So far our food ratings, in terms of what might cause us harm in one form or another, have shaped up in what we are calling the FEARED scale, as in what to be feared and how feared do we need to be before we eat.

1.  Most dangerous:  SID  or better known as Serious Intestinal Destruction.

This can be brought on by many things including tap water, ice and all sorts of scary food that is not hot or of questionable origins.  A good example of this is the the scariest food we ever saw on the night train from Phan Thiet to Danang.  No, we did not tempt fate and stuck to our baguettes and fully pastuerized cheese products.

Scary food! Note we were in the 10th car on this train so this stuff was not in anyway hot.

2.  Could be dangerous but we still might eat it because it looks yummy:  MAID, Mildly Annoying Intestinal Distress.

This is more or less a fact of life and can be brought on simply by looking at the buffet at your hotel the wrong way.  Good examples of this are the various street vendors who serve up food that is hot and tasty but you might question the lack of hygiene.  The picture below is a good example of a great market stall that served up a mean grilled porkchop in a soy/teriyaki type marinade.  We ate two.  It was worth the risk!

It is hot, but is it clean?! Who cares it smelled amazing!

3.  Will more then likely make us sick but we should eat it because we don’t want to insult the very nice people that made it for us: PAID, Politley Annoying Instetinal Distress.

The best example of this happened just two nights ago.  We went to a crowded street market here in Hoi An, Vietnam.  The very nice lady who cooked for us assured us of making her best dishes for us so we let her make more or less whatever she wished.  We got a pancake style egg dish stuffed with bean sprouts and spicy beef, very tasty, but it came with fresh greens and rice paper to wrap it all up in.  The fresh greens looked less then fresh and we know not to trust just exactly how and in what they may have been washed.  But, with the chef and waitress eagerly showing us how to stuff our rice paper full of greens (“No, more salad, more salad!”) we dove in wrapping up greens and pancake and then dipping it in a deceivingly spicy, fishy, delicious sauce.  Did I mention the chefs nails where less the clean (try black around edges) leading us to seriously question our judgment and worry about getting a full nights sleep?   Happily we both seem fine and the food was fantastic.

4.  Last but not least is the dreaded POO Finger.  No fancy acronym here just plain and simple bacteria.  The worst thing about the Poo finger is that it is everywhere and you never know when it will point at YOU!  It is like culinary Russian roulette, it knows no bounderies and obeys no rules.  It is hard to pin down an example of the poo finger but rest assured it will find you eventually and when it does, it is best not to blame any one dish, restaurant or cook but to accept it as the price paid for having so many amazing meals, like the one below!

Simple fresh, amazing. "Dry" noodles with shrimp, eggs and hot chilli paste/sauce/stuff, not sure what to call it but it was spicy!