Thai food

Culture of Thai cuisine

&
History&Classification of Thai
food

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 Northern

 North East

 Central

 Southern

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 Northern

 North East

 Central

 Southern

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CULTURE OF THAI CUISINE
Thai Food is:
 An original and rich amalgam of evocative aromas,
subtle blends of herbs and spices and contrasting
textures and tastes.

 It contains flavors and techniques that are familiar

from Chinese, Indian and Japanese cooking, but
they have been so skillfully combined and refined
that the resulting dishes have a new and exciting
character.

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 The dishes are light and fresh. “Vegetables are
important”, and are “quickly cooked” to retained
their crispness, flavor and nutrients.

 Dairy products are not used and fish and poultry

feature more prominently than meat.

 Where meat is used it often only constitutes a

small portion of the dish.

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 HISTORY OF THAI FOOD
 Thai food is internationally famous. Whether
chili-hot or comparatively bland, harmony is the
guiding principle behind each dish. Thai cuisine is
essentially a marriage of centuries-old Eastern
and Western influences harmoniously combined
into something uniquely Thai.
“Characteristics of Thai food depend on who cooks it,
for which it is cooked, for what occasion,
and where it is cooked”
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HISTORY OF THAI FOOD(cont)
 Dishes can be refined and adjusted to suit all
palates.
 Originally, Thai cooking reflected the
characteristics of a waterborne lifestyle. Large
chunks of meat were eschewed. Subsequent
influences introduced the use of sizeable chunks to
Thai cooking.
 Buddhist background, Thais shunned the use of
large animals in big chunks. Big cuts of meat were
shredded and laced with herbs and spices.
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HISTORY OF THAI FOOD(cont)
 Traditional Thai cooking methods were stewing
and baking, or grilling. Chinese influences saw the
introduction of frying, stir-frying and deep-frying.

 Culinary influences from the 17th century onwards

included Portuguese, Dutch, French and Japanese.
Chilies were introduced to Thai cooking during the
late 1600s by Portuguese missionaries who had
acquired a taste for them while serving in South
America.

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 Thais were very adapting at "Siamese sing"
foreign cooking methods, and substituting
ingredients. The ghee used in Indian cooking was
replaced by coconut oil, and coconut milk
substituted for other dairy products.

 Overpowering pure spices were toned down and

enhanced by fresh herbs such as lemon grass and
galangal

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HISTORY OF THAI FOOD(cont)
 Eventually, fewer and less spices were used in
Thai curries, while the use of fresh herbs
increased. It is generally acknowledged that Thai
curries burn intensely, but briefly, whereas other
curries, with strong spices, burn for longer
periods. Instead of serving dishes in courses, a
Thai meal is served all at once, permitting diners
to enjoy complementary combinations of different
tasters.

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 A proper Thai meal should consist of a soup, a
curry dish with condiments, a dip with
accompanying fish and vegetables. A spiced salad
may replace the curry dish. The soup can also be
spicy, but the curry should be replaced by a non-
spiced item. There must be harmony of tastes and
textures within individual dishes and the entire
meal.

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UNIQUENESS OF THAI FOOD
 Thai food differs from region to region. Unlike the
North and Northeast, where glutinous rice is
popular, Central Thais like the fragrant plain
variety, most commonly steamed. In addition to
fresh-water fish, there is seafood from the Gulf of
Thailand, as well as a wide range of fresh
vegetables. Chinese-Thai food is popular in cities
like Bangkok, particularly in the form of
numerous noodle dishes

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The Central Region

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The Central region :
 The Central region: also has what is called the
Royal cuisine, a more sophisticated version of the
regional cuisine. Influenced by the kitchens of the
Royal Court, the dishes are elaborately put
together, making it as much of an art form as a
culinary masterpiece.

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The North

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The North :
 The North: is a distinctive as its culture. Steamed
glutinous rice is preferred, traditionally kneaded
into small balls with the fingers. Northern curries
are generally milder than those of central and
northeastern Thailand. The influence of
neighboring Burma is evident is such popular
dishes as Kaeng Hang Le, a pork curry that relies
on ginger, tamarind, and turmeric for its flavor,
and Khao Soy, a curry broth with egg noodles and
meat, topped with spring onions, pickled cabbage,
and slices of lime. wooden palaces. These
performances include troupes of local dancers,
resplendent in traditional costume.
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The Northeastern

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The Northeastern :
 The Northeastern: food reflects the influences of
neighboring Laos in a number of dishes.
Glutinous rice is the staple, and the food is highly
seasoned, like larb, made with spicy minced meat
or chicken,. som tam (green papaya salad), and
kai yang (barbecued chicken). Meat was once
scarce in villages, and freshwater fish and shrimp
are the principle source of protein, sometimes
fermented.

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The South

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The South :
 The South: the coconut plays a prominent role in
many dishes; its milk tempers the heat of chili-
laced soups and curries, its oil used for frying, and
its grated meat serves as a condiment. Fresh
seafood from the surrounding waters is abundant:
fish, prawns, lobsters, crab, squid, scallops, calms
and mussels. Cashew nuts from local plantations
are eaten as appetizers or stir-fried with chicken
and dried chilies, while a pungent flat bean called
“Sator” adds an exotic, if somewhat bitter, flavor
much admired by southern diners.
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The South (cont)
 Chinese-Thai food is popular in large cities as
well. Other foreign influences can be found in
such dishes as kaeng matsaman, a mild Indian-
style curry seasoned with cardamom, cloves and
cinnamon, and sate - skewered meat with a
spicy peanut sauce that originally came from
Indonesia.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF
THAI FOOD
It can be classified to 4 types:
1. Rice or Glutinous rice :

 Rice in the ordinary Thai meal is long grain, pearl

white and fragrant. The cooked rice is soft and
rice aroma the northerners and northeasterners
prefer steamed glutinous rice.

