* This blog does not contain anything on SEX. :-D Actually, it's about 'food'... the glorious food... Lately my mind is pre-occupied with thoughts of food. *

I had 'Kao Mok Kai' and 'Soup Kai' on my way to work. It's chicken in curry rice and spicy clear chicken soup. It's Muslim food, I think... The rice is yellow in color, and is eaten with thick clear sauce which is sweet and sour. The chicke is steamed chicken, also a bit yellowish in color.

The soup is spicy, served hot. It's clear, and has lots of vegie bits in it. You can either put chicken or beef in the soup. The speical menu is the ox-tail soup, which I personally find quite disgusting. (I don't like stewed beef... the texture is too... soft, mushy and yukky...)

Anyway, while enjoying the heavenly breakfast, I thought about the first time I ate this food, which wasn't very long ago. May be 5 or 6 years ago...

I used to have a biased opinion about Muslim food. I was under the (wrong) impression that Muslim food tasted bad. My uncle who lived in Indonesia for many years visited us when I was young, and told us that food in Indonesia, which is a Muslim country, tastes like crap. Ever since, I didn't want to go anywhere near Muslim food.

One day, I was driving around my neighborhood to find a place to have lunch, but I didn't want to eat the same old stuff... Kao pad... Kao Man Kai... Kao Na Ped... Kao Ka Moo... Quaytiaw... same old same old...

And I noticed a sign that read "KAO MOK KAI".

Although I've never eaten it before, I knew that it was the yellowish rice with chicken, and I also knew that it was Muslim food. I was hesitating for a moment, but my prejudice was overcome by boredom of same old food, so I gave it a try, and I've been in love with it ever since.

I wasn't always lucky with all my 'first time' with various foods...

I couldn't eat 'Kao Ka Moo' for years because I hated the soft and mushy pig fat. And the visual effect of fatty pig knuckle placed above steaming pot of what looks like boiling black tar didn't help in swallowing the food without feeling nausea either.

The first time I ate it, was when I went to street food joint with some high school friends. They all ordered 'Kao Ka Moo', so I had to go along... Phew... It was terrible to say the least... I didn't want to throw up in front of my friends, so I had to swallow all the fat and soft pig skins... Later I learned that you can order it 'Mai Ao Nang' (No pig skin please.) which made it much easier on my throat.

Now I'm OK with 'Kao Ka Moo'... Actually I miss it if I don't eat it for more than a year. Ok ok... I still hate it. But I can eat it without throwing up now. I guess that's a big improvement already.   

When I was in Nigeria, I've had many chances to try 'virgin' food... and most of the 'virgin' foods I tried were terrible!

But while eating 'Kao Mok Kai' today, I got to thinking, what will others think of 'Kao Mok Kai' if they were eating it for the first time?

I found some of the Nigerian food quite hard to swallow, but the locals enjoyed it very much. By the same token, I enjoy 'Kao Mok Kai' very much, but if Nigerians tried it, they may find it difficult to swallow also.

So, I want to hear your stories on various foods we have in Thailand...

Tell me about your 'first time'.... (Don't be shy!)

:-)