Thai Food
 

I've never tried the Thai Food before, so I'm curious of what makes the Thai Food been so highly praised by many Fodorites. My wife cannot eat with MSG. Does anyone knows if the food is prepared with this ingredient?

105 days for my trip to Thailand and counnting...

Thanks

i think some has msg, so just ask for it to be eliminated....ask your hotel to write this out for you in thai and have the waiter read it before you order....

most of the ingrediants are super fresh...some is very spicy...some of it is not dissimilar to chinese or other asia foods....

much of it is wok cooked...but they also broil, steam, deep fat fry and grill...

in bangkok you will have no problem finding any kind of cuisine you desire...

a good place for lunch is the loft on the 7th floor of the central chitlom dept. store....all kinds of food in one place...

you will love it..

MSG is not a 'traditional' ingredient of Thai food, but many chefs may unintentially add it since it is a common flavor enhancer for stock powders and sauces, which are widely used. For that reason, you may not even be safe eating western fare. Thais are not yet as concious about this issue as westerners.

Your safest bet may be to stick to simple foods, such as noodles and fried rice. Curries and soups, which use chicken stock as a base, are probably the most dangerous. Stir-fries are not necessarily safe, since a commonly used garlic powder is mostly MSG.

Actually the Thais put MSG in virtually everything. All the stir-fries and soup dishes have it added. There are two popular brands - Ajinomoto and Sarm Rot. There's not much point telling cooks in stalls & small restaurants not to add MSG as they won't know it by that name. On several occassions I've turned red & itchy from too much Sarm Rot in a dish.

Gosh, I'm glad this topic came up. I have a mild allergy to MSG. Now what will I eat? I'm already afraid to eat chicken there, and all the wonderful dishes I was looking forward to, will make my face freeze up and my throat close.

Good time to go on a diet, if I dare!

The symptoms usually fade 15 minutes or so, but what if you eat food that it's in twice a day. Can it build up and cause a bad reaction? We'll be there almost a month.

I agree with TexasSlim, pretty sure most Thai food has it, including fried rice and noodles. (We watched a lady cook our fried rice, and some of that magic powder which was definitely not salt was liberally scattered into the wok. But it did taste good!)

just ask for it to be left out.... it gives me a headache sometimes and i have never had that in thailand...

I'm curious...where do you live? There are usually so many Thai restaurants around unless you live in a very small, isolated place. If I were you, I would try to find a Thai restaurant and try out some dishes to help you figure out some of your likes and dislikes before you go to Thailand. Have a great trip. Happy Travels!

Guenmai, I live in Puerto Rico. I will follow your suggestion immedeatly and will try some Thai Restaurants here in the island. Thanks for the advice.

To Granny, I also have an MSG allergy which gets worse as the exposure builds. The first meal will give me a rash and itchy skin. The second will add heart palpitations and if I add the third my throat will close and I'll have trouble breathing. I always ask to have no MSG but if I have a reaction I won't eat that dish again. On a month long trip to China I ate lots of plain rice and tons of Snickers bars. I'm not a foodie,so that helps and my main concern was seeing China so my answer was to eat what I was certain didn't have MSG. And always carry Benadryl or something similar to help if you have a reaction. I'm off to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Hong Kong in a few weeks and will take some prepack tuna, salmon and chicken along to throw in with my rice or bread when I feel it is needed.

Most interested in you reactions mileaday. Does beer add to the ill effects of too much MSG? I must be mildly alergic to the stuff as I've spent many years in Thailand and I know they whack MSG into so many dishes. I get reactions rarely, maybe once or twice a year. And only when I'm drinking with a meal. It starts with an itch in my palms & soles of feet, then I get red blotches on my neck, chest, arms. Old scars show up very red. My face will look flushed and a bit puffy. And sometimes I'll feel a bit restricted in the chest and breathing will be a bit difficult. But it's never been bad enough for me to seek medical attention. As I said it happens rarely but it's damn annoying when it does as that's the end of the evening. I just go home and wait for it to pass, usually in a few hours. What is Benadryl? Do you think I would benefit from using it?

Benadryl is an antihistimine. It's a good idea to carry some. Allergies have a habit of getting worse with continued exposure, at least that's been my experience. The Benadryl will relieve the symptoms, although it may make you drowsy. If you have difficulty breathing, it could be serious. The Benadryl should help that. I also have food allergies and not only always carry Benadryl, but also Prednizone (sp?) and an epi-pen if the other two don't work. My throat swells and I can't breathe. It can kill you if you don't take immediate action.

TexasSlim, by the way, I get all the symptoms you do but much worse. It always starts with a very bad stomach, then I start to blow up. My face around my eyes and nose swells to the point where I look hideous and then my throat begins to swell.

I usually take Benadry at the first sign of a bad stomach to try and stave off any worse effects. Sometimes it's enough, sometimes not. Sometimes it's not an allergic reaction at all but just a bad stomach! But I'd rather be safe than sorry. If it's an allergic reaction and the Benadry doesn't work, I then take the Prednizone to reduce the swelling. If my throat is still closing up, I inject myself with the Epi-pen. Luckily, I haven't had a reaction in quite a while. For a time there, I was getting them pretty frequently. I'm hoping the allergy is going away. Allergies seem to come and go with no rhyme or reason.

Mileaday, my reactions are milder and we were in China for over three weeks last fall and the food didn't bother me at all. I plan to ask someone to write the equivalent of No MSG and the two brands on a card, so I can show it at restaurants.

There was someone in our group last fall, that had a bad allergy to MSG and ate mostly rice and veggies. They made separate meals for her. The food was not that interesting. We ate mostly in the large hotels and it was pretty much the same at lunch and dinner. I couldn't eat Chinese for months afterwards.

I have reaction to msg, for me it starts with the heart palipations. I do have "no msg" written on a card, but mostly, I just watch what I eat. I do find that in most of the better restaurants they stay they don't use msg, and my heart rate tells me that they aren't using enough to give me a reaction.

Thanks for these tips guys, I'll get some Benadryl and try it next time. I might also try a card with no MSG (plus the two local brands I mentioned above) to show when I order food. Only problem is I usually eat in night markets and those sidewalk places and what you tell the person taking the order doesn't also reach the cook. Luckily I don't have a severe alergy.

Apparently MSG occurs naturally in a number of foods, including parmesan cheese. Perhaps the concentration is much less. Chinese cooks (in China) throw the stuff in with abandon, so I was glad that I have no adverse reaction to it.

Glutamate - the unrefined form of MSG - occurs in many foods. It is most abundant in tomatoes and fish. Its presence in tomatoes may explain why ketchup is so popular.

I have a number of Thai language cookbooks, and there are in fact very few published recipes that call for MSG ('pong soo rot' in Thai), but the other posters are correct that some cooks do add it with abandon, although often without realizing that they're adding MSG.