding.

It seems they have demanded a beautiful McDonald's.

Since there are so many tourists, there are a lot of restaurants as well. Many of them are cuisine foreign to the area. We were surprised to find that a lot of restaurants were rather high quality – perhaps this is due to the demanding tourists.

We found a few good places to eat in Yangshuo, and we'd like to share them with you.

Dynasty Dumplings

I can't entirely recall how I found out about Dynasty Dumplings, but I think Lonely Planet had something to do with it. It's a small place near the river. By the time we got to Yangshuo we were pining for Beijing-style dumplings, and this place delivered. The stir-fried pumpkin wasn't bad either. We later came and had the Yangshuo specialty beer fish here, but didn't particularly care for it.

Kali Mirch Indian

Pure Lotus Vegetarian

Kelly's Place

Kelly's Place seemed to be popular among the expats of Yangshuo.

When we moved to Chiang Mai, we of course made sure to look up the best places to eat. We looked at TripAdvisor and also at various blog posts, one of which was this round-up of dessert places at Never Ending Voyage.

I really liked the look of their first listing, Butter is Better. We decided to head over and give it a shot.

By now you probably realize that I love sandwiches. Love, love, love ‘em. I could eat a sandwich every day and not get tired of them. This has been known to happen. Sometimes I make truly excellent sandwiches. Here are some of my current favorite sandwich techniques. Many of them give you really substantial improvements over the basic put-stuff-on-bread technique and most take very little effort.

The Best One – Garlic Mayo

If only I could photograph a smell…

This one might not work if you hate mayo. You know that super fancy garlic aioli you run into sometimes that’s pretty much the greatest thing that can be placed on your tongue? It’s actually ludicrously easy to make an ideal creamy garlicky spread. Here’s what you do.

1. Mince a clove of garlic. (Or use a spoonful or pre-minced garlic)
2. Mix it with a few big globs of mayonnaise. It’s better if you let it sit for a few hours in the refrigerator.

Put this on your sandwich. It.. Is.. The.. Greatest.

Apply Heat

Most of my sandwiches include cheese. Generally it’s meltable. You can make a grilled cheese sandwich, but that’s a lot of work (if you’re lazy). What’s incredibly easy though is applying cheese to your bread and throwing it in the toaster oven along with the unfromaged other slice (unstacked). It comes out warm and melty (and less greasy than a grilled cheese) and you still have an opportunity to add additional toppings such as garlic mayo and spices. It takes barely any effort and can really improve your sandwich.

Throw On Some Spices

Look, you probably have tons of spices just sitting around. Just throw some on your sandwich for an extra level or two of flavor. Some good candidates are pepper, oregano, cayenne, and basil. I haven’t tried it, but I bet steak seasoning or old bay would be great on a lot of sandwiches too.

Use Leftovers

For example: taco sandwich.

Remember how delicious that fiery seared bass was last night? The leftovers would make an incredible sandwich ingredient. It’s like all the work of building an awesome flavor profile has already been done for you. Just add some garlic mayo and some lettuce or something and you’re set. This technique is already widely used for Thanksgiving leftovers, but it works great during the rest of the year too. For example, I had leftover taco ingredients recently so I toasted some bread with cheese, taco meat, and refried beans then added lettuce, black olive, and sour cream. Taco sandwich, it’s just as good as it sounds.

Hummus is Wonderful

When I get back to the US I plan to eat great big fistfuls of hummus. Hey, I’ll probably do it in Europe! Hummus also works well, when not in fistful form, as a sandwich base, it’s under-utilized for this purpose. Enjoy hummus and pita? You’ll probably enjoy a hummus sandwich. If you’re willing to put in a bit more effort, get a can of chickpeas and crush them up with some mayo, lemon juice, and a few other ingredients to make something like this spread. I can vouch for it.

Do you have any sandwich improvement tips?

Once upon a time, Laos was ruled by the French, and Vientiane was used as the capital of the protectorate of Laos (from 1899). Vientiane maintains some of its French influence to this day. One thing you can count on is fresh baguettes and bakeries everywhere. What this means for you, specifically, is that the sandwich scene in Vientiane is absolutely delightful.

Today, I'd like to share with you the delicious sandwiches I consumed during my week in Vientiane.

Ray's Grille

Scandinavian Bakery

Near Nam Phou fountain is the Scandinavian Bakery. While it didn't fare well in Jeff's croissant taste test, the croissants here are actually made with the purpose of being used as a sandwich roll. And in that role they do pretty well. The ham and cheese was nice too. I enjoyed this sandwich, though better were to come.

