Regional Thai Cooking

The North East

Probably the least visited area of Thailand, the North East covers almost a third of the country and has its second largest city - Khon Kaen. The region is, however, is increasing in popularity as the friendliness of its people becomes known. Visitors are made to feel welcome at several memorable festivals throughout the year.

The influences of neighbouring Laos are reflected strongly in North-eastern food, with glutinous rice being the staple food, eaten both as a base for a meal and also as a dessert, when steamed with coconut milk and black beans. Laotian herbs such as dill are widely used, and a popular regional dish of Lao origin is Khanom Buang - a thin crispy egg omelette stuffed with shrimp and beansprouts.

North Eastern food is highly spiced, with regional specialities like lap, which is spicy minced meat or chicken, or the famous som tam (papaya salad) and kai yang (BBQ chicken). Freshwater fish and shrimp are the main sources of protein in North Eastern dishes, as meat was often a scarce commodity.

The Central Region

With the Chao Phraya River watering the Central Plains, this area has long been the cultural and economic heart of Thailand due to the fertility of the land. On either side of the river the vast number of paddy fields have traditionally provided the country with its principal source of food, hence the Thai expression "kin khao" - to eat - which literally translates as "to eat rice".

The Central region provided much of what we now know as traditional Thai cuisine; rice, fish and vegetables, flavoured with garlic, fish sauce and black pepper, along with an abundance of fresh fruits. When Ayutthaya became the capital of Thailand, the increase in the use of chillies was introduced, along with coriander, lime and tomato. These may have been introduced by the Portuguese, who in 1511 started relations with Ayhuttaya.

Unlike the North and North East, the Central Plains use plain rice, traditionally steamed, but sometimes boiled or fried. As well as fresh water fish from the river, the Central Plains have access to the nearby Gulf and so the cuisine features much seafood. A wide range of vegetables grow in the fertile soils, along with fruit such as mango, durian, custard apple, pomelos and guavas

The North

Only within the last one hundred years has the north of Thailand been easily connected with the rest of the Kingdom. The north was a part of the ancient Lanna Thai Kingdom, a region of wild, densely forested mountains where elephants worked in the teak industry along the Burmese and Laotian borders. A region of temple filled towns, like Chiang Mai, where the first railway linking it to Bangkok was not operational until 1921 and good roads did not come until recently.

As with its culture, the cooking of the North is very distinctive. Rice tends to be of the glutinous variety, eaten by kneading into small balls with the fingers and using it to scoop up more liquid dishes. Northern curries are generally milder than elsewhere in Thailand, with the influence of neighbouring countries such as Myanmar evident in dishes such as Kaeng Hang Le, a pork curry with ginger, tamarind and turmeric and khao soi, a curry broth with egg noodles. A favourite northern speciality is a spicy pork sausage, called naem.

The traditional meal for entertaining is known as the Khantok dinner - khan meaning bowl, and tok being a low round table. Assorted dishes such as sticky rice, one or two curries, a salad, spicy minced meat, fried pork rind and a variety of sauces and condiments are placed on the table where guests then help themselves. If in season, the dessert is likely to be the delicious lamyai, or longan for which the North is famous.

The South

Reaching all the way to Malaysia, the South consists of a long peninsula, with rugged limestone mountains along its spine, covered with lush jungle. With the Gulf of Thailand along one side, and the Indian Ocean along the other, the coastline has many strikingly beautiful beaches and wealthy fishing ports. The South also has vast plantations of pineapple, coconut and rubber and due to the large Muslim influence along the Malaysian border, a distinctive culture.

Southern food is characterised by local produce - the coconut having a prominent role in most dishes - its milk to 'cool' the chillies in curries and soups, its flesh when grated to serve as a condiment, or its oil for frying. Fresh seafood also features prominently, both marine fish and seafood; the cashew nuts from local plantations are used as starters or stir fried - particularly with chicken and chillies - and an exotic, bitter flavour is provided by the pungent flat bean called sato.

A variety of cultural influences can be seen in Southern Thai cuisine; several Malaysian dishes such as fish curries are found; Kaeng Massaman is a mild Indian style curry with cardamon, cloves and cinnamon; satay - originally an Indonesian dish - is widely eaten with a spicy peanut sauce; and probably most famous is the influence of the large Chinese community, who hold a ten day vegetarian festival in Phuket every October.