Food, one of life's necessities

My motto is, that I would like try to eat everything which creeps, crawls and swims. It's true, I have tried a wide variety of food over the years. Here is my presentation of some typical (and untypical) dishes from the Philippines and Thailand. Let your taste buds!

Here I take the chili pepper eating to a new level than before...

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BC. It is also chili peppers which make the thai food so special and delicious. The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. This type of chili peppers, the thai chili pepper or the bird's eye chili is small, but is quite hot and spicy. It measures around 100,000–225,000 Scoville units, which is at the lower half of the range for the hotter habanero chili but still many times more spicy than a jalapeño.

Note! Click on images to see slideshow and captions!

Sometimes you need something meaty, why not slow-cooked baby back pork ribs basted in Tennessee BBQ sauce, then fire-grilled till they’re fall-off-the-bone tender. So delicious!

This is the place, Highlands Prime Steakhouse where you can eat the mouth watering back ribs. It's situated at the Mall of Asia in Manila

And then you go for some good Earl Grey tea, best there is on Starbucks in Manila. In order to top up the sugar in the right level you simply add a little cookie.

Sometimes there are fillings of a pizza which go beyond my fantasy...

This is a fine example of ecological everything, from Bohol Bee Farm in the Philippines. They grow and produce most of the commodities themselves. Pasta with seafood and salad with flowers, can it be better?

The Buzz cafe by Bohol Bee farm in Bohol, Philippines.

This is two specialities from the Bicol region in the Philippines. To the left it's an Adoboong Puso and to the right it's a Tinomok. Both dishes are spicy and the Tinomok is made with coconut milk, typical for the Bicol region.

Adobong Puso, is simply rice mixed with adobo (meat) and then wrapped in banana leaves and formed into a shape of a banana heart. There are chili's included so it's rather spicy.

This is Tinomok, a delicacy of grated coconut meat and chopped native shrimps wrapped in Gabi Leaves and cooked in coconut juice. Mmmm....

Yeah I know, it looks like something the dog has thrown up. But it's a delicacy from the Bicol region in the Philippines. It's a stew made from long chilies, coconut milk, shrimp paste or stockfish, onion, pork, and garlic. Served with rice of course.

Lechon Baboy (roasted pig). A tradition in the Philippines, when people gather for a party, the centerpiece of the feast is the Lechon Baboy. The dish features a whole roasted pig cooked over charcoal. Additionally, it is a national dish of the Philippines.

Pork Sinigang or Sinigang na Baboy is a sour soup native to the Philippines. This particular soup dish uses pork as the main ingredient though beef, shrimp, fish, and even chicken is used. Sinigang is with it's salt and sour taste very delicious. Here it's served in a pumpkin shell!

Pork Adobo. Adobo (Filipino: "marinade," "sauce" or "seasoning") is the name of a popular dish and cooking process in Philippine cuisine that involves meat, seafood, or vegetables marinated in a sauce of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade. It has sometimes been considered as the unofficial national dish of the Philippines.

TGI Friday's gigantic ice cream dessert, found in Mall of Asia, Manila.

Typical Thai breakfast, fried rice with chicken and egg

Raw shrimps with chili and bitter melon.

This is king of all soups, Tom Yum Kung. It is the most famous of all Thai soup recipes. If you want authentic Tom Yum Kung soup (without coconut milk), this is the one! Featuring all four of the famous Thai spices - salty, sour, sweet and spicy. It comes with giant shrimps, lemon grass and lot's of chili!

Oh... this is an ordinary salad at the Pizza Company... shrimp salad.

Sticky rice, fried chicken and papaya salad. So delicious! Green papaya salad is the most popular dish among women in Thailand according to a survey I heard on TV there. It is a Northeastern food that is eaten with sticky rice and other Northeastern dishes such as laab, beef salad and bamboo shoot salad.

Green papaya salad is a spicy salad made from shredded unripe papaya. Locally known in Thailand as Som Tam. This dish was listed at number 46 on World's 50 most delicious foods compiled by CNN Go in 2011! This is papaya salad with sea food.

The dish combines the five main tastes of the local Thai cuisine: sour lime, hot chili, salty, savory fish sauce, and sweetness added by palm sugar. The ingredients are mixed and pounded in a mortar. There are many different recipes of this popular dish. This one is with salty crab.

This is a real Thai classic, chicken with cashew nuts.

The purple mangosteen known simply as mangosteen. In Thailand known as mankut. If you have ever eaten these you probably love them. Inside is a delicious tart white and watery segmented flesh. Don’t eat the seeds. This is my favorite fruit.

Sushi in the Philippines. Tuna, shrimps and salmon. Thick and generous slices of fish.

Sushi in Sweden at Arlanda airport. Hmm sorry to say, not that thick and generous slices of fish.

A real breakfast for a real hungry man!

Assorted delicacies from the Thai market. Shrimps in different sizes, ants and other insects, grilled frogs and small salty fish.

This is what I call a real mango shake!

This was found on a food market in Laos. Probably larvae of bees. Unknown how you prepare it and I didn't taste it so I have no testimonial if it's delicious or not.