Plant-based Thai food tours NSW

“My message on plant-based Thai food is simple – if you can, try to incorporate more vegetables in your weekly routine, because it will change your life.”

Thomas Thong and his wife run a food stall serving contemporary, plant-based Thai food. The stall travels throughout Australia’s New South Wales regularly.

Thong’s parents lived in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot in the late 1970s. His parents fled their home country when his mother was pregnant with him, ending up in a refugee camp in Thailand where Thong was born.

The family didn’t stay in Thailand for very long, heading for Australia when Thong was about two years old in 1989.

Thong said…

“I grew up in Australia and life continued as usual. After I left school, I moved to Western Australia to learn how to cook Thai food from my uncle and his friend who both had Thai restaurants. I remember how I just fell in love with Thai cuisine and experienced such a strong connection to it.

“I stayed in WA for two years and later returned to Sydney, and have continued to cook Thai food ever since.”

When Thong’s grandmother became sick he returned to Sydney. She had arthritis, dementia, type II diabetes and was overweight. He could see that when she ate bad food from time-to-time she would suffer health-wise.

Thong said…

“I wanted her to maintain a quality of life. To me, it doesn’t matter how long your life is, it’s all about living life as well as you possibly can.”

“So I used to blend up a lot of fruits and vegetables and give her soup and fresh juices. Over time, to our surprise, by following a plant-based diet, she regained some of her health and lost weight.

“Around the same time, I faced my own health challenges. I was overweight at around 100 kilos and had chronic fatigue and eczema. I increased the amount of plant-based foods in my diet and did several juice fasts. Eventually, my weight came down and my eczema vanished.”

This massive change in his health led to a fully plant-based around five years ago. Two years later, Thong and his wife started a food stall serving contemporary, plant-based Thai food with influences from South East Asia.

The Thong’s message is that vegetarian and vegan food doesn’t need to be boring or lack a sense of culture. Thai plant-based meals taste just as good as traditional Thai dishes using animal products.

The stall sells a lot of soy-based chicken. The menu includes vegan popcorn chicken and plant-based satay chicken skewers, choo chee chicken, sweet and sour chicken, BBQ chicken, and sweet potato and yam spring rolls.

Thong said…

“The idea of the stall is to encourage people to at least think about having a plant-based meal once a week to boost the number of nutrients in their diet but to also have a meal – like the Thai food we serve – that tastes really good.

“You also don’t have to turn to veganism to eat more vegetables: you can just incorporate a meat-free day into your lifestyle.

“But whatever you do, my message is simple – if you can, try to incorporate more vegetables in your life as part of your weekly routine, because it will change your life.”