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The Thai Bite is a celebration of food and culture

Victor | September 25, 2011 | 0 Comments

A little rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of hundreds of people who came to satisfy their appetite for Thai food and culinary adventure Sunday at Wat Buddha Oregon, the Thai Buddhist Temple nestled in the woods in Turner.

For a donation into the collection boxes that lined the food tables, visitors got to sample such popular Thai dishes as Som Tum (papaya salad), Larb (pork and chicken salad), Pad Si Ew (rice noodles with soy sauce) and more exotic regional fare that’s seldom found at restaurants, like Gapo Pla (fish bladder stew), Kanom Cheen Namya (noodles topped with fish curry sauce), and Saku Sai Mu (tapioca dumplings stuffed with pork, peanut and pickled radishes).

Visitors also got to sample many Thai desserts rarely seen at restaurants, such as Kanom Chan (layered glutinous cake), Kanom Tean (coconut milk and rice flour stuffed with beans or coconut and wrapped in banana leaves and steamed), and Foy Tong (golden strands made from egg yolk cooked in syrup).

The annual festival is a fundraiser for Wat Buddha Oregon, Oregon’s Thai Buddhist temple at 8360 David Lane in Turner, just south of Salem on Interstate 5.

Restaurants all over the state, as well as congregation members who brought their favorite regional Thai specialties, provided the food.

For the Thai food lover, the event was a great way to sample a wide variety of dishes at an affordable price. In past years, you had to purchase coupons and then exchange them at the booths for food. But this year, to make it easier for visitors, organizers thought it was better to place donation boxes at each food table and ask visitors to make voluntary contributions.

— Vic

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A volunteer serves desserts to a visitor at the Thai Bite at Wat Buddha Oregon in Turner on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011.
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A couple sample noodles covered with a fish curry sauce, an eastern Thai delicacy at the Thai Bite at Wat Buddha Oregon on Sept. 25, 2011.
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Some of the food at the Thai Bite was served in booths dispersed underneath the forest canopy at Wat Buddha Oregon. Sept. 25, 2011.
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The dessert line at the Thai Bite at Wat Buddha Oregon on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011.
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Festivalgoers sample the variety of Thai food in the serving line at the Thai Bite at Wat Buddha Oregon on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011.
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One of the congregants of Wat Buddha Oregan and a volunteer at the Thai Bite, brings a tray loaded with Som Tum, or papaya salad, to the serving line. Sept. 25, 2011.
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Visitors meander through the food serving line, deciding what to sample from the variety of Thai food available at the Thai Bite at Wat Buddha Oregon on Sept. 25. 2011.

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Tags: Featured

Category: Event, Thai

About the Author (Author Profile)

Victor Panichkul is a journalist and writer by training; a cook, wine lover and photographer by passion; and a lover of the outdoors since moving to Oregon more than 10 years ago. He is a native of Bangkok, Thailand.

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