Phuket, a small province in Southern Thailand, is the largest island in Thailand.  It has various ethnic groups including Thais, Chinese, Malays, and other indigenous peoples with diverse cultures.  It is not surprising that a wide variety of food and eating cultures can be found.  This is due to the mix of local and Chinese cultures in the area.  Thus, there are many types of food with various tastes available in Phuket and this is resulted from a perfect combination of various ethnic communities.  Some of the dishes might taste rather spicy.  However, they can be greasy, and one can smell Chinese spices in the dishes.  We are going to introduce some of the local specialities that you should not miss when visiting Phuket to you.  Please come and enjoy them with us.
            Aunty Chang’s Fried Rice Noodles are one of the popular local specialities.  The noodles are fried in soy sauce.  Fried shallots and garlic chives are added.  This dished is served with hot bone broth.  The special thing about the dish is the chewy noodles that are perfect with the broth and crispy fried shallots, which are freshly-prepared.  The first person who devised the recipe was Aunty Chang whose name was given to the dish by the local people.

Hokkien Mee

is a dish of the local Chinese.  The recipe has been passed from generation to generation.  The noodles is yellow in color and they are bigger than normal yellow noodles, making them similar to Japanese Soba noodles.  The noodles are fried in soy sauce with vegetables, pork bog, choy, and eggs, and some but not too much water is added.  Some restaurants serve the dish with lettuce, shallots, and garlic chives.

It can be said that those who visit Phuket but miss the dish is like those who have never been to Phuket.

O-eo is a jelly-like dessert which is not made from jelly powder.  The main ingredients of O-eo jelly are ripe bananas and O-eo seeds.  Bananas are boiled and the water is mixed with the think liquid formed from O-eo seeds.  Then, it is mixed with jia kor (Chinese herbs), the important ingredient for Douhua and tofu (bean curd), to the jelly forms.  The dessert has the ability to cure hot stoke in our body, and it can be found only in Thailand.  You should not miss the dessert for any reason.

                                                                                                   

Lor Bak is a snack.  Pork and pork organs are mixed in soy sauce, which are then deep-fried.  It is usually served with a special sweet and sour sauce made with tamarind mixing with sugar and chili powder.  Lor Bak is perfect with deep-fried tofu and deep-fried pork roll (made with pork and chinese herbs and rolled in tofu skin).

pan-fried oyster omelette (O-tao) are a Penang Hokkien dish similar to the normal kind of oyster omelette except from the starch, which is softer, and the smaller size of  oysters used.  Also, there is a use of small boiled taro cubes.  Eggs are fried together in the oyster omelette.  Sometimes the dish is called Hokkien oyster omelette

A-Pong is a snack served with tea or coffee in the morning or afternoon which can keeps your hanger pangs at bay.  The snack is made with the mixture of flour, egg yolk, brown sugar, coconut milk, water and yeast.  The mixture is than poured flat onto a small pan.  The pan is covered for a few minutes until it turns yellow like a wafer.  The wafer is then taken off the pan and is rolled.  The outer layer of the wafer is crispy, while the inner layer is still soft, making it unique.  Visitors to Phuket should not miss this special snack.

There are many local specialities which have not yet mentioned.  You should come and try them when visiting Phuket.  The specialities from various ethnic communities are tasty and inexpensive.  Apart from going to the place that we are familiar with, we should also consider trying something new.  By doing this, you will find that there are new and wonderful things around you.  For example, by consuming local freshly-prepared food, you actually can reduce carbon footprint resulting from the transportation or the import of products.  You might also have a conversation with local people and learn dialects that you might have not heard of before, which will make your trip a memorable one.  Moreover, you can certainly get something more than just a simple journey.