This Sunday is World Cancer Day, an international day created to raise awareness about cancer and promote education regarding the prevention, detection, and treatment of this disease. It is also a day when people around the world come together to show support for those affected by cancer and to celebrate progress in the fight against this disease.
It is a popular fish dish with the inhabitants of the Isaan: Koi Pla, a dish based on raw fish with herbs and lime. The fish is often infected with a parasite that can cause a deadly form of liver cancer. About 20.000 Thais die from the disease each year.
Raw fish in Isan increases risk of liver cancer
Whatever Isan may have for beautiful views and impressive monuments, there is a terrible danger lurking: liver cancer! Traditionally, the population there is accustomed (and addicted) to eating raw freshwater fish in the Koy Pla, the fish salad. And that's the culprit.
Raw fish in Thailand: dangerous!
Recently, the Algemeen Dagblad once again reported on the annual National Herring Test. Always fun to read and it makes my mouth water. If I had to name something that I miss here in Thailand from the Netherlands, it is a delicious, fat new herring, fresh from the knife. Foreign guests, whom I used to want to treat to a herring in Amsterdam, for example, often turned their noses up at eating this …
