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Thai
cuisine
is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai
cuisine places emphasis on lightly prepared
dishes with strong aromatic components. Thai
cuisine is known for being spicy. Balance,
detail and variety are important to Thai
cooking. Thai food is known for its balance of
the five fundamental taste senses in each dish
or the overall meal: hot (spicy), sour, sweet,
salty, and (optional) bitter.
Influences
Although
popularly considered a single cuisine, Thai
food would be more accurately described as
four regional cuisines corresponding to the
four main regions of the country: Northern,
Northeastern (or Isan), Central, and Southern,
each cuisine sharing similar foods or foods
derived from those of neighboring countries
and regions: Burma, the Chinese province of
Yunnan and Laos to the north, Cambodia to the
east and Malaysia to the south of Thailand. In
addition to these four regional cuisines,
there is also the Thai Royal Cuisine which can
trace its history back to the palace cuisine
of the Ayutthaya kingdom (1351–1767 CE). Its
refinement, cooking techniques and its use of
ingredients were of great influence to the
cuisine of the Central Thai plains.
The
culinary traditions and cuisines of Thailand's
neighbors have influenced Thai cuisine over
many centuries. Regional variations tend to
correlate to neighboring states as well as
climate and geography. Southern curries tend
to contain coconut milk and fresh turmeric,
while northeastern dishes often include lime
juice. The cuisine of Northeastern (or Isan)
Thailand is heavily influenced by Lao cuisine.
Many popular dishes eaten in Thailand were
originally Chinese dishes which were
introduced to Thailand mainly by the Teochew
people who make up the majority of the Thai
Chinese. Such dishes include chok (rice
porridge), kuai-tiao rat na (fried
rice-noodles) and khao kha mu (stewed
pork with rice). The Chinese also introduced
the use of a wok for cooking, the technique of
deep-frying and stir-frying dishes, and
noodles and soy products. |