Recent decades have seen Thai food recognised as one of the world’s great cuisines, with scarcely a town, anywhere in the west at least, without a Thai restaurant of its own. Many of these have been established by expatriate Thais, often the wife of a local, but also by visitors to Thailand that have fallen in love with the flavours and diversity of the food they first enjoyed on holiday.
There is no one, single Thai cuisine. Until the 1920s and the completion of the railway network, travel within Thailand was arduous. Journeys were accomplished by elephant, and it could take several weeks to reach the furthest provinces from Bangkok. Consequently, the four main regions, left largely to govern themselves, kept their dialect, culture and culinary traditions intact.
Koh Samui and the southern mainland peninsular, flanked to the east by the Gulf of Thailand and on the west by the Andaman Sea, is famed for its curries, seafood and distinctive use of coconut milk, first introduced from India. The courtly dishes of the north descend from the Royal Lanna cuisine of Thailand’s kings; the herb-filled, high chilli content, earthy recipes of the northeast plateau, along with the abundance provided by their Mekong River; and the sheer inventiveness of the Thais living in the fertile, central, delta region of the Chao Phraya River and its numerous rice-irrigating tributaries, which incorporates influences from each.
Add to this the inspiration and ingredients of the Chinese, who also introduced the wok, Indian spices and the regional cuisines of Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Burma, together with the contributions of European visitors throughout history – the Portuguese brought the chilli from South America – and you have the most incredible diversity.
We’re fortunate on Samui that a majority of the resident Thai population are not indigenous to the island, but instead represent a spectrum of Thailand’s ethnicity covering every region of the country. As a result, much of Thailand’s diversity in terms of food and culture is available to us in its original form, thanks to the island’s guest workers.
While Thailand’s regional fare can be distinctly different, all strive to achieve the optimum balance of flavours in each dish, which in English, we remember as the four S’s: sweet – sour – salt – spice. Common also, to almost all Thai dishes regardless of the region, the origin of the desired salty component of a dish is the use of fish sauce or nam pla. The is liquor produced as a result of pressing fermented anchovies or other small fish, cured with salt. With some variation, fish sauce is used throughout south east Asia, added to dishes during cooking or as a condiment with lime-juice, chopped chilli and garlic or as in Thailand used for both.
The most distinctive aspect of the cuisine is its use of herbs and spices, and particularly – chilli. Thai dishes can be very hot, but Samui, with its long familiarity with western pallets and preferences has learned to tone-down the heat on request. In fact, many restaurants popular with westerners will have a whole menu of farangised (farang=foreigner) dishes, and will only tone it up, closer to its original authenticity if, asked to do so.
Our staff tell us that almost all the herbs used in traditional cookery to impart flavour will also bestow a variety of medical and therapeutic benefits. Thailand has a long history of using herbs for medical purposes, and the practice has evolved to their incorporation into traditional cooking and preparing food. Combined with its low-fat qualities and essential freshness, herb ingredients helps make Thai food one of the healthiest anywhere.
Some of the best Thai food remains anonymous to the average visitor reluctant to enter an informal roadside cafe or approach a street stall that doesn’t display a menu in English or being unable to communicate what they want with the owner. This is a situation that we will try to help improve through this section in the coming weeks.
We will not attempt to compete with the thousands of websites that are dedicated to the subject in one form or another, but to share our knowledge of the local cuisine by way of a photographic journey to which we will add both pictures and descriptions as we broaden our familiarity with what and where it’s on offer.
gai (ไก่) – chicken
moo (หมู)- pork
neua (เนื้อ) – beef
ped (เป็ด) - duck
khay (ไข่) – egg
pooh (ปู) - crab
plaa (ปลา) – fish
kung (กุ่ง) – shrimp
ahaan thalay (อาหารทะเล) - seafood
(may) phet (ไม่) เผ็ด) – (not) spicy
It seems likely that BBQ foods of all description head foreigners popularity list when it comes to Samui’s streetfood, probably because of it’s reassuring familiarity. Chicken and pork satays, usually accompanied by a peanut sauce top the list, but stuffed squid, baby octopus, fish ‘kebabs’ and spicy Issan sausages all make tasty, excellent value roadside snacks.
