Thai Food Basics

I remember first learning about good Thai food when I came to Bangkok. My first realization was that Thais really don't use chopsticks. If there is a good bowl of noodles, chopsticks might be used, but not necessarily. For the most part, just a large spoon in the right hand and a fork in the left will suffice. To my knowledge, there are no large pices of meat (like Steak) in Thai food, thus food can simply be eaten rather than cut first. In reality, then, the spoon is the only utensil used for eating; the fork is merely there to push the food onto your spoon. When I stayed with a Thai family a couple of weeks ago, many family members would simply use a spoon and skip the fork altogether.

The second insight into Thai cooking is that many food items are not meant for consumption. Take Dom Yun Gung (sweet and spicy shrimp soup). The dish is delicious, but you must be careful not to eat the white celery-like vegetables, red peppers, and rediculously hard roots (it has the texture of hardened bamboo shoots). The reason Thai food, like this dish, tastes so good is because of these spices and roots. Unlike American food, however, you need to deftly avoid the unedible soup ingredients while you eat. Everything from Chicken to fish has the same philosophy: watch that you don't eat the bones or spices with every bite!