Thailand Guides - Thai Culinary

A renowned Australian restaurateur David Thompson once said "Thai cooking is a paradox. It uses robustly flavoured ingredients--garlic, shrimp paste, chillies, and lemongrass--and yet when they are melded during cooking they arrive at a sophisticated and often subtle elegance."
Like many Asian cuisines, Thai cooking is a "mix-and-match" style of cooking that allows much room for creativity. Whether spicy-hot, relatively bland or bitter sweet, harmony and contrast are the guiding principles behind each dish. It is essentially a marriage of centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into something uniquely Thai. However, characteristics of Thai food depend on the person who cooks it, for whom it is cooked, for what occasion, and where it is cooked. Dishes can be refined and adjusted to suit all tastes.

Thai cuisine has enjoyed an outstanding worldwide reputation for its delicate and unpredictable flavors. Visit any major city in the world, and you will come across a Thai restaurant. Some traditional dishes such as Phad Thai, Tom Yam Gung and Mee Krob have been included in the menu of various hip restaurants in New York and London.

Eating ranks high on the Thai scale of pleasurable activity. The evidence is shown on the streets of Bangkok and other major cities throughout the country.

Regional Cuisine

Thai food may be known for its spicy and hot flavors but that is only a part of the kingdom’s gastronomic creations. The northern cuisine has a reputation for its milder taste with a decided touch of sweetness. Famous northern dishes are Nam Prik Ong (red chili paste), Khao Soi (egg noodles in curry) and Sai Oua (spicy pork sausages). On the opposite end of the country, southern Thailand dishes out some of the hottest curries in Thailand. Some curries like Khaeng Lueng (yellow curry) and Khaeng Tai Pla (vegetables and fish curry) are known to have a fiery taste that even some Thais can’t take it. However, not all southern dishes are made to make eaters cry. The famous Khao Yam has an amazingly pleasant taste, which is a result of a harmonious blend of steamed rice mixed with various types of herbs and served with dipping sauce.