I always found it inconvenient to eat a lot of fruit back home, you know, going to the grocery store, buying just the right amount of fruit so as not to have over-ripe stuff after a week, etc., but here in Thailand it is very simple.
There are fruit stands pretty much on every street corner, along major thoroughfares, in markets, malls and grocery stores. Fruits are easily substituted for chips and chocolate here because of the ease of purchasing it as well as its preparation.
When you grab a guava, for example, from a street vendor, he will slice and bag it for you and it's ready to eat as you walk or easily stored in your refrigerator or a lunch box to be eaten later.
I personally think some of the shapes, textures and even sheer size of some of these fruits is interesting.
The variety of fruits here is also pretty awesome. We get far more than the average U.S. fruit section at your local grocer...you know, apples, oranges, grapes, bananas.
Our fruits here even come with cool nicknames like "The king of fruit" (durian shown above) or "The queen of fruit" (mangosteen pictured below).
Right now mangosteens, dragon fruit, sala (spiky brown football looking fruit above), gnaw (furry looking red fruit in crates above) and custard apples (green fruit below often nicknamed Buddha Head fruit by farangs as it resembles the S.E. Asian depiction of Buddha's head) are in season and most fruit stands seem to always have durians (big spiky good-thing-Sir-Issac-Newton-wasn't-sitting-under-one-of-these-suckers fruit pictured above), mangoes and watermelon.
These are some pictures from a roadside fruit seller we visited on our most recent trip away from town.
Went food shopping today...
I went to the nearby Foodland after school today, in the rain. I looked at the fruit...I photographed the fruit...I even took time to sniff the fruit oddly enough. I walked out of the grocery store with a bag full of hotdogs, hotdog buns and Listerine...I gotta work on this diet thing!!
Ah, in season again, these lovely "nose-shaped" fruits are the rose apple. They have an interesting texture and when perfectly ripe, taste oh so yummy!
Next we have the miracle fruit, the Mangkoot (mangosteen). Apparently it is full of antioxidants and people in the west (USA) pay 30 dollars for a bottle of its miracle juice! Hahahaha. I get the same bottle of 100% Mangkoot juice here for a little over a buck! It's not a miracle elixir, it's just expensive because they grow here, not there...and a lot of pyramid, multi-level dudes convincing people to pay 30 dollars for a bottle of fruit juice.
What's next...ah yes! These furry little buggers are the "ngoh" or something like that! English? Uh, no idea truthfully! Easier than they look like to get into and eat, Juicy with a pit. Not my favorite but I can eat a couple now and then for fun. I just don't like when the cover of the pit comes off with the meat of the fruit, otherwise they are really tasty.
Ah, these look like Dragon Fruit to me. These things grow at the end of scraggly cactus looking plants. Always wondered why people grew those cactus things...now I know, they give these nicely colored fruit. Meat inside is either white or purple...These look like the smaller purple ones to me.
And finally one that I actually don't eat, probably ate two in three plus years here in Thailand. Called I believe the Longan. Similar inside to the flesh of a lychee, even ngoh. Don't let me scare you away from these though. If you ever have the chance, give 'em a try. You might love them.
Ah, in season again, these lovely "nose-shaped" fruits are the rose apple. They have an interesting texture and when perfectly ripe, taste oh so yummy!
Next we have the miracle fruit, the Mangkoot (mangosteen). Apparently it is full of antioxidants and people in the west (USA) pay 30 dollars for a bottle of its miracle juice! Hahahaha. I get the same bottle of 100% Mangkoot juice here for a little over a buck! It's not a miracle elixir, it's just expensive because they grow here, not there...and a lot of pyramid, multi-level dudes convincing people to pay 30 dollars for a bottle of fruit juice.
What's next...ah yes! These furry little buggers are the "ngoh" or something like that! English? Uh, no idea truthfully! Easier than they look like to get into and eat, Juicy with a pit. Not my favorite but I can eat a couple now and then for fun. I just don't like when the cover of the pit comes off with the meat of the fruit, otherwise they are really tasty.
Ah, these look like Dragon Fruit to me. These things grow at the end of scraggly cactus looking plants. Always wondered why people grew those cactus things...now I know, they give these nicely colored fruit. Meat inside is either white or purple...These look like the smaller purple ones to me.
And finally one that I actually don't eat, probably ate two in three plus years here in Thailand. Called I believe the Longan. Similar inside to the flesh of a lychee, even ngoh. Don't let me scare you away from these though. If you ever have the chance, give 'em a try. You might love them.