subject: The Infamous Tako From Thailand [print this page] No, it's not tacos from Mexico and it's not octopus in Japanese. It's delicious and refreshing tako from Thailand, and I've never had anything else quite like it. It starts out as a simple enough concept: tapioca with coconut milk, but tako is much more than the sum of its parts.
After having been to Thailand a number of times and becoming a tako aficionado; I found myself settled into Hawaii for a couple of years. We used to always eat at the Vietnamese shops, which had great coffee and stew. I once saw tapioca and coconut milk at a delicatessen and became excited, thinking I had found tako. But I hadn't; it was a sticky, gloppy mess, a pudding in other words. And outside Thailand I haven't seen it since- not even in Thai restaurants.
The difference with tako is, for one, the coconut milk is thin and chilled with crushed ice. It is meant to be sipped on while eating the various and colorful and tasty morsels that go into tako. Tapioca in tako is molded into decorative shapes and brightly colored, green, red, and yellow. Bits of sticky rice are thrown in, as well as a few beans and pieces of water chestnuts. Other bits of tasty items, even corn, are added to make a delicious and festive medley. Tako is truly a delicate magic bowl of childlike colors and shapes and tasty morsels. When done, the leftover coconut milk has also taken on the flavor of all the ingredients, and is delicious.
For a long time we heard the women outside our guest house chanting, Tako, tako, standing in front of bags of odd bits of food. What is this tako? we thought. We're glad we tried it!
