A lot is written and spoken about the food in Thailand. It is always good to try the original version of it than read about it hundreds of times. Are you ready for a short culinary trip?
Rice
Thais can not imagine their everyday diets without rice. Rice (Khaw) generally mean food. So if you say “Sawadee Ka” (hello) in Thai, the most common answer is “Gin khaw rian” (that literally would mean: have you had rice today). When Thais eat dishes with rice, they do not leave a single rice granule, they believe that in every granule there is Rice God, so you must finish up everything.
Thais can not imagine their everyday diets without rice. Rice (Khaw) generally mean food. So if you say “Sawadee Ka” (hello) in Thai, the most common answer is “Gin khaw rian” (that literally would mean: have you had rice today). When Thais eat dishes with rice, they do not leave a single rice granule, they believe that in every granule there is Rice God, so you must finish up everything.
Alright, we can not prove this information rights, we have not noticed anything like that happening, but legends talk about it, so it really depends on you whether to believe it or not.
Supermarkets have two separate aisles for only rice – they are packed in various sizes bags. The smallest package that I managed to find was 2 kg of Jasmine type rice. Other packages are usually of 5, 10, 20 kg 🙂 This is not at the food depot, but in normal supermarkets. Although, the size of bread section in Lithuania would perhaps surprise Thais as well.
Spiciness
The food Thais eat is always very spicy, if measured by European taste buds. Most Thais are proud of their ability to cook spicy food and then eat it. In cafes or street “restaurants” besides simple ground peppers and salt you can always ask for extra sugar, dried and ground chili, lime juice and chili sauce (very delicious), fish sauce and crushed peanuts. Most people put all these ingredients on the prepared dishes. I do not recommend doing it, the taste only be one – spiciness, you can “cope” with that by eating more rice.
The food Thais eat is always very spicy, if measured by European taste buds. Most Thais are proud of their ability to cook spicy food and then eat it. In cafes or street “restaurants” besides simple ground peppers and salt you can always ask for extra sugar, dried and ground chili, lime juice and chili sauce (very delicious), fish sauce and crushed peanuts. Most people put all these ingredients on the prepared dishes. I do not recommend doing it, the taste only be one – spiciness, you can “cope” with that by eating more rice.
On the streets, in supermarkets or cafes if you decide to order fruit plate, you will get together something similar to sugar – do not be fooled, it is a mix of salt, chili and sugar that Thais put on fruit. The tastes is indescribable (in a negative way). Try it yourselves 🙂
Noodles
Besides rice you can find a lot of Thai noodles or Kuai Tiao. These noodles came from China and slowly were integrated into traditional Thai dishes. Many dishes include noodles. You can find ready-made noodles in the supermarkets that are already boiled or dried. The price is quite low, 20-30 for one package. In Lithuania, similar noodles cost around 2-4 EUR. The most popular noodle dish is Pad Thai with vegetables / chicken / beef / pork / prawns. Mostly every dish is made with the ingredient of your choice, so menus are usually long. Populiariausias patiekalas iš šių makaronų Pad Thai su daržovėmis / vištiena / jautiena / kiauliena / krevetėms / kalmarais arba jūros gėrybėmis. Be ready to read a lot 🙂
Besides rice you can find a lot of Thai noodles or Kuai Tiao. These noodles came from China and slowly were integrated into traditional Thai dishes. Many dishes include noodles. You can find ready-made noodles in the supermarkets that are already boiled or dried. The price is quite low, 20-30 for one package. In Lithuania, similar noodles cost around 2-4 EUR. The most popular noodle dish is Pad Thai with vegetables / chicken / beef / pork / prawns. Mostly every dish is made with the ingredient of your choice, so menus are usually long. Populiariausias patiekalas iš šių makaronų Pad Thai su daržovėmis / vištiena / jautiena / kiauliena / krevetėms / kalmarais arba jūros gėrybėmis. Be ready to read a lot 🙂
Street Food
In Thailand, as in many places in Asia, street food is very popular. From the first sight, street food might seem unhygienic and you might fear to get food poisoning. Nothing like that has happened to us though. Every single time, in every new place we start with street food, we never got ill, I can say that street food is safe. To visit street “restaurants” we choose food streets (the whole street or part of the street where the food is prepared), markets or local food restaurants. The main criteria is the number of people there, locals not tourists. It is convenient for us to eat at the markets, our needs are different, so we can order from separate places, but eat all together. Often we choose food from stalls with the biggest queue of local people and those who cook on the spot.
Children food in Thailand
Our twins were never picky at food. I guess the upbringing also played a big role, you can not eat the food, but you have to taste at least. How else you will find different flavours?
When ordering the food you can always ask to cook it with less spices (mai pet or no chilli) – showing that kids will eat it. Vasarė chooses her food that she understands. Her most popular food is simple rice with chicken. Vakaris has more developed taste in food and his favorite dish is Pad Thai with chicken (not anymore though, perhaps he had it enough).
For dessert children takes Thai pancakes with fruit and chocolate or fresh fruit shakes. Their favorite combination is banana with pineapple and mango.
When ordering the food you can always ask to cook it with less spices (mai pet or no chilli) – showing that kids will eat it. Vasarė chooses her food that she understands. Her most popular food is simple rice with chicken. Vakaris has more developed taste in food and his favorite dish is Pad Thai with chicken (not anymore though, perhaps he had it enough).
For dessert children takes Thai pancakes with fruit and chocolate or fresh fruit shakes. Their favorite combination is banana with pineapple and mango.
What is your favorite Thai dish? Share that in the comments section.
More about food in Thailand you can see and read on our Instagram.
If you have any questions, write me here.
