Eating In Thailand
It is November 2025 and I am sitting on a chair at a public market on the island of Ko Samui in Thailand. I am wearing a flower behind my right ear and a smile on my face as long noodles dangle from the chopsticks in my right hand.
It’s early evening and the market is becoming busier with customers. All the vendors are local Thai people, and most of the customers are too. I have grown accustomed to finding the places where local people eat at or shop. I’ve exchanged my US dollars to Thailand baht and I’m ready to support the local community economy. The vendors have mostly brought their stalls in on bicycles.(An open lot down the street and around the corner from the market is a storage place for these stalls.) Not every vendor is there night after night. There seems to be a rotation. But most evenings, this place is a market for food vendors and consumers.
My bowl holds a warm broth with noodles, meat, and green beans. I’m excited to be eating something I would not normally eat. I’m proud of myself for approaching a stall and ordering food without knowing what the flavor will be. The noodles slop juice onto the table. Their length brings me joy as I maneuver them into my mouth with chopsticks. Drinking the warm broth from the bowl, it soothes my throat and warms my belly. The green beans and meat are a perfect vegetable and protein combination for this meal.
This meal is a celebration of my life. The splattered juice on the table, using chopsticks no matter how I look, picking up food with my fingers, my awareness of physical and mental changes, comfortably eating this meal that nourishes my body without any external or internal control are freedom.
I am thrilled to be putting food in my mouth in public, in front of people. I am grateful for the people that prepared during the day and are cooking in their stalls this evening so I can eat well. The only expectation I have at the market is to feed myself, and I am doing this. I am in control of my thoughts and emotions and actions, so what happens outside of me is just part of the experience. “Miracles never cease,” I say to myself on camera while I record myself eating. Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side. You just get to get yourself there.
If you’re anything like me, eating food has been a challenge. I encourage you to persevere, grow, and change into the most awesome you. I would be honored to share a meal with you.
You are welcome to join me.
Stacy 🌺
I share my experiences and my perspective. Eating and healing look different for everyone. If you are struggling with food or your relationship with your body, please find support. You don’t have to do this alone.