Fresh Fruit/Thailand
 

Just returned from the Travel Clinic and have our immunizations (Hep A, B, Typhoid, etc.)

We are always careful about food safety when we travel. I realize it is ultimately a personal choice and there are no absolutes guarantees.

Read numerous posts here, but only found info about raw vegies & street food. What about fruit?

The travel clinic said no fruit in Thailand unless it can be peeled (oranges/bananas). She even said no mango (even though it's peeled) just in case anyone who may have handled it had a disease. I'm upset because I've heard so much about the sticky rice and mango dessert. Has anyone been told this too?

What is your opinion about fruit in upscale hotels and established restaurants? The Floating Market? We will visit with Tom (Tong's guide). I don't want to be rude or offend anyone, but I also want to experience the uniqueness of Thailand and that includes the food.

She also suggested bringing some antibiotics (Z-packs) just in case immodium doesn't work. Anyone done this before?

Please advise.

we are very careful...we have become less careful after 10 successful trips to thailand..

fruit....we eat mango and sticky rice with no questions at restaurants...we prefer to peel fruit as you mention....in upscale places we feel there is little concern and that is where we eat most often...

WE NEVER EAT STREET FOOD....

at the floating market we would eat things tong or cherry gave us, but not willingly....its just toooo dangereous when refrig. is not apparent...

fodorites laugh at us, but we have never been sick and we have fabulous food while travelling---yes, we pay more but we do not want to chance ruining our vacations...

I ditto everything bob said!

I've bought mangoes off the street and eaten them - on several trips to Thailand, because I'm addicted to SE Asian mangoes.

HOWEVER, I always wash the mangoes very carefully - this last trip, I washed the mangoes first with hotel soap and water (their water is filtered but not good enough to drink). Then I dried the mangoes.
Then I soaked them in drinking water. Sometimes I'd place some salt in the drinking water. Dry them again before cutting them open.

You also have to "disinfect" the utensils and the plates, etc.

Some Fodorites will eat salads in upscale restaurants - I never eat salads in Asia. It's a personal choice. Also never eat street food, however tempting, or cut-open fruit.

There are other ways to "disinfect", e.g., there are small pills that you can get from a sporting goods store like REI (temporary am blanking out on the name) or you can carry a few small battles of Listerine. Listerine is good but not that blue-colored water like Scope. Asians sometimes use iodine for disinfectant, but too much iodine is not good for you.

One year in Malaysia we went bananas over rambutans and ate kilos and kilos every day. However, we were always careful to "disinfect" however we could before peeling the fruit.

Take Purell too.

You'll be fine! Just take some precautions! :)

Hi

I think that eating the local food is an important part of experiencing the local culture. If you are too careful you will miss out on a lot. There is a medicine that you can drink that helps prevent the common tourist diarrhea but it does not protect you against the serious food poisoning.

I have eaten fruits in Thailand...things like rambutan, mangosteen, durian etc. I have also eaten street food and I have never been sick when going to Thailand.

Be advice: be adventurous and take some chances :d

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

From what you said about mangoes, I take it the concern is about who does the peeling. If you do it, of course you're safe, but if someone else does it, as they will at street stalls, then you're taking a risk.

Street food can be risky for a visitor, in many ways, but I wouldn't think twice about eating anything in a good restaurant.

FWIW, I've noticed a lot of problems really aren't 'disease' related, but simply strange foods. Some things used in local foods are just too strange for the western stomach. For example, I figured out that the small ping-pong ball sized eggplants used in green curry were giving me an almost instant 'Bangkok Belly' no matter where I ate them. I stopped eating them, and the problem went away.

We've been very careful, eating only cooked foods from the Peninsula, and gotten sick. We've been moderately careful, eating high level hotel food including fruit and salad, and gotten sick. We all got Hep A in Bali in spite of careful eating and Hep A immunization. I've had e-coli and been hospitalized twice over the years from eating in Japan, which is "squeaky clean."

We gave up all caution in August, and spent a month in Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand, ate whatever we wanted, including street food, picnic in Cambodia that included lettuce, tomato and sundried beef, floating market food, hole in the wall local restaurant soup in small village near Myanmar...and our single problem was about 4 hours of using the toilet a few times...the healthiest we've ever been.

The best food we have had was the Cambodian picnic, floating market food with Tong (iced coffee is great, not to mention the fabulous noodles, fried bananas..), and noodle soup. We ate salads, every fruit imaginable, even bugs...bamboo worms and silk worms!

In the end, it's a good idea to be aware of best practice, and decide just how much risk you can accept. Also, know that simple diet change causes toilet habit changes, too, and just more frequent t oilet use does not mean illness. You'll know it without any smidgen of doubt if you are truly ill.

I'd have to agree with several of the veterans above that food reactions are individual and inconsistent. I often have group dinners with 6-8 travelers; one may get sick, the rest are fine. I think some degree of stomach upset (frequent visits to the kamar kecil -- little room in Indonesian) is par for the course anywhere in Asia. Serious food poisoning, in which your body violently reacts what it has ingested, is much less common. I don't eat street food either, but even in upscale restaurants it's impossible to control the hygeine of the food handlers and their utensils. When I started traveling extensively 30 years ago I decided that the three prerequisites were strong back, strong stomach and a good sense of humor.

We eat almost everything, street food, salads and every bit of fruit on the breakfast buffets. The only time I got sick was when I stupidly drank some tap water in Laos. We've never gotten sick from any food in Thailand.

I am careful, but I do eat fruit in my hotel and any fruit I can peel. I never eat pre-cut fruit on the streets (I've known more than one person to get sick from this). I do eat salads at my hotel and at places I know well. I've never gotten sick.

