Meeting roadside Thai snacks in Kunming

What is the most favored Thai snack? Maybe it is an icy fruit, an ice cream, or a milk tea and coffee on roadside stalls; maybe it is the chicken-oil rice, the pork-knuckle rice, or the fried Thai noodles in roadside canteens.

The roadside stall economy is particularly developed in Thailand. These Thai foods are cheap but tasty, inviting in tourists from all over the word. For many foreigners traveling in Thailand, it has become their lifelong memory to taste the Thai snacks cold drinks on the traditional markets in Bangkok or Chiang Mai, while listening to the Thai folk music, vendor's cries and cheers and laughter.

At the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 outbreak made travel almost impossible. Janjira, a Thai woman who has been working in Kunming restaurants for 16 years, came up with the idea of setting up a roadside Thai snack stall.

“It is easy to taste Thai cuisine in Kunming, but you can hardly meet the traditionally authentic Thai snacks here,” said Janjira. In May this year, she opened a roadside canteen named ‘Thail Street Food’ in the Jinbi market, Nanqiang Street.

The ‘Thail Street Food’ canteen at the Jinbi market, Nanqiang Street in Kunming. (Yunnan Gateway/Li Wenjun)

Although it is small, the roadside canteen features rich variety of snacks. Here, you can taste typical Thai snacks of Tom Yum Kung, cold instant noodles, papaya salad, grilled shrimp, grilled fish and others. “As the name suggests, our shop aims to present foodies the authentic Thai snacks and food culture,” added Janjira.

Before the meal, diners would line up at the busy restaurant. “I haven't gone back to Thailand since the Covid-19 outbreak, but when listening to the Thai music and enjoying Thai snacks here, I feel as if I were back home,” said Jaruwan Udomsab, another Thai woman who has worked in Kunming for years.

Source: Yunnan Daily; Online photos(unmarked); Trans-editing by Li Jingshuo