Holidays... : To market, to market, to buy a plum bun; Home again, home again, market is done

I like visiting markets in foreign countries. It gives me an insight of the various types of food people consume daily. It's also a great opportunity to increase our general knowledge on the types of vegetables available. Who knows, we might even consider importing these common commodities and create a high demand for it in our home country.

Holidays are a good time to bring young kids to the market to expose the process of marketing, shopping and cooking to them. They'll have so much fun exploring, get an inkling on what goes onto their plates, fresh from the market, and begin to select what they eat with care, not gobbling down everything in sight.

Crabs on a tray

It's also an eye opener on varying perspectives of people from various countries. For example, in New Zealand, little ducklings are reared as pets at home. In Beijing, however, ducks are grilled, roasted and served on the table as a delicacy, commonly knowned as Peking duck. In Sudan, crabs are left to roam freely on the beach, laying their eggs, hiding in big holes, coming up when the tide is low, when the beach is drying up. In Malaysia, black and floral crabs alike are trapped in cages. With its sharp claws still tightly bound together, it's thrown into the hot, bubbling wok, cooked alive under high heat 'til it turns bright orangey-red. A real appetizer for Malaysians, but a turn-off for Sudanese. They just can't comprehend how we have the heart to stomach lively little crabs which are supposed to be running happily on the soft, white sands.

As we walked in Phuket market, the very first thing that caught my eye were the rows and rows of meat and different animal parts hung on hooks in rows. Some shops sold rib cages, while some sold only meat. Some sold livers, stomachs, intestines, ears, tongue, blood cubes too! Almost every imaginable body part that you can think of.

Horse shoe crab

Some vendors sold turtles, snails and horshoe crabs as well. I wonder how they cook it. When I was 5, there were abundant horshoe crabs on the beach opposite my grandfather's house. My cousin, who was 10 years older than me, used to dig into the wet, salty sand, and catch these horshoe crabs with his bare hands, holding it high up in the air for all to see. But I don't remember any of us consuming it at all! As far as I remember, we just caught it for fun, and threw it back into the sea hours later. In some countries, horse shoe crabs are caught for their medicinal properties and released back into the sea. So, I wonder why do Thais consume horseshoe crabs for centuries? Is there any flesh? Is it delicious? Doesn't look too edible to me. Looks like it consists of just a coat of hard shell and fluids within.