I have no idea what I'm eating.

BANGKOK, THAILAND

It's still early and the morning is cool. The sidewalks are not quite as crowded with vendors as they will be later in the day, and many are just starting to set up. A few stands sell coffee laden with sugar and sweetened condensed milk. As we walk, I look into each vat and frying pan, trying to discern what might be in each, but in the end, I just choose what looks most interesting. Strange fruits, little leaf bundles with mysterious fillings, fritters of all kinds, steaming vats of broth, tiny dumplings.  Today I choose tiny cups of what turns out to be coconut cream, cooked in a thin shell of batter. A few pieces of corn, green onion, or shredded taro dot the top of each. Delicious.

I think back to my trip to Guatemala ten years ago, my first time traveling in a land of plentiful street food. But I had naively listened to those who told me it wasn't safe to eat street food. There was one woman in particular whose stand always smelled amazing. Her stand was set up alongside the stairs that led from the central square to the street below where I was staying, and so I passed by it nearly everyday. I have no idea what she was cooking- some sort of spiced meat fried over a tiny fire. I salivate a little just thinking about it.

Since then, street food has become my favorite thing about traveling. I'm still a little picky, making sure things are cooked, limiting raw food, choosing vendors who look busy enough to keep the food fresh. And there are plenty of foods that are just too foreign, or smell questionable, that I just cannot muster the courage to try. There's a little nagging voice in my head when it comes to ice and shared utensils, but it is seldom loud enough to keep me from eating. Much of the time I have no idea what it is I'm putting in my mouth, but I am seldom disappointed. I find that usually anything that smells good when it's cooking, tastes pretty good in my mouth.

Bangkok, of course, is a wonderland for street food. I've only been here a couple days and my sampling has been limited, but I have my eye on the crepes that come out at night, and the tiny taro fritters I saw someone cooking yesterday, and of course I could eat my fill of noodles at any number of places. I'm not much of a meat eater, but the smorgasbord of meat balls, some wrapped up in rice paper pouches, and meat on a stick intrigue me a bit and are likely to make it into my belly at some point.