Banana blossom salad
This was an interesting salad that tasted better than I expected. Banana blossoms are used in quite a few cuisines. I find that they aren’t used all that often in Thailand. Only in a few dishes and as an accompinament (commonly with pad thai). It is very, very bitter. This brings up an interesting point about bitterness in foods. I have never enjoyed anything with even a slightly bitter taste. I think most Westerners are like this. Thais (and possibly other Asians) that I know will occasionally actively seek out foods for their bitter taste. I find it very weird, but I suppose that’s just from being brought up in a totally different food culture.
Anyway, when served with pad thai, the banana blossom is raw.  Here is a picture of a raw one, although a few layers would have to be peeled off before it was usable: wikipedia. In the dish shown here, yam hua bplii [ยำหัวปลี], the blossom has been cooked and seasoned extensively.  As a result it has lost a lot of it’s bitterness (not all, though) and ends up being much more enjoyable.
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