Taste of Thai

 Within the culture of Thailand, like a lot of Asian cultures, food forms a crucial part. Food within Thailand is central to any social occasions and very often can be the reason for celebrations. The way in which food is consumed and related to in Thailand is important to the ways in which people bond and share experiences.

Modern-day Thai food has an ancient history by the thirteenth century, the Thai people had established Thai cuisine as we know it today, has various types of meat and seafood combined with local vegetables, herbs and spices such as garlic and pepper, served with rice. Thai cuisine is also heavily influenced by Indiana spices and flavour, creating the famous green, red, and yellow curries. Whilst Thai curry incorporates many Indian spices in its pastes, it still manages to maintain its own unique flavours of lacal spices and ingredients, such as Thai holy basil, lemongrass and galangal, also known as Thai ginger. Other influences on the types of dishes in Thai culture comes from Thailand's neighbouring countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Burma and Malaysia.

In Thailand all types of dishes place an emphasis on lightly prepared food with strong aromatic components and a spicy edge mixing sour, sweet, salty, bitter and spicy tastes. Thai food this require the juggling of disparate elements to create a harmonious finish, requiring much attention to detail to create the right balance of flavours as well as good presentation. Here are some choices to try to see the essence of Thai cuisine:

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  Khao Niaow Ma Muang

This is a classic Thai dessert that is normally served as street food. It consists of sweet rice, slices of mango which are soaked in a sweet syrup, it is then finish with some coconut sauce.

• Khao Pad

Khao Pad translates to stir-fried rice and this is a core dish in Thai cuisine. It is a simple dish made using jasmine rice, usually contains egg, garlic and a salty element, typically in the form of oyster sauce or soy sauce.

• Tom Yum Gong

Tom Yum Gong is a type of hot soup that is known for its sour taste.  Typically this soup is made using lime juice, fish sauce, chillies peppers, lemongrass, broth, galangal, lime leaves, and prawns, shrimp or pork.

Overall think of Thai food as an exotic version of Chinese food. It has many similar elements, but some have more extreme flavours such as ultra-sweet, salty or that ultra-spiciness, like Indian foods.