Different Types of Thai Food

Before you sample some authentic Thai food, don’t just think that all Thai food is spicy and therefore, not palatable to western tastes, because it is not. Whilst it is true that chillies are used extensively in many dishes, there are also plenty that only use small amounts of chilli and some which use none at all. As well as chillies, many Thai dishes will often contain ingredients such as garlic, fish sauce, lime juice and lemon grass. It is these ingredients that help to give Thai food its distinctive flavour of spicy, sweet, sour and salty.
Speciality dishes or different types of food are also associated with each individual region in Thailand. For example, you will probably come across ‘khao nee-o’ (sticky rice), which originates from the north, during your visit to Thailand.
Traditionally, people in the rural areas of Thailand would often eat fried insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches and ant larvae as a popular snack. Even in tourist hot spots such as Koh Samui, you will see local vendors serving up deep fried insects at many of the islands night markets.

Spicy Salads

Spicy salads are amongst some of the most popular food with Thai people. Probably the most commonly known and certainly one of the most popular is Som Tam (papaya salad). This salad can often be very spicy and it usually contains unripe green papaya which is finely chopped or shredded, garlic, tomatoes, chillies, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, peanuts, small dried shrimps and sometimes crab.
Many people consider Som Tam to be the best example of a dish that contains all the traditional flavours that can be found in Thai cuisine, such as spicy, sweet, salty and sour.
Som Tam or papaya salad is definitely worth trying if you visit Thailand and if you are feeling brave, order a regular version of the salad, just as the locals do. But be warned, it will be very spicy! If you want to sample Som Tam without it being too spicy then order it with less chilli. Absolutely delicious!
You can usually order Som Tam from many street vendors, where the salad will be freshly made in front of you for about 40 Baht and is great when served with barbecued chicken.

Stir Fried Food

Another great thing about Thai food is that many dishes can be cooked very quickly, none more so than if you order something like chicken and cashew nuts, stir fried beef with basil leaves and chilli or a stir fired noodle dish.
Pad Thai is probably the most famous stir fired noodle dish and you won’t have to walk for very long through any town in Thailand before you come to a street vendor selling this simple, yet delicious stir fried noodle dish. Pad Thai contains either red pork, which is thinly sliced, or seafood and is also normally served with bean sprouts, spring onions and wedges of lime.

Thai Curries

Thailand’s famous curries and soups are probably the most famous export of all of its cuisine and there is a good chance that many foreign visitors will already have tried a Thai curry of some description in their country of residence.
Served with rice, some of the most popular curries in Thailand are known simply as Green, Yellow or Red curry. These curries are normally made with coconut milk and can contain chicken, pork or shrimp. Other ingredients that make up a Thai curry include chilli, garlic, lemon grass, onion and other Thai herbs and spices.
Another popular curry in Thailand is Massaman curry, which is Indian in its origin and translates to mean ‘Muslim’ curry. Massaman curry is made from coconut milk but also includes potatoes, beef and peanuts.

Thai Fruit

Upon visiting Thailand you could be almost spoilt for choice with the array of fresh and exotic fruit that is available for you to buy. Fruit such as bananas, water melon, guava, mango and pineapple are sold just about everywhere by street vendors. The fruit is usually sliced into chunks and put into plastic bags, where you are then given a wooden skewer to eat it with; all of which will cost you about 20 Baht.
More exotic fruits, some you might not have seen before, such as durian, rambutan, jack fruit, rose apples, longans and papayas can all be bought at the local markets and sometimes even sold from the back of pickup trucks on the side of the road.