The Land of Smiles: Cooking With Poo

WARNING: You may not want to read this post immediately after eating. Could cause an upset stomach.

I took my first ever Thai cooking class this weekend! It was awesome! The course was called "Cooking With Poo". Before you start thinking, 'has Melanie lost her mind?' Poo is the name of the lady who taught the class.

The day started off with a tour of a "live, fresh market". It was probably the highlight of my entire day. After living in Bangkok for almost 10 months, I thought I was close to seeing it all. I guess not...

Chickens, ducks, and other birds waiting to be sold to the next hungry customer.

If you don't want to butcher them yourself, you don't have to.

Not sleeping.

This market had all sorts of creatures. Living or not.
It was somewhat terrifying walking down the aisles, as you never knew what was coming. I wish they told us to wear rubber boots. Slime, blood, and all sorts of things were splashing all over the place. It also smelled horrible. But....I loved it.
Here are some catfish.

Giant frogs that were trying to escape.

Some type of river eel maybe? Your guess is as good as mine.

Yummy, yummy.

Okay, this is something better. Mushrooms.
There was no rhyme or reason to the market. Snakes, pigs, vegetables, bettles, fruit....randomly found here and there.

Crabs.

Bettles and pieces of buffalo skin.

Banana leaves packed with chopped up frog parts.

Rice.

Lychee

Some of my favourite fruits.

Rambutan.

Some bean/pea things that grow on trees.

Still living.

Intestine

Bugs. All kinds.

At the cooking school. The school is located in one of the biggest slums in Bangkok. Over 100,000 people live in it. Poo is an amazing woman with a big heart and gives a lot to her community.
Poo taught us how to make three delicious dishes. All of the recipes were adapted to suit the taste buds of foreigners.
Here is Laura pounding spices for massaman curry.