For the Northern region, including North-East (Isaan), apart from the glutinous rice known the world over as Thai Sticky Rice ,a lot of their food has influence from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar & Laos with most of their food highly seasoned and spicy e.g.: spicy roast pork.A favourite dish of the northerners would be khanom chin nam ngiao (Thai vermicelli noodles & chicken in spicy soup).

If you would like to taste original northern Lanna style cooking, & you are in the Chiang Mai area, I strongly recommend you include a Khan Tok Dinner in your schedule, they are great fun & allow you to sample both an eating style & dishes that you would not normally easily find in the city.

Vegetables are seen a lot in the dishes here as well because most northerners are involved in some form of agriculture, whether it be by farming, or just by smallholding.

If you are in Chiang Mai and would like to taste truly delicious
Vegetarian Food I would highly recomment Pun Pun which is located inside Wat Suan Dok Temple on Suthep Road between the Suan Dok Gate on the moat and the Chiang Mai University- if you are new to the city you can just tell the driver of the red trucks to take you to Wat Suan Dok.

Supplementing this range of fine foods,over the last few years there has also been large scale developments of vineyards around the Chiang Rai area, which are now producing world renowned Fine Wines ,although these are widely available in this area, they are yet to hit the worldwide markets that will welcome them with open arms.

If you're in the Central region of Thailand, the cuisine is deemed as "Royal cuisine", as many dishes are inspired by the Kings Kitchens of the Royal Court back when Thailand was known as Siam.

The dishes are more elaborate and tend to look like beautiful masterpieces that took hours to make instead of something that's conceived and created in just five minutes !!.

For the Southern region the dishes get really interesting. Young Thai Coconuts are a prominent ingredient in many dishes.

It usually is present to offset the heat of curries and chilli based soups and its oil is widely used for frying.

As the southern bit tends to be near the coastal regions, fresh seafood such as crab, lobster and prawns are usually the centre of many dishes and curries.

Think Thai Food - Are You Feeling Hungry Yet ?.

If you prefer to practice your Thai culinary skills whilst enjoying a fabulous holiday in Chiang Mai,Thailand, rather than merely downloading from the internet, then just follow this link to Cooking Class Asia who are organising culinary trips mixed with cultural excursions to Northern Thailand.

If you are enjoying visiting our website, and are finding the information about both Chiang Mai & Thailand useful then why don’t you
Share Our Site you can sign up for “Our Blog”, or even better still add a link to either your blog or website, and send us some feedback about what you think !.

Recommended Recipe Links:

Delicious Rhubarb Recipes
A guide to harvesting a healthy rhubarb garden.Learn to prepare and serve great dishes as well.

Top 10 Thai Dishes:
The most popular Thai dishes, irrespective of the region of Thailand you are visiting are probably:

1/ Tom Yam Goong - hot & spicy soup.

2/ Pad Thai - fried noodles dressed up with tofu, bean sprouts, onion,prawns & a choice of meats.

3/ Kuay Tiew (Noodle Soup) - thin noodles served up in a broth with your choice of meat.

4/ Som Tam - spicy papya salad thin sliced papaya with tomatoes, dried prawn,limes, chillies & more chillies !!.

5/ Gai Med Ma Moung (Chicken Cashew Nuts) roasted cashew nuts, sweet soy sauce,honey,garlic & of course chilies.

6/ Kang Kheaw Wan Gai (Green Curry Chicken) green curry paste, chicken,coconut milk, chillies & garlic.

7/ Tom Kha Gai(Boiled Galangal Chicken) combines coconut milk with lemongrass, galangal(Asian ginger)and chicken.

8/ Kao Phad (Fried Rice) fried rice with your choice of meat,egg, onion, cilantro, garlic, and tomotoes.

9/ Massaman Curry (Muslim) concoction of coconut milk,potatoes,roasted peanuts,bay leaves,sugar, cinnamon,tamarind sauce & meat of your choice.

10/ Pad Kra Pao Moo (Spicy Pork) stir-fried pork, with chillies, garlic, basil & onion.

Share with us your
Favourite Thai Food Dishes

Do you have a particular favourite Thai Food dish or meal,you do?, we would love to hear what it is.

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...