(Updated with additional photos.) Khanom foy thong is prepared much like street-fair funnel cakes and South Asian jalebi, but with more-delicate results.
"Khanom" is an all-purpose Thai word for "sweets"; "foy thong" are "golden strands." They're made not from piped batter but from a stream of egg yolk that's funneled into bubbling-hot syrup. (Sometimes the syrup is flavored; in this case probably not.) The individual strands must be so fine, explained the confectioner, that the egg yolk membranes are punctured and their contents squeezed out; the membranes themselves, which would clog the funnel, are discarded.
Foy thong cook quickly. Once the threads have firmed up, the skein is lifted free and drained. I sampled one, as well a batch that had been prepared in advance, and had cooled. The latter was perfectly nice — you might spot similar batches of foy thong, on occasion, at Thai shops and restaurants — but no match for warm and fresh.
For more photos from multiple years of this event, see the EIT page on Facebook.
Experience Thailand
Union Square Park, Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/events/1499193977039845
(The 2015 event was held on September 13)
