Several years ago my Thai cousin and I stopped by the Jomtien tha-lat. My sister-in-law ran a food stall inside the open-air market. On my last visit Yai had been selling chickens. Now it was pig and Khim said, “We eat from tail to nose. Everything, but the oink.”
On display were heads, tails, feet, innards et al.
“I have never eaten the jamook-moo. Ears and feet yes.”
“Feet are good, but hoo are chewy. Nose more chewy than ear. Soup from snout a-loi.”
My sister-in-law waved for us to sit down behind the counter. We obeyed Yai and the two of us planted at a table. Plates of feet, crispy ear, and a snout were placed on the table. I ordered three bottles of Lao beer.
Several other food merchants stood by to observe a ‘farang’ reaction to the food.
I had once been fooled into eating pig ear to cure my stuttering once.
I knew how to make a good show.
Khim’s and my teeth wrestled with the tough ears. Better if we were hyenas or goat whose chompers can gnaw through beer cans. The feet offered easier prey and tasty, after the hair had been braised off the trotters cooked in a soy sauce. Our lips smacked with every rice.
Yai chopped up the snout and dropped the morsels in a wok adding scallions, soy sauce, and garlics.
We finished the beer and I ordered three more bottles. We were soon ten at a small table, chewing on the nostrils where there is only skin and gelatinously textured tissue. These are the chewy, crispy bits that taste like candy to some meat lovers. It definitely didn’t taste of chicken. My wife and daughter showed up and I ordered another plate. Everyone was happy, because the Thais only love food more than having fun.
