In discussing Thai food, we may clasify Thai food into two categories i.e. savoury and dessert.

Savoury

Thai savoury consists of five basic tastes i.e. bland, salty, sour, sweet and spicy hot. But may be classified into 6 main dishes based on the method of cooking i.e.

Gaeng

Gaeng is basically a soup known in vernacular by different words depending on the methods and the ingredients used. Gaeng Jued is bland in taste, Gaeng Som , sour prepared with vetgetable and shrimp or fish.

Fried Food

Fried dish is cooked in a frying pan treated with little cooking oil and water .

There are bland and chilly fried dishes. The former is prepared from vegetable and meat mainly pork or meat treated with fish sauce or soya sauce., while the latter is added with fresh or dried chilly.

Yam

Yam is an equivalent of salad. The taste of Thai salad or Yam tends to be very sweet or sour comparaed with regular salads. Sweet Yam contains coconut milk , roasted finely grated coconut flakes and vegetable such as Tua Poo, banana flower. Sour Yam as its name indicates contains as a rule sliced beef .

Deep Fried - Roasted or Baked Dishes

This is a Thai way of cooking meat, sea food etc. to rid them of their natural rawness and enhance their natural taste by adding the roots of Thai Pak Chee or local parsley.

Dips

These are dishes favoured by most Thai. Prepared from fermented fish or shrimp , or fermented soya beans , dips arae ataken with fresh or boiled vegetable such as cucumber, morning glory. bamboo shoots, etc and sometimes with fried herring.

Accompanying Dishes

These dishes are between-meal snacks taken with savoury to bring out their tastes. They are for examples of salty egg or fried salty fish to be taken with chilly -hot soup or Gaeng Ped, etc.

Desserts

Thai desserts come in either liquid or soid form. Most of them are prepared from coconut milk, sugar and flour such as , Kley Buad Chee ( banana in sweetened coconut milk ), Kanom Piak Poon ( black custard ) or Kanom Sai Sai ( dumpling with filling wrapped in banana leaves and steamed) etc..

During the reign of King Narai, Thailand had close cultural contacts with the west who had taught the Thai the art of making many kinds of dessert which have survived to our modern times. They are custards in various forms such as Tong Yip, Foy Tong, Tong Yod, Sankaya and Kanom Moh Gaeng.

Desserts in dried solid form are prepared by baking process, Such desserts are like biscuits which can be kept in glass jars for a long period of time. They are for examples, Kanom Kleeb Lamduan, Kanom Somanus, Kanom Na Nual etc..

Rich in a large variety of fruit, Thailand is famous for fruit yam and processed or pickled or dried and crytallized fruits. Such fruits are for examples, durian, banana, mango so on.

Traditional Thai desserts are often treated with aroma and given form by carving, or moulding to make them more appealing or inviting.

Thai food is fast becoming a novely in world‘s cusine and has already found its niche in the world of gourmet delight.