Culture: Monks and Cooking

Time dive into some Thai culture! We visit the ancient capital of Thailand Sukhothai and its ancient palace grounds. Though those are mostly in ruins now, the cooking rituals we took part in sure aren’t! And believe it or not - the self cooked Thai food tastes absolutely on par with what we taste otherwise on the streets.

*Warning some explicit images of animal produce in the gallery*

Sir Horsealots Research Diaries 🔬🐴
i) Monks are not allowed to own money, hence they collect food in town every morning (they also only eat once a day). Every Thai male must become a temporary monk at a point in their lives (1 month?), our guide explains.
ii) Adding kaffir lime to food makes it smell Thai immediately (So does cilantro and lime but that could be confused with Mexican).
iii) Monks robe is orange/brown as they washed/dyed their clothes in curcuma after taking white cloth that got dirtied from the enwrapped bodies of the dead (Another consequence of monks not being able to purchase anything, though they probably receive cloth donations nowadays).
iv) Buddha always has hair/fire on his head as he has achieved success, monks are yet to reach enlightenment - therefore they are bald.
v) Smile and the world smiles back at youRead more