Thai woman seeks answer after finding set of teeth in som tam dish

A Thai woman reached out to netizens for their opinions after she discovered an unusual bone with a set of teeth in her favourite papaya salad, also known as som tam in Thailand.

On July 5, a Facebook account, เบน ช้ะ, shared a picture of a suspicious bone that she found in her som tam with a caption stating…

“The end of my favourite fermented fish. How many times do I have to vomit to get rid of this som tam? I do not know what is it…”

The picture features a bone that has several teeth but the woman could not figure out which animal the teeth belongs to. She initially thought that it could have come from the fermented fish that the vendor included in the som tam. However, she knows fish do not possess teeth.

The woman revealed to ThaiRath that she bought the fermented fish som tam from her favourite shop. After she almost finished the dish, she noticed an unexpectedly large piece within the dish, initially assuming it to be a fish bone. She casually scooped it up and deposited it into the trash can without giving it much thought.

However, she could not shake the feeling that the bone looked strange. She then checked the trash, picked it up and washed it to reveal a set of teeth. She did not know what it was and decided to seek answers from the online community.

She added that she vomited several times after the shocking discovery and would stop eating som tam for a while because she feared for her health.

In response to her post, numerous Thai netizens chimed in with their theories regarding the bone. Some proposed that it could belong to a large fish, such as a pomfret which is one of the popular edible pomfret found in Thailand.

A Thai doctor, Itawat Areekit, also expressed the same opinion that the teeth belonged to a pomfret and urged the woman not to be scared as the pomfret is delicious and included in many Thai dishes.