But I know food and water precautions, and make a conscious decision every time I violate the "rules."

rhkkmk - I appreciate your comments about eating food at the floating market with Tong. We are inclined not to eat any street food; but was wondering how that differed from floating market food as so many who say they won't eat street food rave about the food with Tong at FM. You confirmed my concern that we should be prudent there as well, although I'm sure Tong takes you to places she knows take better care in their prep.

I would feel comfortable eating anywhere that Tong led me. She took us a tiny, hole in the wall place for pad thai, cooked out in front facing the street. It only cost a few baht but it was sooo good. I would not try a place like that on my own, but with Tong I felt comfortable.

We ate food in the floating market with Tong when were there in December. I have to say it was some of the best food of the whole trip.

I eat lots of fruit when I'm in Thailand and I think it contributes to some of the "tummy trouble" many travelers (including myself) experience. I don't think it's disease related, but rather that most people don't eat as much fruit at home as they do when they travel where tropical fruits are abundant. I know I don't. Try eating a lot of fruit at home (pineapple, mangoes, etc) and see what happens to your digestive system. ;-)

I also eat on the street and in local markets. This last time I ate a lot of spicy food and suffered horrible indigestion because of it. That's my own fault.

As Kim said, you will know if you are really ill, or if it's dietary changes. I learned from my last trip that I really need to pace myself and not overdo it when I first arrive.

one thing about the floating market is that the cooked food is very fresh generally....

water can make a big difference for many people, especially bottled water.....the minerals in some types can go right through you...that is not just a problem in asia but in europe also...

caution and moderation are the keys...i observe at least one of these...

I have a very sensitive stomach and are living in Thailand 6-8 months per year. Had very seldom any problems with food. And never with fruits, except eating too much of them.
Too many mamuang and especially malako (sorry, Mangoes and Papaya) can easily start your run to the next comfort room.
Another thing is, that most fruits in Thailand have to be peeled before you can eat them. Exceptions are apples and pears, which dont originate here.
Ok, be careful but dont be too much. Or you will miss a lot.
And there is much more as pineapple, bananas (both of them not my favorites) and mangoes.

I eat fruit everywhere...even bought it out of my driver's car window from street vendors in Ghana and never had a problem.
One never knows what is going to upset the system. Month before last, in Bangkok, I got food poisoning from something I cooked at home...woke up in the middle of the night in pain. I have no idea what it was...maybe salmon although I've bought from the same fishmonger for years now. It tasted fine and I had cooked it all the way through. I'd been eating whatever I wanted for nearly 3 weeks in Bangkok until I had the food poisoning situation.
As for only eating fruit in restaurants, well one never knows what's going on behind the scenes no matter how clean the diningroom might look. Back in my university days I worked in our dorm food service for a year and it was pretty gross although the health standards were supposed to have been high.
Month before last, while in BKK, I was in the mall and happened to wander down a corridor and noticed a kitchen door open. I peeped in. It was the kitchen of a VERY well-known western restaurant chain. Well, it was beyond gross. There was a worker sitting on a filthy floor and a huge pot of what looked like soup on the floor next to her. There were other pots of food on the floor...which should have been refrigerated. But the inside of the restaurant looked so clean and inviting. Happy Travels!

I rarely eat salads out of my own kitchen or a friend's! LOL! No way would we eat salads in SE Asia... it's not the water, it's the kitchen prep person who went to the bathroom & didn't thoroughly wash his hands.

Be aware that chili can give you the runs. If you are not used to eating very spicy food, then take caution.

Greasy/fried food can cause the runs (bad oil or just too much oil).

You can get parasites/bacteria by being stupid (me in Fakarava) & leave your mouth open under the shower while enjoying a cold water shampoo in the heat of the afternoon.

Don't stick your toothbrush under the faucet, if you don't open the bottle, don't drink it.

Take a probiotic every AM on an empty stomach. If you can't eat yogurt every AM, then buy some Kyo--dophilus & take 1 capsule 2x a day. Encouraging your good bacteria to grow helps keep the bad away.

DO NOT take Rx anti-bacterial meds unless you have had bad diarrhea PLUS vomiting or cramps for at least 36 hours. If you simply have the runs, it's the heat, it's the new diet, it's spicy food.

I've only gotten sick in recent years in Fakarava... and I had sweats/chills, diarrhea, nausea & cramps like the ALIEN was going to come out of my stomach. When the runs would not go way after another day (all the other stuff did) I went on an Rx.

If you get food poisoning, drink clear liquids (tea w/ sugar, water, broth, Gatorade w/ real sugar) for 24 hours... and most bacteria will go away as your stomach is empty. If the next day you still have the runs, then take an Rx.

When you break your fast eat rice w/ broth, don't go eat curry or fruit... give your stomach some babying.

The only time I got the runs in China was eating unpeeled marinated in garlic tiny cucumbers... other than that, I ate everything at all restaurants.

Depending upon where you are going, avoid mosquitoes (Dengue fever) is more important.

Perhaps travel with a personal physician? Just in case??

I'm one who eats whatever I want. Ate from street stands all thru Asia with no problems.

We just returned from an OAT trip to Cambodia/Thailand and our tripmates included a Japanese American couple who ate fried rat, bamboo worms, live shrimp, but wouldnt touch a piece of fruit or an uncooked vegetable no matter what.

Matter of preferance, I guess.

Gosh...in Thailand we ate street food, fruit from street vendors, food from markets vendors, meals at seedy restaurants (where we saw a cockaroach the size of a horse crawl up the man at the table next to me) and I never got sick once! We were there for two weeks!

Although, in Europe last summer I got very sick after eating dinner at a very expensive restaurant in France! Who woulda thunk it?

Just use caution, keep your hands out of your mouth, don't drink tap water and hope for the best. I don't think I would ever suggest someone to NOT eat the street food in Thailand. That's one of the best parts about Thailand in MHO.