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 Also known as : Sticky rice or Sweet Rice
 Characteristics : The consistency of what is
commonly called "sticky" rice is derived from
two kinds of starch in the kernels, namely
amylase and amyl pectin. A higher amount of the
later increases the sticky texture. Glutinous rice
can be easily distinguished from other varieties by
its milky color.

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 Production : The major production areas for
glutinous rice are the upper northern and
northeastern regions of Thailand where water is
scarce. the best known and best quality variety is
called "Sanpathong" which is grown mainly in
the north.
 A favorite regional specialty is a spicy pork
sausage called “Naem”. The traditional form of
meal is called a Kantoke dinner during which
diners sit around a small low table. Nightly gala
performances of a royal version of the Kantoke
banquet can be enjoyed at reconstructed.
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2. Side Dishes :

2.1 Curry, major ingredients of Thai curries are

fresh herbs.
2.2 Soup, Soup add fluidity to a meal. Traditional
Thai soup are quite unique as they embody
more tastes, flavors and textures that cannot be
found in other types of food.
Soup classify to: Clear soup and Spicy vegetable
soup

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2.3 Stir-fried, it might make a meal more complete,
immediately served when it be cooked.
Classify to: Mild flavored stir-fried;
vegetables,meat+oil.
: Spicy flavored stir-fried;
vegetables+meat+curry paste+oil or coconut-
milk+herbs.
2.4 Thai salads
2.5 Dips
2.6 Accompaniment dish (naem)

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3. Dessert :
 Desserts are usually eaten after-meal plate. The

main ingredient of dessert are rice flour, sugar

and coconut. Taro, sweet potato, water chestnut

and pumpkin are also added in Thai dessert.

Dessert dishes were usually given between meals.

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4. One-plate dish :
 A complete meal in it self. A one dish item consists
of cereal or noodle, meat and vegetable. Thai fried
noodles, Fried rice, Khanom jeen, all these can be
consider one dish. A one disher is an easy choice
when one cannot be bothered with a whole meal
which is too lengthy and at time costly. Lots of one-
dishers are favorite choices of those who prefer to
grab a quick of Thai delectable.

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CULTURE OF THAI FOOD
 Preparation : Throughout the past, preparation
of a set meal usually consist of different varieties
of dishes. In a wealthy house hold in the past, a
set of meal usually consist of a soup, a curry, a
salad, a dip, aside dish, in two or three different
varieties. Dissert usually consists of dry or syrup
variety. Fruits were usually no included in
deserts when the sween meals in the following
manners.

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Preparation (cont)
 Morning usually no desert . Day liquid deserts
are preferred such as thin munbesan noodles in
coconut syrup. Evening bite sized dessert are
more popular. In the present, Thai prefer setting
fruit along with the sweet dessert. In some set
meal there are both dessert and fruits.

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 Cooking : The majority of Thai cooking is done
in one piece of cooking equipment, the work, by
either of two very straight forward cooking
methods, steaming or stir-frying. Stir-frying is a
very rapid process as the ingredients are cut into
small, even pieces. For successful stir-frying, heat
the worm before adding the oil to help prevent
food from sticking, then heat the oil until it is
almost smoking before adding the ingredients.

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Cooking (cont)
 Toss the food during cooking, and keep it moving
from the center of the work to the sides. Because of
its curved shape, the work allows the food to be
quickly tossed without spilling. As the food is kept
moving during stir-frying, very little oil is needed.
 The equipments used to cook Thai food. Not to
mention large cooking equipments such as pots,
pans woks because they didn't exist in those days.
The only metallic utensil used in cooking was knife.
Therefore, cooking techniques were limited at the
initial stage of Thai cuisine.
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 However, the Thai ancestors were so creative that
even without complicated utensils, they could
make several delicious dishes that still present
until today.
 The art of cooking Thai food has been developing
over the years in accordance with the outside
influences, especially from the west. With the
advent of modern kitchenware, new ideas and
techniques have been further enhanced. Today, a
good Thai food cook can be more and more
creative than in the early years .

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 Setting : Thai food is eaten with a fork and spoon.
Even single dish meals such as fried rice with pork,
or steamed rice topped with roasted duck, are
served in bite-sized slices or chunks obviating the
need for a knife. The spoon is used to convey food
to the mouth.
 Ideally, eating Thai food is a communal affair
involving two or more people, principally because
the greater the number of diners the greater the
number of dishes ordered.

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 Diners choose whatever they require from shared
dishes and generally add it to their own rice.
Soups are enjoyed concurrently with rice. Soups
are enjoyed concurrently with other dishes, not
independently. Spicy dishes, not independently.
Spicy dishes are "balanced" by bland dishes to
avoid discomfort.

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 Dining Etiquette : If you dine with a Thai family,
bear in mind the following etiquette: Start with a
spoonful of rice on it own-this signifies the
importance of rice in the culture-after you host
taken rive or offered it to other. Take only a few
spoonfuls at a time from the serving dishes. Leave
some food on your plate and in serving dishes to
emphasize the generosity of your host. In
restaurants don't for chopsticks if you're not given
them-for white rice use the fork and spoon
provided; for sticky rice(popular in the North) use
the right hand.
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