Thai food
Thai food is spicy, sour and sweet. Rice is a basic component of Thai cuisine, as it is of most Asian cuisines. Steamed rice is accompanied by highly aromatic curries, stir-frys and other dishes, incorporating sometimes large quantities of chillies, lime juice and lemon grass. Noodles, known throughout parts of Southeast Asia by the Chinese name kwaytiow, are popular as well but usually come as a single dish, like the stir-fried Pad Thai or noodle soups.
The ingredient found in almost all Thai dishes and every region of the country is nam pla, a very aromatic and strong tasting fish sauce. Shrimp paste, a combination of ground shrimp and salt, is also extensively used. There is a uniquely Thai dish called nam prik which refers to a chile sauce or paste. It is prepared by crushing together chillies with various ingredients such as garlic and shrimp paste using a mortar and pestle. It is then often served with vegetables such as cucumbers, cabbage and yard-long beans, either raw or blanched. The vegetables are dipped into the sauce and eaten with rice. Coconut is a main ingredient in desserts, in particular the milk and the shredded coconut pieces. Because Thai food can take a long time to prepare, Thai people are used to eat outside, at food stalls. At lunchtime you can see office staff and executives in suits, sitting on plastic chairs on the pavement. The food is very cheap and sometimes surprisingly good. Most food stalls are clean, so it is usually safe to eat that way. Thai food is generally eaten with a fork and a spoon, not with chopsticks (except for noodle soups).