The History of Thai Cuisine

Thai cuisine is well known for the five fundamental flavors that are balanced in each dish or in the overall meal... hot, sour, sweet, salty and bitter. Thai is usually considered as one cuisine but it can be described as four regional cuisines which correspond with the four main regions of Thailand: Northern, Northeastern, Central & Southern.

Thai cuisine is heavily influenced by Chinese stir-fries and Indian curries while still maintaining a distinguished taste of its own. Thai cuisine is well known for its heavy use of herbs, spices, and fish sauce. It is popular in many western countries especially in Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States.

A full Thai meal consists of either a single dish or rice with many complementary dishes. Rice is a staple component of Thai cuisine. Curries, stir-fry and others are sometimes poured onto the rice creating a dish called khao rad gang, which is a popular meal that comes in handy when time is limited. Sticky rice is popular in Northern and Northeastern regions. Noodles are also popular but are usually served as a single dish...ex. Noodle soups.

Chopsticks are rarely used when eating Thai food, spoons and forks are generally used instead. The fork is held in the left hand and is used to shovel food onto the spoon. Thais and hill tribe people in the North and Northeast eat sticky rice with their right hands by molding it into balls and dipping them in side dishes.

Nam pa is one of the most important ingredient in Thai cuisine. It's a very aromatic fish sauce, with a very strong taste. Many dishes in the Southern and Central regions use a variety of leaves such as Kaffir lime leaves, whose flavor can be found in almost every Thai soup, stir-fry and curry. A curry paste is made by combining the Kaffir lime leaves with garlic, galangal, ginger and fingerroot.

Dishes from the Northern part of Thailand include very unique sauces, such as nam prik num. exotic foods such as raw fish, fermented fish paste and deep fried larvae are also a part of the Northern Cuisine.