Around October time, the Chak Phra Festival is held in Thailand which celebrates a Buddhist holiday and signals the end of the three month rains retreat for monks. As with any Thai festival food plays an important part. Enjoy our photographs from the southern island of Koh Pha-Ngan.

Penang’s famous Curry Mee is a light coconut soup poured over rice and egg noodles. This is the final photograph from our Malaysian food series brought to you by our roving food reporter Kaitlyn Moore. Kaitlyn finishes her tour in the foodies favorite island of Penang in Malaysia – Thailand’s Southernmost neighbor.

Malaysia’s char kway teow, fried rice noodles with seafood and egg, is similar to Thailand’s Pad See Ew. Join Kaitlyn as she enjoys the food and the beaches on the Malaysian island of Penang.

This Penang Hokkien Mee – prawn noodle soup – is a street hawker favorite, made of a seafood broth and topped with slivers of pork and crispy fried onions. The latest photo from Kaitlyn Moore as she explores the delicious street food available on the tropical island of Penang, Malaysia.

Roti canai is Malaysia’s version of the flat Indian bread roti, which is also a popular snack in Thailand. Teh tarik, or pulled tea, is a traditional accompaniment. This is a combination you’ll find hard not to fall in love with.

Malaysian-style Hainanese chicken and rice is a popular lunch-time favorite and people will queue round the block at busy times. It is very similar to the equivalent Thai dish of khao man gai but differs in one important way…

A dish of rich Malaysian chicken stew, with cinnamon and star anise, from a vendor in Kuala Lumpur. The first photo in our Malaysian Food Odyssey series where our roving reporter Kaitlyn Moore leaves Thailand and heads south of the border to discover the delights of Malaysian cuisine.

People often ask us what a typical breakfast in Thailand looks like. Thai people don’t stick to particular breakfast foods, but there are a few dishes common to morning markets, like rice porridge and fried doughnuts.

Thailand’s second New Year celebration, the Chinese Lunar New Year, takes place for three days in February. Thais offer food and gifts to their ancestors and to the Gods, and gather with their loved ones over huge feasts. Chinese traditions like the lion dance have a place in Thai cities, too.

Part 2 of Street Food Inspired Appetizers covers Grilled Shrimp on Lemongrass Skewers and Miang Kam and adapts the recipes from Supatra Jonhnson’s excellent cookbook ‘Crying Tiger: Thai Recipes from the Heart’.