Thai Cuisine and its sturcture
PD184 THAI CUISINE
CLASSIFICATION OF THAI CUISINE

By geographical area

By source of cuisine: Court cuisine Vs popular
cuisine

By how we eat it…
THAI CUISINE
National cuisine;
Dishes that are branded Thai through different
approaches
 Regional ( popular cuisine): food that attached
to land and people
 Court cuisine:
Food that cooked and served in courts.

NATIONAL CUISINE
Pad Thai; result of the political revolution and
nationalism
 Tom yam gung: by its popularity and marketing
 Popular dishes known by others

REGIONAL CUISINE
Four Regions: North, North Eastern ( Issan),
Central Plain and South.
 Distinctively different in characteristic of food;
flavour ( tasting notes) & ingredients

THAILAND’S BORDERS
NORTHERN FOOD
Abundance Natural resources;
River & land: Fish and Pork
 Share boarder with Chinese, Myanmar and
Laos
 Sticky rice: ( Reduced version)
 Pork, Nahm Buu, Tua nao
 Not too many coconut based dish

NORTHERN FOOD
THAI YAI
CHARACTERISTIC OF NORTH-EASTERN FOOD
Limited Resource
 Long dry season
 Intense flavour = preserved food/ less food
more rice
 Insects
 Fermented Fish
 Dried Chili
 Toasted rice
 Grilled dishes

SOUTHERN FOOD
Marine Resource: preserved seafood product
 Malays, Islamic, Chinese Influences
 The blend of three cultures
 Extremely Spicy
 Jasmine rice
 Heavily used of turmeric
 Pungent greens
 Fish Guts

RICE SALAD
CENTRAL PLAIN FOOD
Abundance of natural resource
 Agricultural heart of Thailand
 Fruits, Farm and fresh local fish
 CENTRAL especially Bangkok is just like Paris;
It is the Port where all the good produces from
over Thailand sent to.
Quite diversify

SUB-REGION
Eastern cuisine: Trad, Rayong, Chantaburi
 Western Cuisine: Kanjanaburi, Rajburi,
 South Western Cuisine: Samut SongkramSakhorn

COURT CUISINE
Khmer’s influence of God-like King
 The symbolic value of food in serving King
 Ceremony associate with the King and royal
Family; hence special food served
 The cultures in having poly…..
 The amount of labour available in cooking and
developing recipe

ORIGIN OF COURT CUISINE
Central gateway of Siam and Thailand
 Rare and best quality produces
 Hired foreign Chefs to served the court and
royal guests
 The competition in wining the kings’ heart; new
creation from different palaces
 The amount of labour available in cooking and
developing recipe; elaborated craving etc.

POPULAR FOOD
Attach to land
 Simpler and Easier
Check out David Street Food.

WHAT MAKE THAI CUISINE THAI
The Ingredients
 The Flavours
 The method of Cooking
 The eating way

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS TO THAI FOOD
In group, discuss
 Sharing between groups
