I love living in Thailand because of stories I can now share, such as this one:
Tuesday evening, as I pulled into church for our set at the prayer room I noticed Pastor Jamie out grilling. I walked over to say hi and see what it was he was making. There on the grill were some rather large fish. I don’t know what they were, Pastor Jamie didn’t know either, but they reminded me of the first fish I ever caught out on the ocean. They were big. Apparently someone brought them from Pastor Jamie’s hometown of Mae Hong Son so they were going to have a special dinner that night and eat these fish. Sounded fun to me!
I went up to the prayer room and did our intercession set. When it was finished Jazzy invited me to stay and eat the special dinner of fish with everyone. Feeling pretty excited to be invited to share in this special meal, I said yes, and ran downstairs to join the rest of the crew who were seated on the floor around the little tables. There on each table was a huge fish, ours was starring right at me. We prayed and it was time to dig in. I love eating Thai style because there is no passing the dish, you just stick your spoon in the serving bowl and get out a few bites worth and then a little later go in for more. When we have fish, we all just stick our forks into the fish and pull off a chunk to eat. It doesn’t take long until the fish is demolished and all that’s left is a head and scales.
Besides the large fish, there were two other dishes. One had clear noodles and fish heads bopping around in it and the other seemed to be more parts of fish and vegetables in a soup. I scooped out a serving from the noodles and fish head dish. When I put it on my plate I noticed a small white piece-a bit larger than rice. I wasn’t so sure what it was so I pushed it aside. The next scoop I took out there was some more of those white pieces and then something that looked a bit like an ant. I got a bit nervous that maybe the fish was bad and somehow got worms (that’s what the small white pieces looked like) and then an ant crawled in the dish as well. I really wasn’t sure so I just pushed it to the side and tried to see if anyone else was eating these small white pieces I called worms. I didn’t notice anyone eating them so I just kept them on the side of my plate. A few minutes later I see my friend, Rose, pulling something out of the noodles and fish head dish—it was the small “worm”! She held it up, looked over at me, and said, “Stephanie, have you ever eaten this?” Acting as if it was the first time I’d ever seen it, I said, “No! What is it?” Her reply was not at all what I expected. She said, “Egg.” I looked at her with confusion and thought, “A fish egg?” She repeated it again, but this time she added ant into the name. “Egg, ant,” she said.
Quick little Thai lesson: In the Thai language the adjective comes after the noun. We would say ant egg, but to translate that literally from Thai it would be, “egg, ant,” which is what Rose was saying.
Though I heard her and knew the words she was saying I thought for sure I was misunderstanding her so I asked her again. This time she said it in Thai, “Khay mot.” I knew what she was saying but I thought surely there was something I was misunderstanding about it-there is no way this white thing that looked like a worm to me, could be an ant egg. Rose, thinking I didn’t get it, got Jazzy and asked her to tell me in English. Jazzy said to me, “Ant egg.” I just looked at her shocked, it just seemed big and why would a fish have ant eggs in it. Jazzy thought I still wasn’t getting it so she says to me, “You know,” and then runs her fingers across the table like an ant would. Finally I repeated it back, “Ant egg?” The faces of all who were around me listening, lit up and they said, “YES!” With the way everyone was acting about it I came to the assumption, they must have been bought and added to the dish. I asked Jazzy if that’s what they did and she said yes. Then she looked at me and said, “Have you ever had this?” I smiled and said, “No, but now I will!”
I decided it was so small and could get mixed in with everything else so I should not eat it with too much rice in order to be able to taste it. I put it in my mouth (I apologize to those of you with a weak stomach) and would you believe it popped in my mouth as I bit down? It was a bit juicy! It was not what I expected at all. I looked down at the other ant eggs on my plate and noticed again the thing that I thought looked like an ant. I realized it really was an ant, but not fully out of his egg!! How gross!!! I didn’t really want to know when I was eating the ant, but I didn’t want to not eat it because then I wouldn’t have a story to tell so I mixed it in with my rice so I wouldn’t know when I was eating it. I finished my whole plate of rice, ant eggs, ant, and all!!
The following day I asked my teacher if he eats ant eggs. He does! He then shared with me that it is only the red ones that you should eat. That’s when I learned it was fire ant eggs that I ate and suddenly I felt extremely happy that I ate them! Justice is brought as the little fire ants who love to bite people are cooked and eaten!
I can’t say that ant eggs are now my number one choice of toppings for Thai food, but I’m happy that I can say I ate them and now I’m ready for fried bugs, in a snack bagg,y sold at the market! Maybe that will be my next story. J
My friend, Bekah found this site for me-it’s a picture of the ant eggs I ate!!!
Sounds yummy Steph
Way to be adventurous! I was laughing with you. Just like hearing the story in person! Love you!
Good story!