Noy's Fruit Heaven

JoMa Bakery

On Setthathilath Street near Nam Phou Fountain is Vientiane's branch of JoMa Bakery, which can also be found in Luang Prabang and Hanoi. They offer a create-your-own sandwich. I'm all in favor of choosing all your sandwich ingredients, but unfortunately, the ingredient quality was not up to the standard of the other sandwich places. It was alright, just not great.

The Brugel

Croissant D'Or

The final place we got a sandwich was Croissant D'Or on Nokeokoummane Road. The first time we went I got a sandwich on a baguette. The ingredients were quite good but the baguette was unremarkable. The second time, I wised up and got my sandwich on a croissant. Now that's what I'm talking about.

As you can see there are many options for delicious sandwiches in Vientiane. The best are Ray's Grille for cheesesteaks and Noy's Fruit Heaven for baguette sandwiches. Noy's also has amazing fruit shakes. We didn't try every sandwich in Vientiane, but we did try a lot of them.

Have you been to Vientiane? What's your favorite sandwich there?

As humans and foodies, we are particularly interested in food as an important part of life. Generally, I try to live my life in an informed manner, in which I understand and can make decisions upon various ethical questions that arise.

On our travels, we have encountered more than a couple foods that have ethical problems associated with them. Instead of simply trying everything blindly and learning about it later, we have attempted to keep in the know about these problem foods, at least enough to be able to choose whether it’s okay to eat them.

Before the move to South Korea, I was a semi-vegetarian. Now, that was only for four months, and I must admit I ate meat at least once during that time. If ‘flexitarian‘ is an okay term to use, that is what I chose to be. But since that can be difficult to explain, I simply said I was vegetarian. Why did I choose to cut back substantially on my meat intake? First of all, I had tried out going vegetarian for a month in 2009 and liked it just fine. Second, I realized there was no reason I couldn’t be vegetarian for a while, at least until I started traveling. I was really committed for the first couple of months and then I decided that I was okay with eating meat very occasionally, so I had a burger or two. Many of my friends are vegetarian or vegan or pescetarian (someone who eats fish but no other meats). Through a lot of reading and research, I have decided that the American way of raising meat animals is very cruel and harmful to the environment. Eating less meat is also great for your health. All of these factors went into my decision.

But when I moved to South Korea, I started eating meat again. I did this because meat is very important in South Korean food culture. Food is very central to communal bonding in South Korea. Go to any restaurant in Korea and you will see that it is rare to eat alone. In fact, some types of restaurants are designed only for groups and will even turn away lone diners. At school, eating together in the cafeteria was a clearly important part of the day. Were I to have remained vegetarian, and brought in my own lunches, an element of bonding would have been missed. The other teachers may have even been offended on behalf of Korea that I wasn’t eating and enjoying the food. This of course is not necessarily a great reason to change your eating behavior, but since I was open to eating meat again, I decided to do it.

And then, I met a Korean man who enjoyed eating dog meat. He invited Jeff and I out to have a dinner of the stuff. Without doing much research into dog-eating-ethics (I thought the main reasons people didn’t do it were cultural ones – that they couldn’t get past their upbringing of ‘dogs-should-be-pets’), we went. We ate it. It was good. I was even proud of myself for pushing past my instinctual revulsion, but decided not to try it again, because the fact that I enjoyed it haunted me. I justified it by saying it was a part of the culture, which it is, though a dying part.

Not long after, I discovered some things about livestock dogs in Korea. I had known they were a certain breed, the Nureongi. I had assumed they were probably raised in substandard conditions much like basically any other meat animal. This is true. In fact, dogs don’t legally count as livestock so the people who raise them aren’t subject even to the same standards as those who raise pigs or cows. So the dog raising and slaughtering industry is, then, mostly unregulated. There is an old belief that a dog beaten to death is most tasty. Some say that this practice is not employed today, that most dogs are slaughtered with electrocution as this is most cost-effective, but it is unclear whether this is true.

I realized, then, that I had probably made a mistake. Eating dog was not one of my proudest moments, and I resolved to be more informed in the future.

This brings me to the titular questions: Should I eat shark fin soup? My short answer is no, and I even try to avoid restaurants whose main dish involves shark fins.

This one, however, is not just about cruelty though that plays a role as well. I see shark and shark fin dishes for sale in many places in Asia, most prominently in China. It’s also readily available here in Thailand. It’s a delicacy, and an expensive one at that. Sharks are caught, their fins are removed, and they are thrown back, still alive, because it’s basically just the fins that are worth anything [Note: I am linking to Wikipedia largely because it is the only unbiased source I could find]. The shark can’t survive without its fins, so it dies anyway.

