Former Broseley man Duncan Kaiser has spent the last few years teaching in Thailand. It’s a different world, particularly when it comes to eating.

Blog: Food is a central feature of Thai culture – luck for my taste buds, but unlucky for my waistline, which, now that I’m fast approaching the end of my 30s, has stopped responding to the little exercise I now do, writes Duncan Kaiser.

Yes, food in Thailand is cheap, tasty and available at ANY time of the day or night.

To give food its context here you can look at the role it plays in the wider social pattern. The family unit is still the most important element of life for most Thai people. That unit is not restricted to siblings and parents either but to cousins, aunties, uncles, those connected through marriage and friends. Everyone is included and one aspect that often binds this unit together and allows it to remain strong is the traditional shared meal.

What's on the menu today?

When eating as a group, unlike in England, the food is spread about the table in various bowls and dishes for all to tuck in. No set places here.

A large bowl of steamed rice will usually be passed around as the main accompaniment to the various titbits that go with it. Popular components of the Thai meal are fish and prawns, vegetables such as kale, bamboo, cucumber, spinach, aubergine and mushrooms and eggs boiled or in omelette form.

All of this is plastered with a good dose of chillis (pasted or chopped), squeezed lime and fish sauce. The resulting flavours are delicious, although be careful with those chillis: they are addictive but hot !

Away from the home, the streets of Bangkok and every other town in Thailand are lined with little stalls and businesses cooking up all manner of snacks and meals.

Makeshift restaurants are set up with plastic stools and fold-out metal tables, each with an array of sauces, maybe some napkins and sometimes a jug of iced water with plastic cups.

Every local area has its noodle soup, pad thai, meat skewers, spring rolls, dim sum, sausages, chicken, fish, fresh fruit or even insects (yes!) for sale.

Scorpions to eat

It is great to order your food, plonk yourself down, watch the world go by and hope no-one notices your struggle with the chopsticks. Alternatively, you can eat on the go, grabbing something to plug the gap until later.

The steam from the pots and the spit and crackle of oil-filled woks are regular sights and sounds as you make your way up and down, day or night.

Maybe the most impressive thing about the food here is the price. Just 30 baht (around 65 pence) will get you any one, or a combination of, this fresh cooked fare.

Street food on sale

Most evenings in fact I will eat food from the market in the next street along from mine and it is always tasty and filling.

I even go on cravings for a particular dish, demanding ‘cow pat gai or moo’ (fried rice with chicken or pork), ‘pad thai’ (stir fried noodles) or ‘cow kai jiaow’ (omelette with steamed rice, my fave).

My tolerance and appetite for the chilli has also risen dramatically since I have lived (and eaten) in Thailand.

Anything lacking a bit of a kick just doesn’t cut it anymore.