Living or travelling in the Isaan brings surprises in many shapes and forms. One of the most amazing is the ability of the Isaan to find food where a Farang would never think to look. In the dry season most rice paddies are little more than a dust bowl. For the Isaan this bowl may contains tidbits that will form the basis of a delicious (for the Isaan) snack or even the main meal of the day.
Walk across a seemingly barren paddy with an Isaan friend and witness food appearing, as if by magic. Small frogs will be dug from their burrows, tiny crabs and even small paddy fish extracted from the still damp corners of the otherwise dry paddies. Return home to the Isaan's modest dwellings and combine the gathered tidbits with a few leaves from a tree or shrubs from the austere gardens and you will soon have the makings of a meal. Not a very sustaining meal, but a meal nevertheless.
Most Farang would simply starve in these conditions but the Isaan possess a knowledge that can only be learned through an often harsh lifestyle lived close to their natural surrounds.
WARNING: much of the food gathered and eaten by the Isaan is unpalatable for the unsuspecting Farang and may result in medical problems such as diarrhea and other stomach ailments. Eat at your own peril.
