Isaan Food – The Healthiest in the World?
My Thai wife, after 40 years of following me around the world and eating untold amounts of crappy falang food, is still in better condition than the typical 25 year old American female. I can't remember the last time she needed to see a doctor. She has developed a single cavity in her otherwise perfect teeth.
I have to wonder why, after all these years together and eating similar diets, she is still a fine looking 115 lbs, and I am a rather typical overweight pile of blubber. My conclusion is that it must be because of her diet as a youth in the wilds of Sakon Nakhon Province.
When I first met the wife, one of the first impressions I had was of her extremely good physical condition. She was as fit as any 18 year old I had ever met. Trim and strong, but what really stood out was her teeth. Her teeth were perfect. I was brought up on a subsistence farm in central Minnesota. We had a huge garden and lots of poultry. We ate a very healthy diet: lots of vegetables and very little sweets. But I spent much of my youth in the chair of the local dentist, Dr. Peterson (who, I suspect, received his dental training at Auschwitz doing gold reclamation).
In 1971, the wife's village was about 50 kilometers off the nearest paved road in an area known as the Song Khram River Basin, the area where Sakon Nakhon, NKP, and Nong Khai Provinces meet. (The village is still in the same place today, but now on a good paved road.) While the villagers certainly were very poor, it was clear that they lived well and generally looked healthy and happy. The food they ate was a result of their environment and remoteness. No food was store bought. Not so much as a bottle of fish sauce. Even their salt was locally produced. Cooking was done on small clay (I think) grills burning home-made charcoal. As they were in the middle of a swamp much of the year, fish was on the menu (my guess) 80% to 90% of the time. There were over a hundred species of fish in these waters, many only available during the rainy season coming in from the flooded Mekong River. But other fish could be found year around in the small streams and ponds remaining after the flood waters receded. Poultry, primarily chickens, ran wild throughout the town. Most houses had a pig or two underneath, along with the required water buffalo. However, I don't recall ever being fed pork or beef. Those, I was told, were reserved for very special occasions. Other protein sources included anything that walked, slithered, or flew. Every animal, from snakes to rats and bats, was considered fair game. As an example, kids would literally “stake out” water buffalo dung heaps (as gold miners would stake a claim), declaring their individual right to the tasty dung beetles found within.
(May be continued – if there is interest)