Craig Fear - The Thai Soup Secret: Transform Your Health with Thailands #1 Superfood

The Thai Soup Secret

Transform Your Health with Thailands Number One Superfood

Forty Healing Recipes for Medicinal Broths, Restorative Congees, and Nourishing SoupsAll Gluten- and Dairy-Free!

Craig Fear, NTP

Copyright 2017 Craig Fear

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre reading this book and didnt purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Disclaimer

The information in this book is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of a licensed physician. I am not a medical doctor, and any advice I give is based on my own experience. As such, you should always seek the advice of your own healthcare professionals before acting on anything I publish or recommend. By reading this book, you agree that my company and I are not responsible for your health or the health of your dependents. Any statements or claims about the possible health benefits conferred by any foods have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are therefore not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Contents

Introduction

How I Came to Write This Book

Life can be delightfully serendipitous sometimes. I never wouldve thought that my first trip to Thailand seventeen years ago would lead to a book on Thai soups. Food was not the intention of my trip. But its hard not to fall in love with Thai food when youre in Thailand. Especially the soups. Because, unlike in America, soups are an everyday part of Thai cuisineincluding breakfast. Theyre such an integral part of the fabric of life that its hard to miss them. You see them on the streets, in peoples homes, markets, cafes, restaurants, and even the Buddhist monasteries.

During that first trip, I didnt know or even care about the health benefits of Thai soups. All I knew was that they tasted amazing. It wasnt until years later, when I became a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, that I learned about the healing power of real broths and soups. I looked back on my travels and all the incredible traditional soups I had with a newfound understanding. And so, when I returned to Thailand years later, I was ready. Everywhere I went, I ate as many different types of soups as I could, observed how they were made, photographed them, asked questions, took notes, and even signed up for cooking classes.

Who This Book Can Help

Ive written this book with two types of people in mind. First and foremost, Ive written this book for my people. I started realizing that there was this tremendous untapped potential of Thai soups to help my people. Because my people need a lot of help. Who are my people?

My people live in the suburbs and cities of America. This is where Im from (Long Island, to be exact). My people are crazy busy these days. Theyre mothers and fathers, students, single folks, husbands and wives, and they have jobs, kids, mortgages, school loans, and car payments. And they dont have a lot of time to cook. Even worse, many dont know how to cook. The craziness of modern life has cut the cord of connection to our cooking traditions. Most of my people, including me, have grown up on sugary breakfast cereal, bologna sandwiches, frozen pizza, fast food, and all manner of processed junk food. As a result, millions are struggling with chronic health conditions and looking for answers. The good news is that more and more of my people are waking up and realizing how toxic our food system has become. More are becoming interested in learning not just how to cook but how to cook healthy, nutrient-dense food, the way our grandmothers and great-grandmothers used to.

In a strange way, Thai soups can offer a lot of help to my people.

Thai Soups Are Healthy and Healing

Probably the biggest reason Thai soups can help my people is that they are so very healthy and healing to the body. All of the recipes in this book are gluten- and dairy-free with all sorts of anti-inflammatory herbs, spices, and seasonings. In the coming chapters, Ill explain a little more about these foods incredible health benefits. Of course, you wouldnt realize that Thai food can be nutritious from eating in most American Thai restaurantsthese establishments may give you the impression that all Thai people eat is pad thai, greasy fried rice, and overly sweet and heavy coconut curries.

This may be shocking to hear, but there are no coconut curries in this book! Now, I love a good coconut curry as much as anyone, but please understand that theyre really not soups. Theyre more of a rich, coconut milkbased stew. Furthermore, most coconut curries are made with commercial curry pastes that are full of chemicals, preservatives, and artificial flavorings that lack the wonderful aromas and flavors of a freshly made curry paste. In this book, fresh ingredientswith their healing properties intactwill be emphasized. And while you could certainly learn to make your own curry paste, its a very complicated, time-consuming process. Id wager that 99 percent of my people dont want to spend an hour in their kitchen pounding a bunch of spices into a paste with a mortar and pestle.

Thai Soups Are Broth-Based

Unlike coconut curries, the recipes here are mostly broth-based, as broths are an essential foundation of any healthy soup recipe, be it from Thailand or another country. Theyre also a key part of the health protocols I utilize with clients, especially those with digestive-health issues. Youll learn about the health benefits of bone broths shortly, and dont worrytheyre ridiculously easy to make.

Thai Soups Are Simple to Make

A lot of Thai cuisine can be very time-consuming with many in-depth, highly refined, and specific techniques. Like making a curry paste. Or carving vegetables into flower shapes. (Seriously, thats a big thing in Thailand). But broth-based Thai soups are perhaps one of the simpler aspects of Thai cuisine, and Ive purposefully chosen recipes that are not overly complicated. Some may involve a little more time than others, but theres nothing here that any home cook couldnt easily make.

Not All Thai Soups Are Spicy

Generally speaking, my people dont love hot and spicy food. But the fact is, contrary to popular belief, not all Thai food is spicy, including the soups. In fact, there are even native Thai people who dont like spicy foods. Many Thai soups are completely devoid of the intense heat of chiles. Of course, some do contain them. But heres the key: Thai soups are always customizable to each individuals tastes. If you dont like hot and spicy, its not a problem. If you do like spicy, its also not a problem. The recipes in this book that utilize chiles can be altered to your personal liking either by including more chiles, fewer chiles, or no chiles at all.

My Recipes Do Not Call For Exotic, Difficult-to-Find Ingredients

Thanks to the popularity of Thai cuisine in America, all of the ingredients in this book are relatively easy to source and access. There are no exotic ingredients; there is nothing that might shock you. I know my people can be squeamish with things like organ meats, so I dont include them. Nor are there any recipes that my people may find bizarre, like snakehead fish soup (though it is tasty) or one of my favorite Thai soups, boat noodles, which includes beef or pork blood. For better or worse, the overwhelming majority of my people are just not going to use animal blood. (I can just imagine someone going to their local supermarket and asking some teenage clerk what aisle the beef blood is in. If you want a good laugh, give it a try.)