Travelers always crave the authentic flavor when they visit new places and this can be a good thing.
Not when you are traveling to Thailand.
According to doctors, Koi pla, a dish of raw fish, ground with spices and lime, which is a favorite for many tourists is also a favorite for parasites! And these parasites are responsible for a deadly liver cancer.
A popular dish in the country’s rural northeast, ie, Isaan, the food is tasty, cheap, quick and somewhat spicy.
But this region, which has the lowest number of visitors as well, has the highest reported cases of cholangiocarcinoma (GCC) bile duct cancer in the world.
One of the major contributors to this unwanted fame is a flatworm parasite native to the Mekong region and found in freshwater fish. It kills 20,000 Thais each year.
Once eate, they embed themselves undetected in the bile ducts for years and cause inflammation that triggers the deadly disease says WHO.
But changing eating habits is not an easy task in a region where love for Isaan’s famed chilean cuisine is deep.
Many villagers are surprised to hear that a beloved dish handed down for generations is a danger rather than a comfort.
Others are married to the convenience of a cheap lunch that they can whip using fish caught in the ponds that border their paddy fields.
Since learning the cancer relationship many farmers have begun frying the mixture to kill the parasite – a method doctors recommend.
However, not everyone is so easily influenced with many villagers complaining that cooking the dish gives it a bitter taste. Others simply forget the dangers and say that their destiny has already been fixed – a common belief in the Buddhist nation where karma can dictate decisions.
