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Over the past few days, Samak has been frequently seen with a grim face while appearing at press conferences to respond to the rising political temperature. He ear-bashed his opponents. The tough-minded Samak is a straightforward person and when he's not happy, he would be the last person on earth that you would want to be around.

But yesterday when Samak wandered around the market, he abandoned his grumpy-old-man image. Samak chatted with the vendors in the market like a friendly uncle. Samak didn't merely pick up what he wanted and leave, but he spent time talking about the quality of various ingredients with the vendors. He took his time walking around the market, apparently in an effort to cool off. And of course, the vendors are obviously fond of this regular customer, who always comes back to the market regardless of what is happening in his life.

When former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra won the election, he chose to take a ride in his luxury car, and sip a Starbucks coffee in an upscale department store with his family to show off his affluent lifestyle. (Come on, the press always follows politicians around on this big day.) But Samak chose to go to the MOF market.

Samak's love for food is real and everyone knows that. In spite of the controversy surrounding his TV cooking programme, even his political opponents agree that the show was very entertaining and educational because Samak often had several anecdotes about Thai food to amuse the audience.

Samak's passion for food also reflects in his skill as a cook. During his first week as prime minister, he treated reporters gathered at his house to a Thai curry, and anyone who has ever sampled his curry always gives it a big thumbs up.

Samak loves to shop at the wet markets by himself, even though he could have others do his shopping for him. And Samak's habit of going to the market is not a political stunt. Other wealthy politicians may try to hit the fresh market to create an image of themselves as down-to-earth people. But there is no such artifice when Samak does it. Food and cooking are his form of therapy. And he loves to go to the fresh market whenever the occasion arises. For instance, a stop at a fresh market was included on his itinerary for his trip to Laos as well.

Samak chose to chill out after his intense TV show by going to the MOF market again yesterday. There were some people trying to give him flowers and garlands to give him moral support at the market. But Samak politely declined to accept some of these. He told them he didn't want to make a scene there.

He told well-wishers to watch the House debate live on TV instead. And yes, when we turned on the TV to see him debate yesterday afternoon, we were wondering if this was the same friendly uncle we had just seen at the market.