Thai Food

In recent years, Thai food has become very popular, not only in Asia but also worldwide. Most people would think that Thai cooking has a strong Chinese influence but, in truth, Thailand has been growing and cultivating rice for nearly 1,000 years longer than it's neighbour!

The main reason Chinese food is more popular is purely down to the fact that the population of China is so large that there are more chefs and cooks exported to "spread the word!"

The growing reputation of Thai cuisine is largely due to the fact that western people today are more health-conscious and understand the benefits of healthy, nutritious & traditional eating.

The herbs and spices used have medicinal properties as well as their unique flavour.

What gives Thai food its distinctive character is a kind of harmony in its tastes. You have soups that look plain in colour but the taste combination is sour, salty, hot and aromatic. The use of peanuts and coconut in curries is very characteristically Thai as well.

Distinct herbs such as lemongrass, kaffir lime, both the leaf and the fruit, galangal, one in the ginger family, and mix them with the pungent sourness of fresh lime or the pleasurable sweetness of palm sugar. Herbs used in Thai food have a distinctly different aroma from western ones.

Food is a very important aspect of Thai culture. To appreciate Thai food you have to understand how the locals eat.

The key to a Thai dinner is a communal eating. Many dishes are served for all to share and everyone at the table takes the food from these dishes to eat with rice.

Each person at the table does not get his or her own plate of fried fish or spicy pork.

Everyone will get a plate of rice and share all the dishes served at the table. It makes the meal more enjoyable because you can sample as many dishes as you like and also creates the opportunity for social interraction.

Isaan sausage (sai-gok Isaan) is another favorite dish throughout the country. The stuffing is left to ferment with a slightly sour taste. Other mouth-watering plates include 'lahp' (ground spiced meat), 'jaew', (chili dip), 'sup normai', (spicy bamboo shoot salad), and 'gai yang', (barbecued chicken).

Curries with non-coconut milk are also popular in Issan. Northeastern cuisine is known around the country as being particularly fiery and hot.

North
Traditionally, local people of the north sit on straw mats and enjoy dining around 'kantoke', a small table made of oak. On the table appears a selection of special dishes, normally comprising curries, sticky rice, various par-boiled vegetables and deep-fried fish with a choice of 'nam phrik' - chili paste dips.

Among the northern dips, 'nam phrik noom' (young chili dip) is perhaps the most popular. Besides, northerners like to accompany their meals with the North's unique preserved meat called 'moo yor' and 'naem' (spicy pork sausages).

Curries such as 'gaeng hang lay' are cooked in rich and creamy coconut milk. This fat gives people warmth in the cool weather of the mountainous region.

The local varieties of 'nam phrik' represent the Thais' typical use of chillis. Northern food always has a side dish called 'kaeb moo' (crispy pork rind) to distinguish the north's recipes from those of other regions.

Northern people prefer to eat sticky rice as the main stock of their diets, same as the Lao do. Chinese influence is reflected in the widespread use of noodles.

The favorite noodle dish of the North is called 'khao soi', crispy rice or egg noodle in a rich curry sauce. Originally created by the Chinese living in the hills, khao soi differs from noodle dishes in other regions by the addition of coconut milk to the soup. Another popular dish, 'khanom jeen nam ngeow', directly results from the influence of Mon people in southern Burma.

Among many culinary cultures affecting the north, Burmese seems to be the most obvious influence in most local recipes, especially curries and chilli dips such as 'gaeng aom' (pork curry with innards) and 'nam phrik ong' (tomato chili dip with ground pork).

This freshness is key to the region's variety of delicious cuisine. Chilli dip or 'nam phrik' is a typical dish served together with fresh vegetables which are in season such as cucumbers, morning glory stalks, makok leaves, cha-om and gratin.

There are many types of chilli paste dips distinguished by the main ingredients or the techniques in making dips. Not only eaten with fresh vegetables, the chilli paste dip is also applied to make many more complex dishes.

The spicy Thai salad or 'yam' also derived from dipping.

'Yam' or Thai-style salad usually refers the dish with has sweet and sour taste and has a great aroma from some herbs such as kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass.

But whatever techniques are used, they all mostly share the three basic ingredients-flour, coconut and sugar.

Most desserts of the central area are fruits. Apart from eating them fresh, the Thais are creative to apply them to make many delightful desserts. Simply add fresh fruits into light clear syrup and put some crushed ice into it, and then you have another dessert that is easy-to-prepare and very delicious.

South
The southern cuisine is best known for being hot and spicy. The locals believe that living in humid climate along the broad coastline can make them sick therefore the heat from food can protect them from fevers.

This is how the geography affects the tastes of the south. Connected to a Muslim country like Malaysia, the region has inevitably had added Islamic culture into its cooking styles.

There is an extensive use of turmeric that characteristically makes the southern dishes look yellowish such as 'gaeng lueng' (spicy coconut shoot soup), 'khao mok gai' (turmeric rice topped with chicken) and even 'gaeng som' (tamarind-flavored soup).

Southerners' favorite entree is 'gaeng tai pla' (fish viscera curry) which gives a spicy taste from chilies and salty flavor from 'koei' (shrimp paste).

Massaman is another unique curry famous among people in the south. Although Massaman is made from ingredients as basic as those curries found in other regions, it also comprises the five-spice powder strongly influenced from India.

The locals also feature this curry with roasted peanuts, common in most southern dishes. Surrounded by cove and ocean, the southerners are lucky to be able to enjoy fresh seafood throughout the year.

They simply transform fresh Phuket's rock lobster, fish, crabs, prawns, squids, clams and mussels into many delicious menus.

Besides grilling, boiling and barbecuing, people season their selected seafood with aromatic herbs and spices. 'goong ga-thi nor mai sod' (prawns and bamboo soot in coconut soup), 'poo pad pong gari' (fried crab with yellow curry) and 'goong pad sataw' (fried prawn with twisted cluster beans) are one of the most famous dishes.

The bitter 'sa-taw' is another identity of southern cuisine.