''Koi'' ( lo, ກ້ອຍ; th, ก้อย, ) is a "salad" dish of the

Lao people The Lao people are a Tai ethnic group native to Southeast Asia, who speak the eponymous language of the Kra–Dai languages. They are the majority ethnic group of Laos, making up 53.2% of the total population. The majority of Lao people adhere ...

living in modern-day Laos and

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan ( Isan/ th, อีสาน, ; lo, ອີສານ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pali ''īsānna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 prov ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, consisting of

raw meat Raw meat generally refers to any type of uncooked muscle tissue of an animal used for food. In the meat production industry, the term ‘meat’ refers specifically to mammalian flesh, while the words ‘poultry’ and ‘seafood’ are used to ...

denatured by acidity, usually from

lime juice A lime (from French ''lime'', from Arabic ''līma'', from Persian ''līmū'', "lemon") is a citrus fruit, which is typically round, green in color, in diameter, and contains acidic juice vesicles. There are several species of citrus trees ...

. Common varieties include ''koi kung'' ( th, ก้อยกุ้ง), with shrimp as the main ingredient, and ''koi paa'' ( lo, ກ້ອຍປາ)/''koi pla'' ( th, ก้อยปลา), which consists of minced or finely chopped raw fish in spicy salad dressing. Koi can be a source of

parasitic disease A parasitic disease, also known as parasitosis, is an infectious disease caused by parasites. Parasites are organisms which derive sustenance from its host while causing it harm. The study of parasites and parasitic diseases is known as parasitolo ...

s. Koi made with raw fish is a popular dish in Laos and Isaan and a common source of infection with the Southeast Asian

liver fluke Liver fluke is a collective name of a polyphyletic group of parasitic trematodes under the phylum Platyhelminthes. They are principally parasites of the liver of various mammals, including humans. Capable of moving along the blood circulation, t ...

Opisthorchis viverrini ''Opisthorchis viverrini'', common name Southeast Asian liver fluke, is a food-borne trematode parasite from the family Opisthorchiidae that infects the bile duct. People are infected after eating raw or undercooked fish. Infection with the par ...

''. Koi pla eaten in north-east

is made from raw fish, live

red ant Fire ants are several species of ants in the genus ''Solenopsis'', which includes over 200 species. ''Solenopsis'' are stinging ants, and most of their common names reflect this, for example, ginger ants and tropical fire ants. Many of the na ...

s, herbs and lime juice. Koi pla is eaten soon after it is prepared, without a long period of soaking in acid juice. It is believed to be a cause of cholangiocarcinoma via liver fluke transmission. ''Koi hoi'' is a dish containing raw

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...

meat that has been associated with human infection with parasitic flatworms or liver flukes that infect the snail. Liver fluke infection is the cause of bile duct cancer, the infection may also account for more than 50 percent of cancers diagnosed in men in this region, compared to just 10 percent globally. Liver infection is also caused by the rat

lungworm Lungworms are parasitic nematode worms of the order Strongylida that infest the lungs of vertebrates. The name is used for a variety of different groups of nematodes, some of which also have other common names; what they have in common is that t ...

Angiostrongylus cantonensis ''Angiostrongylus cantonensis'' is a parasitic nematode (roundworm) that causes angiostrongyliasis, the most common cause of eosinophilic meningitis in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin. The nematode commonly resides in the pulmonary arteries ...

''.

References

External links

Luang Prabang Style Koi Fish Salad Recipe

Vientiane Style Koi Fish Salad Recipe
Thai cuisine Lao cuisine Raw fish salads Potentially dangerous food {{thai-cuisine-stub

See also

References

External links