[BeerMoney]

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Also, on the road today I talked to a close friend who for the last 3 years--every offseason (professional baseball player) he lives in Thailand and teaches English as a second language. I asked him about this:

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BTW, this from BeerMoney, who I think lives in Thailand: "Fried rice is very much a stand alone meal in Thailand."

And from KKF: "So, fried rice (which I will define as white rice fried in a pan with oil and seasoning and a small amount of meat) is considered a stand alone meal."

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He said fried rice is hardly ever if ever eaten as a stand alone dish unless you are the poorest of the poor and for some background he said his province's avg annual income in American money was 1K so not a wealthy community--and even in his province it was rare. He said in Thailand eating is a BIG deal, tons of plates on the table and everyone eats off of each dish. He said fried rice is a side dish that goes w/ the meat. He said his 3 years in 3 different areas have all had the same experience as far as food, he also said what KKF was saying earlier in this thread that the food is much much different.

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Your friend is very much wrong wrt "food of the poor". Most meals/dishes in Thailand cost the exact same amount: 20 baht. Pad see ew, pad thai, kapaow gai, gwai diao, etc are all the same price... Fried rice is not the food of the poor. My wife is thai, and has fried rice quite often. Most places include a healthy portion of meat with it, so it truly fills you up. I'd be willing to believe the fried rice dishes in a America suck in comparison to the ones here.

Your friend is somewhat right in the sense of people going out for a big meal with friends, but even then, seafood fried rice, or something a little fancier will probably be ordered.

In fact a woman down the road makes primarily fried rice, and has a steady flow of traffic throughout the day.

Nevertheless, i need to try more stuff [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

One more thing, the fried rice is not there to "go with the meat." It usually includes the meat. I prefer pork.