Bamboo Sticky Rice: Thailand’s Favorite

The Thai cuisine offers a lot of rice based dishes, but if there is one that goes right to the root level, it has to be bamboo sticky rice. This rice dish is made up of locally grown sticky rice and steamed inside young bamboo shoots in a clay oven. Sometimes it has coconut milk in it or grated coconut and sometimes it has red or black bean, which makes it a very nutritious dish in its own right with a balance of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins.


Be it the countryside or a city street stall, you will find this dish everywhere. And you will find it at all times of the day, which means you can either have it as a snack or like a full meal. As a vegetarian, I used to gorge on these. So if you are a vegetarian and struggling to find healthy vegetarian food, watch out for the hawkers selling hot bamboo sticky rice. A whole bundle might be as low as 10 baht. If you have a drink to go along with it, it will fill up an empty stomach.


Remember to try out this native Thai dish the next time you are in Thailand. It has a subtle and mellow flavor and thus will suit all palates and tastes. It is steamed and thus very safe to eat. Do not miss tasting Thailand’s favorite rice dish!!