My apologies for the long haitus, but we have been eating our way through Thailand for the past two weeks. I don’t think I have to say that Thailand has a plethora of food awesomeness and diversity. You know when you are eating Thai food, not just because of the beads of sweat that come rolling down your head from the hot chilis added to just about everything, but the unique flavors and ingredients that can only be classified as Thai.
lots of chilies
Supposedly the secret to Thai food is the balancing of the five fundamental flavors of hot, sour, sweet, bitter and salty. They like to use strong and salty fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, Thai basil, ginger, cilantro, curry powder, lemongrass, limes and large amounts of chilis.
essential thai ingredients
I remember the first time I had Thai food was in Tucson during my undergraduate years. It was truly an awakening experience and no matter how you slice it or dice it, Thai food is unique. Everyone says that you don’t know a cuisine until you have traveled to the country of origin, like Indian or Vietnamese food. But I must say, there are some restaurants in the United States that have gotten Thai food right. Maybe the spices have been simmered down to an acceptable gringo level, but overall, the flavors are there in the basic popular dishes. The green and red curries and pad thai, even in Thailand, were excellent but didn’t taste all that different to what you get in the U.S.
pad thai on banana leaf
The green curry, made with green chilies and is considered one of the hottest curries, was never hot. Not in Thailand. Not in the U.S. I just don’t get it. One thing I have not seen anywhere in the U.S. that was added to a lot of the dishes in Thailand are fresh peppercorns.
peppercorns and shrooms
One of my favorites, and still after traveling to Thailand, remains a favorite, is Tom Yam Goong or in Thai, ต้มยำ a hot & sour soup with shrimp. Yum. Everywhere we went in Thailand, it was always a little bit different, more spicy sometimes (like at some random bar in a small city north of Bangkok) or more mushroomy in other places. But, tom yam goong, in my opinion, encompasses all the flavors of Thai cuisine. Their fried whole fish with chilies is also so delicious, everywhere we went, especially the coast.
fish and chilies
The Thai also lean towards the exotic. Derek tried a few interesting “snacks” like giant water bugs and grubs, and also frogs. Most of these are prepared by deep-frying them and are often fermented in fish paste and smothered with chilies.
derek eating giant water bugs
Speaking of deep frying, although most Thai are thin, there seems to be an increased amount of individuals who are overweight. You can see more overweight children in Bangkok. I also noticed that everywhere you look, on the street carts or in the food stalls, there is a plethora of fried foods being sold, and sugary drinks. Even their Thai iced coffees have a heaping mound of whip cream on them.
1/2 thai iced coffee, 1/2 whipped cream
Fried chicken, fried fish balls, fried pork rinds (the favorite) fried bugs etc etc. Also, lots of american-type junk food everywhere – lays potato chips, cheetos, and candy in brightly colored packaging. But fried food here is king.
pork rinds on a cart
Other interesting things about Thai cuisine and food habitation:
- For breakfast, they eat their own version of Vietnamese Pho, called Khao Tom, basically a soup with chicken or pork, with the leftover rice from the night before added to the broth. Often quite salty, and not nearly as fresh as pho, it is still tasty.
- They don’t use chopsticks there. Only a fork and a spoon. Interesting.
- Thai’s like whiskey and singha beer, what they call “sing”. When you order whiskey in a bar, they bring you a whole bottle, with a bucket of ice and some soda waters. Not good. But they do like Johnnie Walker, as do the Irish visiting Thailand…another story…
- Their wide rice noodles, usually made in a gravy with meat and some veggies are very mushy (called Rad na)
- They like eating morning glory (or kale like leafy greens) in oyster sauce. I liked it.
- They often give you extra salty fish sauce on the side. Not like you need to add more salt to the food…
