Unpleasant foods

I have finally found a dish in Ubon that I do not like. It is called Jiao Horn เจืยวฮ้อน. The restaurant brings you a clay pot with bubbling hot clear broth, and a plate of raw meat that you dip into the broth to cook. So far so good. The yucky bit is the sauce which is made from crushed rice, herbs and beef bile, and tastes as unpleasant as it sounds.

Ubon Ratchathani is built on a grid layout. The reason is because it was built by the Americans. Ubon is conveniently located close to both Laos and Cambodia which means Ubon was an ideal place from which to launch air strikes during the Vietnam War. There is a local dish called "American fried rice", which is rice friend with chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce, topped with a fried egg and served with fried sausages and fried chicken, all topped with more tomato sauce. I am not certain of the origin of this dish, nor are my Thai hosts, but it can only be assumed that this is a local creation means to salve American appetites hungering for tastes of home.