South East Asia is known for its tropical beauty,cultural diversity, also beautiful warm loving people. However, to get the truly taste and experience of SEA you have to dive into its food. Especially its Street Food.
Countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, offer extreme meal which you wouldn't be able to find back home. To name a few, there are fried lizard, Cockroach, Bats, Snake, Scorpion, and other insects. Besides, There are also other local meals which are sold over street vendors.
Street vendors said to have the most authentic taste compared to chef made in the country. However, it lacks of hygiene and health standard made foreigners think billion times before buying the food. And that is why, I am writing this to help you avoid food poisoning which likely will ruin your holiday plans.
There are 5 simple things to do in order to avoid food poisoning while traveling throughout SEA :
1. Choose newly fresh cooked meal
Never settle for food that was left sitting for a long time especially if that is not properly covered. As flies, insect and bacteria might perch on it and will cause food poisoning especially for rather sensitive stomach.
2. Avoid raw peeled fruit
SEA is full of exotic fruit you might have not tasted back at your home. However, If you are tempted to try their local fruits, always buy the fresh one from the market. Instead buying it from street vendor who sell peeled raw fruit.
3. Go to crowd street vendors
This is very important, the more people are buying it, the more they are trusted. It also has higher chance that it tasted pretty good.It is better to play safe rather than getting sick for days so don't mind about the queuing part, it is worth your safety.
4. Know the food ingredients
Before deciding to buy a food from street vendor, observe how they cook and the ingredients.Street food has higher probability of getting us sick especially when it comes to fried ingredients. Take your time, do not rush in order buying the food. they wouldn't mind anyway if you just watch and pass by
5. Prepare some medication
Last but not least,Precautions is always the best. It is advised to pack medications especially for stomach problems because food poisoning is on the edge and can happen anytime. This is often happen to traveler who only just landed in SEA. Your stomach, needs to adjust with the spices and the level of spiciness . It might take sometime but in meantime, precautions are needed.