In addition to the cruelty aspect, this practice is very harmful to the environment (boy, are we ever bad to our oceans). Sharks are a vital part of a healthy ocean ecosystem. Having grown up in an area where waterways were of huge importance – in fact, everyone at my school had to take Oceanography – I find myself often rather concerned about things that impact the health of the oceans.

So for me, personally, shark fin dishes are completely out of the question. I realize that everyone has a different moral and ethical compass, and for you, maybe eating shark fin soup is alright. That’s fine; it’s your choice.

But when you are traveling around, trying lots of new foods, this is definitely something to keep in mind. Where do you draw the line? When is it okay to eat or not eat a certain food? It can be hard to stay on top of every single controversial food, but I feel it is our responsibility simply as eaters to know at least a little bit about the most-talked-about ones.

How about you? Would you eat shark fin soup?

One thing that traveling in China teaches you to appreciate is how varied Chinese cuisine is. China is huge. Despite being one time zone, it covers a vast area. It should not be a surprise then, that there are a variety of cultures within China, and they all have different food. When it's imported to the US and elsewhere, the food is all lumped together under the name “Chinese food.” But there's hardly such a thing. When you actually get there you're going to be eating Beijing food and Shanghai food and Cantonese food, not just “Chinese” food.

We tried to mostly stick with the foods from the regions we visited, but we couldn't resist giving the famously spicy Sichuan food a try. We read about a good restaurant in Shanghai and went for a meal.

Sichuan food, sometimes spelled Szechuan or Szechwan, originates from southwestern China, specifically Sichuan province. It is well known for its liberal use of garlic and chili peppers. Also, Sichuan peppercorn (which as Jeff discovered can be many things) has a very unique flavor. Other common ingredients include sesame paste, peanuts, and ginger.

The menu had some excellent mistranslations and strange English, like this dish of “the old altar dish fried eggs in soil”. I really wanted to try it but Jeff didn't agree.

Overall, Shufu was quite good, and a good introduction to Sichuan food. The first few bites are shockingly spicy, but then your tongue begins to go numb so you can keep eating. You need to be careful not to touch your eyes while eating this food, though. And they might start watering…

You can find Shufu by taking a look at our Shanghai Food Map. Depending on the number of dishes you get, you can have a relatively inexpensive meal or a quite expensive one. Each dish ranges in price from 20-50 RMB. It's a pretty fancy place so dress a little nicely and come early to avoid a line.

Do you like Sichuan food?

Just before leaving for Korea, I spent 4 months as a vegetarian. At the time, I was living in Washington DC. Luckily for me, DC is a fantastic place to be a vegetarian, with options at almost every restaurant, and many restaurants that specialize in vegetarian food. Here are my favorites.

Busboys and Poets

Rasika

Amsterdam Falafelshop

I’m a big fan of falafel sandwiches, and Amsterdam Falafelshop delivers. Choose your size (small is 3 balls and large is 5) and your pita type – white or wheat. Then load that baby up with tons of awesome toppings! The fries are also very good here.

• Details: Amsterdam Falafelshop is right in Adams Morgan, at 2425 18th St NW. It’s open daily from 11 AM to at least midnight (later on the weekends – closes at 4 AM Friday and Saturday). A falafel sandwich will run you $5-7.

Sticky Fingers

Founding Farmers

Thai X-ing

Everlasting Life Cafe

Many visitors to Dokmai Garden say that Amherstia nobilis is the rarest tree of the garden’s 1100 species. This is because the tree’s drooping red shoots have only ever been found twice, in the wilds of Burma. And while it’s certainly the rarest plant I’ve ever tasted, Eric Danell, the expert botanist who runs the garden, thinks that the real rarities in his collection aren’t ones (like this one) that can be ordered from online seed catalogs, but those from the true frontiers of botany; the ones that require a jungle trek, not an internet search, to discover. In my five hours at the garden, I learned many incredible facts, but the one that really stands out is this:  if you ever get the chance to spend time with an expert who’s passionate about their field, it’s an opportunity you really don’t want to miss.

