This here is an image of ยำแยหนม [yam naem] which literally translates to sausage salad. That sounds pretty innocent, but it actually doesn’t contain sausage – at least not in the western sense.  The main ingredient is pig skin (boiled, I believe).  Chewy, thick, julienned, tasteless pig skin.  The saving grace is the other main ingredient, ข้าวทอด [khao tawt], is just a seasoned, deep fried ball of rice which is broken up and mixed in.

All in all, it tastes pretty good if you can avoid the strips of skin. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of it.  Most of those things that look like onions in the image are actually not onions. I have ordered this before without the pig skin. Of course the vendor looks at me like I’m some sort of madman, doing something akin to ordering a hamburger without the burger.  Oh well, at least that way I’ll eat it all.

Pig skin salad. Yum!