Interesting Features of Thai Cuisine

Thais have borrowed recipes from many nations and countries for their national cuisine. However, by adopting them into their daily routine, they added so much of their own and interesting national coloring to these dishes that the real Thai cuisine can be tasted only in Thailand. This country lies in several climatic zones and is washed by tropical seas.

Therefore, Thai housewives have an opportunity to enjoy a very wide range of products, including several varieties of fish, various seafood, meats, and exotic fruits. All this splendor they season with dozens of different kinds of spices. The peculiarity of Thai cuisine is that several tastes and flavors can be combined in one dish. Thai dishes may be sweet and salty or sour simultaneously, but they are always very spicy.

There are no strict canons of cooking in this country. The one who cooks the food decides by himself how ready the product is, what spices to add to the dish, how to serve the table, and when to serve the dish.

Thai rice

Like all Southeast Asian countries, rice in Thailand is the main basis for all dishes. They even have a custom that any meal begins with a spoonful of rice (what do Thais eat?). There is a quite prosaic explanation for this – rice helps to avoid burning the palate with pepper and other spices, of which there are many in every Thai dish. Thai people like two kinds of rice the most: sticky round and jasmine rice. In addition to rice, the obligatory ingredients in Thai cuisine are chili pepper sauce and coconut milk.

Tom Yum and Pad Kapao

Popular dishes of Thai cuisine are Tom Yam soup, Pad Kapao (a dish favored by Russian tourists in Thailand because it is similar in taste and ingredients to the native one) and other dishes. As for the Tom Yam soup, its taste is dominated by sourness, it is very spicy and fragrant. Each restaurant cooks Tom Yum in their own manner, often the taste of this dish is very different.

Fish sauce

I would like to tell separately about Thai fish sauce. It is prepared from small fish with the addition of lemon juice. The lemon juice is a preservative, and the sauce is made by fermenting it for a week. All bones and heads dissolve during this time and a homogeneous mass with a fishy flavor is obtained. Very salty and nutritious. The Thais love it, but joke that “there is no fish sauce without a worm.

Insects

In South-East Asia there is no ban on eating insects, so Thais gladly eat wood grubs, ants, grasshoppers, scorpions. Often these unusual dishes are prepared in such a way that it is impossible to suspect that they contain insects. So always ask yourself – what is it?

Thais are very happy guests at any restaurant or cafe, you will be the center of their attention. You can taste Thai cuisine even in those places considered American.