Thai food
Recent decades have seen Thai food recognised as one of the world’s great cuisines, with scarcely a town, anywhere in the west at least, without a Thai restaurant of its own. Many of these have been established by expatriate Thais, often the wife of a local, but also by visitors to Thailand that have fallen in love with the flavours and diversity of the food they first enjoyed on holiday.
There is no one, single Thai cuisine. Until the 1920s and the completion of the railway network, travel within Thailand was arduous. Journeys were accomplished by elephant, and it could take several weeks to reach the furthest provinces from Bangkok. Consequently, the four main regions, left largely to govern themselves, kept their dialect, culture and culinary traditions intact.
Koh Samui and the southern mainland peninsular, flanked to the east by the Gulf of Thailand and on the west by the Andaman Sea, is famed for its curries, seafood and distinctive use of coconut milk, first introduced from India. The courtly dishes of the north descend from the Royal Lanna cuisine of Thailand’s kings; the herb-filled, high chilli content, earthy recipes of the northeast plateau, along with the abundance provided by their Mekong River; and the sheer inventiveness of the Thais living in the fertile, central, delta region of the Chao Phraya River and its numerous rice-irrigating tributaries, which incorporates influences from each.
Add to this the inspiration and ingredients of the Chinese, who also introduced the wok, Indian spices and the regional cuisines of Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Burma, together with the contributions of European visitors throughout history – the Portuguese brought the chilli from South America – and you have the most incredible diversity.
We’re fortunate on Samui that a majority of the resident Thai population are not indigenous to the island, but instead represent a spectrum of Thailand’s ethnicity covering every region of the country. As a result, much of Thailand’s diversity in terms of food and culture is available to us in its original form, thanks to the island’s guest workers.
While Thailand’s regional fare can be distinctly different, all strive to achieve the optimum balance of flavours in each dish, which in English, we remember as the four S’s: sweet – sour – salt – spice. Common also, to almost all Thai dishes regardless of the region, the origin of the desired salty component of a dish is the use of fish sauce or nam pla. The is liquor produced as a result of pressing fermented anchovies or other small fish, cured with salt. With some variation, fish sauce is used throughout south east Asia, added to dishes during cooking or as a condiment with lime-juice, chopped chilli and garlic or as in Thailand used for both.
The most distinctive aspect of the cuisine is its use of herbs and spices, and particularly – chilli. Thai dishes can be very hot, but Samui, with its long familiarity with western pallets and preferences has learned to tone-down the heat on request. In fact, many restaurants popular with westerners will have a whole menu of farangised (farang=foreigner) dishes, and will only tone it up, closer to its original authenticity if, asked to do so.
Our staff tell us that almost all the herbs used in traditional cookery to impart flavour will also bestow a variety of medical and therapeutic benefits. Thailand has a long history of using herbs for medical purposes, and the practice has evolved to their incorporation into traditional cooking and preparing food. Combined with its low-fat qualities and essential freshness, herb ingredients helps make Thai food one of the healthiest anywhere.
Some of the best Thai food remains anonymous to the average visitor reluctant to enter an informal roadside cafe or approach a street stall that doesn’t display a menu in English or being unable to communicate what they want with the owner. This is a situation that we will try to help improve through this section in the coming weeks.
We will not attempt to compete with the thousands of websites that are dedicated to the subject in one form or another, but to share our knowledge of the local cuisine by way of a photographic journey to which we will add both pictures and descriptions as we broaden our familiarity with what and where it’s on offer.
gai (ไก่) – chicken
moo (หมู)- pork
neua (เนื้อ) – beef
ped (เป็ด) - duck
khay (ไข่) – egg
pooh (ปู) - crab
plaa (ปลา) – fish
kung (กุ่ง) – shrimp
ahaan thalay (อาหารทะเล) - seafood
(may) phet (ไม่) เผ็ด) – (not) spicy
It seems likely that BBQ foods of all description head foreigners popularity list when it comes to Samui’s streetfood, probably because of it’s reassuring familiarity. Chicken and pork satays, usually accompanied by a peanut sauce top the list, but stuffed squid, baby octopus, fish ‘kebabs’ and spicy Issan sausages all make tasty, excellent value roadside snacks.
Deep fried…
Curries…
Tripe – above and below…
Noodles…
Over rice…
Food to go…