THAILAND — A Thai woman reached out to netizens for their opinions after she discovered an unusual bone with a set of teeth in her favourite papaya salad, also known as som tam in Thailand.
On Monday (5 Jul), a Facebook account, เบน ช้ะ (translated to Ben Cha), shared a picture of a suspicious bone that she found in her som tam with a caption stating…
“The end of my favourite fermented fish. How many times do I have to vomit to get rid of this som tam? I do not know what is it…”
The picture features a bone that has several teeth but the woman could not figure out which animal the teeth belongs to.
She initially thought that it could have come from the fermented fish that the vendor included in the som tam. However, she knows fish do not possess teeth.
The post was shared 2,200 times on Facebook and received much attention across the region.
Thai woman had second thought on the “fish bone”
The woman told ThaiRath that she bought the fermented fish som tam from her favourite shop.
After she almost finished the dish, she noticed an unexpectedly large piece within the dish, initially assuming it to be a fish bone. She casually scooped it up and deposited it into the trash can without giving it much thought.
However, she could not shake the feeling that the bone looked strange. She then checked the trash, picked it up and washed it to reveal a set of teeth. She did not know what it was and decided to seek answers from the online community.
She added that she vomited several times after the shocking discovery and would stop eating som tam for a while because she feared for her health.
Netizens chipped in with possible scenerios
In response to her post, numerous Thai netizens chimed in with their theories regarding the bone. Some proposed that it could belong to a large fish, such as a pomfret which is one of the popular edible pomfret found in Thailand.
A netizen shared a screengrab of the suspected fish species named Pacu in the post’s comment section.
The piranha-like pacu, a horror normally found in South America, has a set of teeth that resembles the one found in the dish.
Pacu fish is known to bite human testicles and is widely known as a testicle-eating fish.
The comment with Pacu Fish has 1,000 likes.
Netizen Lolicious speculated, “People are suggesting it’s a murder case. Somtam does use fermented fish paste. Perhaps someone was murdered and their body parts were ground up and mixed with the fish to ferment. It’s extremely gruesome.”
Another netizen, Irenicus91, suggested it could be a set of teeth from a deceased human body, while a different comment hoped, “Pray that it is a salmon head.”
Netizen mansae humorously speculated it was a fried denture, while another suggested the teeth resembled pig teeth.
Facebook user หนุง’ง หนิง’ง expressed fear and disgust, commenting, “What? I don’t dare to zoom in. I’m going to throw up.”
In response to a comment on her Facebook post, the Thai woman who found the teeth in her food explained, “I bought papaya salad and found this. I cleaned it to see what it was. When I was done washing it, I immediately threw up.”
Another netizen advised, “Go to the store where you bought it and ask what it is. Have you eaten it? I will not eat fermented fish anywhere other than Baan Yai Maew (the name of a restaurant in Bangkok). Because I’m afraid things like this will happen.”
The Thai woman confirmed in response to a comment that she had vomited everything from her stomach, writing, “I bought papaya salad at my regular restaurant. I don’t know what I found today. I can’t see what it is. I’m shocked.”