The Lost Banana

Now, as you are probably aware, I have a certain affinity for food, therefore, I was especially pleased that Eric tailored my tour specifically toward edible plants. In fact, I finally got to have that in-depth conversation about bananas I’ve been dying to have (no jokes). Those of you who just think of bananas as a one-name-fruit have probably only ever eaten a Cavendish banana. That’s the kind of snacking banana that is almost exclusively imported in the United States (let’s not count plantains here). But delve into banana history a little bit and you’ll find that Americans have only been eating the Cavendish since about the 1950s. Go back a generation or two and everyone was eating the Gros Michel. What happened to it? To understand this, you need to know a little bit about how bananas reproduce (no jokes). For improved palatability, seeds were bred out of bananas long ago. This is great for chewing, but poses somewhat of a problem for the banana. As a result new banana plants are grown from parts of old banana plants and are all genetically identical. Without genetic variation, Gros Michel was almost entirely wiped out by the first opportunistic fungus that came its way, the fearsome Panama disease.  When I had a chance to try one of these legendary bananas at the garden, I had to stop a moment and catch my breath. It was like I was tasting a part of history. Fruit related dreams really do come true. Eric explained to me that the banana crop in the Americas was hit much harder than the one in southeast Asia and Gros Michel, AKA, Big Mike, AKA, gluay hom thong is actually available pretty widely in Thailand. I got to see firsthand (or I should say smell firsthand) the key difference in this lovely banana, its overpowering fragrance makes all those artificial flavors seem a little less fake.

The New Edibles

Of course mushy yellow crescents were only the beginning of my expanding culinary horizon. There was the salad group; the Amherstia nobilis leaf already mentioned as well as both a flower and leaf from Saraca indica and the leaf from the kapok (Ceiba pentandra).

Even though there aren’t many fruiting trees in January, I still tried several new culinary fruits. There was the dry, crunchy fruit from the Melastoma malabathricum which Eric has named the Malabar Blackmouth.

The incredibly bright and sour rose cactus (Pereskia Bleo) 

The “gooseberry” from a Phyllanthus acidus, which is entirely unrelated to what is know as gooseberries in the west, was to my palate unremarkable.

I even achieved another longtime desire of mine by tasting the sweet pulp that surrounds the seeds in cocoa pods.

I ate a bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi) which has the same texture as starfruit, but is almost as sour as a rose cactus.

In the non-fruit category, I sucked the nectar out of a kapok flower (In addition to eating a young bud).

And I got to chew on the citrus-y husk of one of the ~200 fruits known as the Szechuan Peppercorn (far right).

What’s in a Name?

“Hold on a sec.” You might say, “There are 200 different plants called the Szechuan pepper?” Well, maybe now you understand why I’ve been including all that italicized Latin in this post! They’re not interchangeable either. This one (Zanthoxylum limonella) has unpalatable, sandy peppercorns. It turns out that the total mess of common names is one of the largest challenges that botanists like Eric face. Hundreds of plants having the same name isn’t the only problem he faces either. For instance, the “gooseberry” (mentioned earlier) has eight common names given on its wikipedia page, and that’s only in English! Each of the hundreds of languages spoken in Thailand probably have a different name for it and those can vary between each region, province, middlesex, village, or farm. Eric’s holy grail is Smitinand’s “Thai Plant Names” which alphabetically lists thousands of scientific names along with every regional name for it that Smitinand could get his soil-laden hands on.  Many plants lack an English common name entirely and a large portion of those that have a name seem to unimaginatively base it on a vague resemblance to apples. I mean seriously; star apple, malay apple, rose apple? None of these deserve such a boring, unimaginative name.

Five Random Facts from the Tour

• Many Thai children are taught this simple rule of thumb when dealing with unknown plants. If you tear off a leaf and find white latex at the break, don’t eat the fruit. This will protect you from very poisonous members of the rubbertree and frangipani families, but you’ll miss out on figs, sapodilla, jackfruit, and dandelions among others.

• Farmers in northern Thailand commonly burn their field at the end of the season. The rains come and wash away all the ash that would have helped fertilize their plants. Years of this has left much of the area with truly terrible soil quality. The government has programs in place that encourage the burning to stop, but farmers who have never been more than a few miles from their homes tend not to trust the government workers from distant, foreign Bangkok.

• Longans are a popular commercial plant in northern Thailand because they are one of the few plants that do well in the terrible soil. They’re hardy in than just one way though; longan trees are also resistant to fires, droughts, floods, and whatever else you throw at them.

• Many trees actually need a stressful event to initiate some part of their life cycle. For example, the national tree of Thailand, the Golden Shower, will never produce its namesake flowers if you keep it continuously well  watered.

• Som tam, the famous Thai spicy green papaya salad, was actually preceded by a similar dish using unripe mangos. This is because like chili peppers, passion fruit, and pineapples, papaya was originally an American crop and only spread to Asia relatively recently.

If you want to visit, email ahead to make sure Eric will be there and visit their website for directions here.