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The History of Thai Cuisine

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The History of Thai Cuisine

By M.L.Sirichalerm Svasti from www.Mcdang.com/HomeB.asp "Gateway to Thai food and resturant" - Thai's most favorite food website

For some people, Thai Food may remind them of "hot and spicy" or "very hot", but I can tell that Thai Food is not only lots of chilli.

 Thai History a brief summation

Thai history can be roughly divided into 4 main periods. The first is the Sukhothai period 1238-1350. It is called Sukhothai period because the center of the first Thai civilization was at the city of Sukhothai in the northern part of present day Thailand. Then came the Ayuthaya period 1350-1767. Yes as you guessed it the capital moved south to the city of Aythaya. This was the longest period, so far in Thai history when Siam opened up to the rest of the world and traded. Thai culture flourished and there were many outside influences, which transformed and developed Thai cuisine further. Now we see Thai cuisine come into its own, with its unique characteristics. As Ayuthaya fell to the invading Burmese, our capital moved down river to Thonburi (1767-17820). This period, under King Taksin the Great, Thailand spent most of its time recapturing land lost to the Burmese. This Thonburi period was brief only 15 years when the capital moved across the river to Bangkok. Rattanakorin period was born under the present Chakri Dynasty 219 years ago (1782-present). Thailand flourished the most in the arts and culture during peacetime.

Sukhothai Period

Historically speaking, the kind of food we make is governed my two main elements. The first is the raw materials for cooking and the second is the cooking utensils and implements. In the early day of Thai culinary history,(Sukhothai period), there were only four cooking techniques available for our forefathers or cooks. It was a given that we already have fire to cook with. First we can boil food in an earthen pot, this cooking technique in Thai is called “Tom” which means boil. Then we have dips or “jim” in Thai cooking repertoire. At that time we have pestle and mortar to ground things up and we had lots of salt to preserve food and one of the preserved foods very common in Thai cuisine is Kapi or shrimp paste. From this shrimp paste we can make all kinds of spicy dips to be eaten with cooked or fresh vegetable and various grilled meats. The availability of fresh vegetables and fresh fish and all kinds of fresh water animals gave rise to another cooking technique “Yum” or salad. The last cooking technique is “Yaang” or grilling. Usually fish and small game is grilled over an open fire and eaten with dipping sauce. These cooking techniques did not change much during the Sukhothai period.

Other cooking techniques Ayuthaya Period

As Siam opened up during the Ayuthaya period, we traded with many nations in Asia and with the West. China had great influences in Thai cooking. From the Chinese we enlarged our collection of cooking utensils and tools, consequently our cooking techniques expanded. Now we can steam things with Chinese bamboo steamers and fry things with Chinese wok.

These cooking techniques have stayed with Thai kitchen to the present day. Woks were especially versatile because you can use it to boil, toast, fry, and steam. It is so popular and versatile that Thais think that we invented this cooking implement! We call it Thai frying pan. So I want to apologize our Chinese guests for being so presumptuous and thank them for this remarkable invention.

Thai Food nowaday

In conclusion, Thai food has changed a great deal through the ages. But Thai food still retains its uniqueness and has become more and more popular. Cooking Thai requires your understanding of the ingredients, what they do to the flavor of the dish. You cannot follow blindly Thai recipes and expect the food to come out tasting like you have them in restaurants or people’s home in Thailand. This is because of the natural nature of the ingredients we use. One bottle of fish sauce of the same brand may be saltier than the next, one lump of palm sugar may be sweeter than the next, one batch of shrimp paste may be saltier than the next…you get the idea. It is, therefore, very important that you know and understand your ingredients and taste your food that you cook before you serve it every time. Cooking Thai is not difficult. But the problem is in the many ingredients you have to prepare before actually starting to cook. Our food is very fragrant so ventilation in your kitchen is very important.



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