№ 558. Trang

Spencer Gurley

It was almost midnight in the southern Thai city of Trang, and I was staring into an oven the size of a tuk-tuk. Flames and smoke were shooting out of the top, and men were carefully lowering two full-grown, slaughtered pigs into the fiery abyss. An hour later, they would be pulled out, smoking, crimson, crispy and fragrant. When cool enough to handle, the pigs would be portioned, chopped up and displayed for sale at Trang’s central morning market by about by 04:00.

There aren’t many places in the world where people are willing to accommodate the logistics required to roast entire full-grown pigs every day. But there also aren’t many places in the world that are as serious about breakfast as Trang. Even in an utterly food-obsessed country like Thailand, the city’s enthusiasm for the first meal of the day can seem almost pathological.