Thai Food

Dining Options for a True Taste of Thailand

If you've never had the good fortune to experience Thai food, then this is one of the things that you will find quite memorable about your Thailand vacation. Around the world, Thai food has gained a large degree of notoriety around the world. Thai food is strongly influenced by the cuisine of its surrounding neighbors. Among them: China, India, Malaysia, and others.

Many people have long associated Thai food with hot or spicy food. While there are many dishes that are far too hot for some to handle, there are also quite many that aren't very hot at all. One important thing to remember about Thai food is that the abundant use of herbs and spices are the very ingredients that offer the medicinal qualities for which Thai food is famous.

Healing Thai Foods

Coriander (the leaves are referred to as cilantro in America) is one of the most commonly used herbs in Thai food. The health benefits of this particular herb are plenty. Not only is it an excellent source of Vitamin C but is also rich in beta-carotene. It is also believed to lower blood pressure, blood sugar, and to act as a preventative measure for some types of food poisoning. Coriander seeds are often used a key ingredient in many curries and the root of coriander is used in many wonderful Thai dishes.

Basil is another common ingredient in Thai cooking that has some tremendous health benefits of its own. One of its main medicinal benefits is its soothing qualities, the name you are most likely to be familiar with for this particular benefit is St. John's wort. Basil is often used for the purpose of soothing tension headaches and certain digestive issues. Holy basil is often added to Thai stir fry dishes and sweet basil is commonly used in soups or to season seafood. Basil is quite delicate and should be added at the last possible moment to ensure its flavor survives the preparation process.

Ginger is one of the many ingredients in Thai foods that is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to medicinal, healing, or soothing qualities. This "wonder" food can help with weight loss, motion sickness, and indigestion, even morning sickness. It is also given credit for easing sore throats, headaches, and menstrual cramps along with fevers, and pain from arthritis, colds, and flu. Turmeric, another member of the ginger family adds the bright yellow coloring to many southern Thai dishes.

Thai cuisine is very much like American cuisine in one way-it is different from region to region. If you've traveled very much within America you will understand. There are distinctive differences among some foods that can only be explained by the regions. In the Midwest, people tend to add pasta to their chili, in the south everything tends to be not only fried, but deep fat fried. There are vast regional differences in Thai foods as well. There are some central similarities but it would be wrong to overlook the vast differences.

Central Plains

While Bangkok is the major hub of the central plains region there are many small locales that offer delicious specialties that make this region stand out among the others as both distinctive and delectable. This area is widely known for the excellent rice that is produces here as well as the three types of curry that are common. The three curries of the central region are green curry, which is commonly added to chicken or fish dishes, a hot curry, and a milder curry: all of these are made from coconut milk.

You may find a little more pronounced Chinese influence in the dishes of the central region than in other regions. Another interesting feature of most central region meals is that many of them include omelets of some sort in the course of the meal. The absolute truth is that there are so many wonderful foods to experience in this region that it is hard to point out only a few that are worthy of mentioning. I say you bring your appetite, baggy clothes, and sense of adventure and try them all. The good news is that most of them include natural digestive aids that should prevent the need for antacids.

The North

This area is much cooler and you will find a wider selection of vegetables readily available than in other regions of Thailand. As such, the many vegetables that are often on hand often influence the dishes of this area, flavor-wise. You may notice that people in this region prefer to roll their rice into balls and dip it in sauces rather than using white rice in their meals. Curries in this region are thinner than in other regions and sausage seems to be a specialty and for the adventurous there are plenty of delightful spicy dishes from which to choose. The food of the north region is as interesting as those that have prepared it throughout the years.

The South

In Thailand, the south region is home to the vast majority of the Muslim population. There is a great deal of diversity in this region from languages, to nationality (particularly in areas near the border), to religion, this is a great big melting pot in Thailand and the food represents the relative hodgepodge of people that make this region so fascinating to visit, experience, and dine.

Coconut is the word of the day in southern cooking. Much like shortening in the southern states of the U.S. it is coconut everything in this particular region of Thailand. The abundance of certain foods also greatly affect the foods of the south. There is quite an abundance of seafood in this particular region; the preparation methods vary greatly from the simple (frying or steaming) to the elaborate. The dishes in this region tend to be very hot and freely use turmeric, which has a tendency to change the color of the foods to a rather distinctive yellow. Coffee is also the typical beverage of choice for this region as it is grown here and you can find plenty of coffee shops to enjoy your daily dose.

The Northeast

This region is rather distinctive as far as Thai regions go. Glutinous rice is preferred over white rice, roasting and grilling are more common than stir-frying, and chilies are often used to add flavor to meals. This region offers many excellent dining choices that are both traditional Thai fare and yet seem so different from very similar meals in other Thai regions. This may be a result of the heavy influence that Laos has on the cuisine or the fact that meat has traditionally been scarce in this regions as an adaptation most of the meals that have been shared and passed down rely on shrimp and freshwater fish rather than meats.

Be sure to plan to sample some of the best of all regions if you have the opportunity while in Thailand. It's hard to base your entire vacation around food, but you've gotta eat each and every day you're on vacation. If you're going to eat, you may as well make it an authentic Thai meal as there are so many to enjoy you'll probably leave without ever having eaten the same thing twice (unless of course you're like me and order the same thing every time and try some of everyone else's).

If you're traveling in Thailand and staying in one of the main regions, you will find that cooking classes are actually quite plentiful. In fact, many hotels are beginning to offer them at nominal fees to their guests as an added incentive to get guests to visit and dine in their hotels. You should also be able to quite easily find cooking schools in almost any region that will provide you with the basics you need in order to prepare Thai food in your home. In other words, every day meals that you could actually cook without an instructor present and that you and your family may enjoy greatly as an escape from the ordinary. Some of these cooking courses go well beyond a brief introductory lesson and you can go through a sort of Thai cooking boot camp that will get you jump started in just 7 short days. It's a great way to learn to make great food, have fun, and learn something invaluable while on vacation. I highly recommend adding these cooking lessons to your itinerary on any Thai vacation.

One thing to remember about Thai dishes is that rice is a staple and often a primary ingredient in these dishes. Whether the rice is glutinous or white rice it is usually a part of almost any Thai meal that you will be served. Curry is another staple so be sure you are expecting it. Whether you plan to learn to cook Thai food while you are on your Thailand vacation or simply to enjoy the pleasure of eating many different Thai foods, I highly recommend keeping up with the foods you really like and appreciate then looking for the recipes or restaurants locally that may serve your favorites so that you may be able to relive your Thailand vacation for many years to come after your return.

A trip to Thailand is a wonderful experience of many new and exotic sights, sounds, and aromas; it only makes sense that you can add tastes to the list of things you plan to experience while visiting. There are so many wonderful dishes to be tried and the sad truth that vacations generally only last so long. Be willing to try at least one new thing each and every day you are on vacation in order to get the maximum enjoyment of your time and your dining pleasure while in Thailand.