LOL, Mrs TK and the kids loooove it! But maybe not after reading the article!

There are a couple of varieties - pla ra pla chawn, and pla ra pla gradee, Mrs TK boosted my elementary reading skills back in 1988 when I had cause to visit Sydney from NZ, and had a shopping trip.....all became complicated when I found pla ra pla daek - but pla daek appears to be an Isaan dialect variation meaning the same as pla ra -

Shopkeeper was impressed, but the NZ agriculture team at the airport on return required quite some convincing it was 'OK' to import into NZ....

pla som is indeed like a fishy naam - in terms of the 'fermentation' at least; heck we even have some made by a friend from NZ herrings, parasite free as well! See: http://thaifoodandtravel.com/blog/the-best-sour-fish/

Cheers, TK