In Kanchanburi, we had the opportunity to see a wide range of of food production. One of the most interesting was a visit to a vegetable processing plant. It was River Kwai, and they had everything from baby corn, to canned corn! It was quite interesting getting to try the canned corn in Thailand, because I always think of it as a flavor from home. I live in an area surrounded by cornfields, and each summer I watch as they grow taller and taller. We have a lot of fresh corn in the summer, and canned in the winter. This tasted exactly like it. It was also hard to believe they were sending these products, from a rural part of Thailand 5 miles from the Myanmar border, to markets all the way in Britain. I am very suspicious now about their sustainability.
We also had the chance to make our own food while we were at MUKA! We got a rice noodle making demonstration. It was much more complex than making pasta, and it was all because of the level of gluten. Rice doesn’t have much compared to wheat. So, we made a slurry and spread it on a pan. We then went to a steamer, and let it set. When it came out, it was solid! Then, it went into the cooler so we could work with it. Mine never came out that perfect, so when we used the pasta machines, I had to do some adjustments. Then, it came out and we added it to a noodle soup. I was pretty impressed that we made the noodles successfully. If I had a big steamer at home, I would actually do it at time.
We also got to visit a melon farm! The farmer quit his previous job, and decided to use organic farming methods to grow melons for the Japanese market. He took us to his covered greenhouse rows, and we got to see the young melons. At the front, they even sold melon slushies! We definitely got a good taste.
For a cultural activity, our hosts took us to a traditional village. We got the traditional outfits, and got to walk all over. They had different structures of a typical village, and farms, gardens, houses, and docks. It was beautiful and very fun to explore. At the end of the night, we got an amazing dinner-dance experience. I felt the most in Thailand feeling I had experienced over the whole trip. It was beautiful.
Traditional Thai village
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