Thai Feast: Community Gathering

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a Thai community event, that brought a group of Thai Buddhists in Lansing area, Michigan, together. It was a casual gathering for a 3-day Retreat. Some of the activities included food offering for the monks, meditation, learning Dhama, luncheon, group discussion, and camping.

Thai food is a big part of Thai culture. It is always the center of every event or getting-together. For those 3 days we were at the Retreat, every host of each day's event, and all the participants put their hearts and great effort into cooking all the meals. This was the kind of venue where I would find the amazing varieties of Authentic Thai Cuisine, .. living so far away from home.

There were all kind of dishes representing cuisines from different part of Thailand; Northern, Southern, North-eastern (I-sarn), and Central. The ingredients and flavors were authentic style, no substitution, and no holding up on chili peppers !!

I don't think I could even get to every single dish on the tables at each meal. There were many types of chili dips with vegetables, many different kinds of curry - including my Salmon Choo Chee Curry, 4-5 types of fired fish, variation of Thai spicy salad, .. I could still go on ..

And for desserts, beside lots of fruits, there were traditional Thai sweets, like Mango with Sweet Sticky Rice, Sweet Cassava with Coconut Cream, Thai Egg Custard, stuffed crescents with mung bean filling (Khanom Tua Pabb), and again I could still go on ..

By participating in this heart-warming event, I've refreshed my knowledge, learned something new, made new friends, re-united with long-lost friends, and enjoyed wonderful Thai food the way my mom cooks at home.. And after all, the event had brought together many aspects of Thai culture, people, and cuisine.