Our food and drinking water is provided for us. About 6:00 several students (presumably assigned to the kitchen work duty rotation) show up to gather the empty food containers from last night and take several of the large thermoses that live on our counter to the kitchen building. Within 45 minutes they usually reappear bearing our first meal and our day-time supply of hot drinking water.
Water is boiled over a wood-burning fire for the whole compound to sanitize it, so it is delivered hot and kept hot in large thermoses. We also have a Tupperware water jug that we can hold the hot water which eventually cools to room temperature. The water here has a distinctive charcoal flavor, whether served hot or cold, and it's kind of brown/cloudy in appearance.
In addition to our morning, served-hot meal, we also receive an evening hot meal about 4:30PM. These meals are always built around white rice, as would be expected in South East Asia! Eggs are also a regular component, and there is usually one other topping. So far, our meals have looked a bit like this:
1 - Rice + eggs scrambled and fried with onion + fried noodles with onions and eggs
2 - Rice + eggs scrambled with onion + broth with ginger and onion
3 - Rice + broth with ginger, onion, and yellow beans + fried potato cubes
4 - Rice + eggs scrambled with onion + broth with onion and yellow beans and small green leaves
5 - Rice + broth with eggs and onion + fried potato cubes
6 - Rice + fried potato cubes + stir-fried mystery orange vegetable (maybe a squash or another root vegetable of some kind?) with green onions
7 - Rice + eggs scrambled with onion + fish in a red sauce with onions
There isn't a distinction between breakfast-type foods and dinner-type foods so far as we can tell, and usually it seems like food is cooked and then continues to be served for subsequent meals until it is eaten up (i.e.: the broth seems to be the same base, but it's just brought to a boil before each meal and sometimes something new is thrown in to make it a little more interesting!).
For lunch, we try to keep half of what is served to us at breakfast and save it for that meal - if it's a little short on quantity, we have a box of instant noodles packets that we can make up with our hot water and then add to the leftovers.
I brought some green tea with us, and we have Vitamin C drink mix packets. We also can get instant coffee (with sugar and non-dairy dried creamer) and cans of soda or coconut water at the little store. Those are nice options for giving our tastebuds some alternative flavors.
I won't lie: I'm definitely going to be excited if we can squeeze in a trip to The Salad Concept when we get back to Chiang Mai, and the fact that Italy is the next destination spot for us is perhaps gaining greater anticipation each day, but I definitely appreciate the hot meals and calories that are provided for us.
Living in Thailand and having a lot of our food prepared for us and being here now has definitely helped me relax during this season regarding food and nutrition - by nature of the fact that I can either be eating this food and be upset about all that it isn't, or eat it and be thankful for all that it is. Will I be super excited to make a huge portion of my diet fruits and vegetables again with whole grains and lots of nuts and seeds, and rarely contaminating my body with eggs and meat? Yes, you bet! When I someday have my own kitchen again and am responsible for shopping and preparing all our meals, you can bet the closet vegan will re-emerge. But for this vision season so far, it's been a blessing to be able to focus on many things outside the kitchen, and I'm grateful that my stomach is filled three times a day, despite my lack of time in the kitchen.
After all, if it was up to me to be trying to pack in dried goods and raise gardens for the vegetables and catch fish for meat, rations would look a lot less exciting!
- Dani
Water is boiled over a wood-burning fire for the whole compound to sanitize it, so it is delivered hot and kept hot in large thermoses. We also have a Tupperware water jug that we can hold the hot water which eventually cools to room temperature. The water here has a distinctive charcoal flavor, whether served hot or cold, and it's kind of brown/cloudy in appearance.
In addition to our morning, served-hot meal, we also receive an evening hot meal about 4:30PM. These meals are always built around white rice, as would be expected in South East Asia! Eggs are also a regular component, and there is usually one other topping. So far, our meals have looked a bit like this:
1 - Rice + eggs scrambled and fried with onion + fried noodles with onions and eggs
2 - Rice + eggs scrambled with onion + broth with ginger and onion
3 - Rice + broth with ginger, onion, and yellow beans + fried potato cubes
4 - Rice + eggs scrambled with onion + broth with onion and yellow beans and small green leaves
5 - Rice + broth with eggs and onion + fried potato cubes
6 - Rice + fried potato cubes + stir-fried mystery orange vegetable (maybe a squash or another root vegetable of some kind?) with green onions
7 - Rice + eggs scrambled with onion + fish in a red sauce with onions
There isn't a distinction between breakfast-type foods and dinner-type foods so far as we can tell, and usually it seems like food is cooked and then continues to be served for subsequent meals until it is eaten up (i.e.: the broth seems to be the same base, but it's just brought to a boil before each meal and sometimes something new is thrown in to make it a little more interesting!).
For lunch, we try to keep half of what is served to us at breakfast and save it for that meal - if it's a little short on quantity, we have a box of instant noodles packets that we can make up with our hot water and then add to the leftovers.
I brought some green tea with us, and we have Vitamin C drink mix packets. We also can get instant coffee (with sugar and non-dairy dried creamer) and cans of soda or coconut water at the little store. Those are nice options for giving our tastebuds some alternative flavors.
I won't lie: I'm definitely going to be excited if we can squeeze in a trip to The Salad Concept when we get back to Chiang Mai, and the fact that Italy is the next destination spot for us is perhaps gaining greater anticipation each day, but I definitely appreciate the hot meals and calories that are provided for us.
Living in Thailand and having a lot of our food prepared for us and being here now has definitely helped me relax during this season regarding food and nutrition - by nature of the fact that I can either be eating this food and be upset about all that it isn't, or eat it and be thankful for all that it is. Will I be super excited to make a huge portion of my diet fruits and vegetables again with whole grains and lots of nuts and seeds, and rarely contaminating my body with eggs and meat? Yes, you bet! When I someday have my own kitchen again and am responsible for shopping and preparing all our meals, you can bet the closet vegan will re-emerge. But for this vision season so far, it's been a blessing to be able to focus on many things outside the kitchen, and I'm grateful that my stomach is filled three times a day, despite my lack of time in the kitchen.
After all, if it was up to me to be trying to pack in dried goods and raise gardens for the vegetables and catch fish for meat, rations would look a lot less exciting!
- Dani
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