A TASTE OF ADVENTURE
Cuisine can vary greatly between provinces, and the only way to truly sample them all is to do some travelling By Suthon Sukphisit
Travelling brings knowledge as well as pleasure and excitement. As we explore new places we find out about their famous sites, religion, traditions and society. But just as importantly, we have the opportunity to taste and learn about new food; local dishes not to be found elsewhere.
Tasting them and learning how they are made can give an insight into traditional folk knowledge and how it makes use of products from the local environment to create dishes that reflect the character of the region. Exploring local cuisine helps give travellers a detailed picture of the place they are visiting.
A local cuisine can encompass many kinds of dishes, depending on the size and diversity of the area that creates it. If the locality is small and quiet, the people there may prefer to eat at home with their family. Food sold in shops and restaurants will be simple dishes, noodles or basic favourites made to order.
In an average-sized amphoe (districts) the variety of foods will be greater, especially near government offices, but in a large amphoe the choice will be greater still: noodles, rice with curry (including local and southern types), and Isan dishes. There will be one-dish meals like khao muu daeng (rice with Chinese red pork), khao khaa muu (rice with Chinese-style stewed pork leg), phat Thai, khao tom (rice soup) shops, and restaurants with extensive menus. These larger places might cater to guests from the government or prepare food for special occasions.
Major amphoes will also have informal morning markets that move about among the different local communities on a rotary basis, offering a wide range of foods made by many different cooks.
Every local cuisine has a character of its own that comes from the local environment. A seaside area, an agricultural region, a place that is mountainous, rich in livestock, or is heavily forested — each will have local dishes that reflect these features.
There will also be details that tell about the mix of ethnic and traditional communities in the region. In the South, for example, there are two coastlines. One, facing the Gulf of Thailand, includes Chumphon, Surat Thani, and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces. The local food eaten there is southern, made from saltwater fish and extremely spicy. Breakfast is usually coffee eaten together with khanom
jeen (fermented rice noodles) and sauces called nam yaa and nam phrik.
Phatthalung province faces onto Thailand’s largest freshwater lake and is home to southern-style dishes made with freshwater fish. The local version on kaeng lueang (a superhot variant of the Central Thai soup called
kaeng som) is made with hearts of coconut palm and either fermented catfish, semi-dried pla salit (a flat freshwater fish), or deep-fried
pla nuea awn (another local freshwater fish with a blade-like shape).
Provinces facing onto the Andaman Sea, however, eat different foods. Phuket, Phangnga, Krabi and Trang have as many ethnic Chinese residents as indigenous Thais, and the food consists of southern dishes that are not too spicy. Breakfast is often khanom jeen with nam yaa, dim sum, Trang-style grilled pork, Hokkien-style fried wheat noodles and bakuttay (a soup made from simmered bones). Farther south in Satun province, which has a predominantly Muslim population, the diet is primarily Islamic.
There are many more examples of the way a locality’s environment can influence its food. Nakhon Pathom, for example, has many large pig farms, so it is not surprising that many of its best-known local dishes are pork-based, especially Nakhon Pathom-style khao muu daeng. There are shops in the province that make both normal and crispy roast pork that is sold retail to buyers in Bangkok. Khao muu daeng, ba-mee muu daeng (wheat noodles with Chinese red pork) and kui tio muu (pork noodles) made with the local pork are sold throughout Ratchaburi, Ban Pong and Photharam.
Phetchaburi is a very large province that includes both coastal areas and mountains, and its inhabitants include minority ethnic groups. It is a major producer of palm sugar and its food is some of the best made in the Central Thai style. Some dishes are sweeter than they are when made in other parts of the Central Region. No one is ever disappointed by the food they order at Phetchaburi’s curry and rice shops, and sweets and desserts don’t get any better than the ones made there. It is amazing to see that between 4am and 7am, along one of the roads in the middle of the city, there is a row of stalls extending more than 100 metres that sell sweets of every kind. There is no sweeter street in all of Thailand.
Ayutthaya is close to Suphan Buri, where there are farms that raise freshwater prawns as well as pla salit and pla chon, two popular types of freshwater fish. Restaurants and food stalls will all have grilled prawns for sale.
One thing to remember when seeking out local dishes around Thailand is that each has a character and flavour that reflects local preferences. Visitors from Bangkok or other places outside the region will do well to get ready to adapt to something new and forget what they are used to.
Common noodle dishes provide some good examples. The kui tio muu served at Raan Lung Phut at Si Samrong district in Sukhothai and the version prepared at the phat Thai and pork noodle place next to Wat Thong Khung in Ang Thong, both famous, are two very different things. The kui tio kai cheek (noodles with hand-torn chicken meat) at Wat Jao Jet, Sena, Ayutthaya and the kui tio muu made by Pa Huay in Photharam, Ratchaburi also have distinctive identities. One popular noodle dish is sen lek nam
tom yam (fine-gauge noodles in sour-spicy broth). Most shops that serve it add only ground pork, but Pa Huay also puts in chopped Chinese radish and finely-cut hard tofu. The most prominent taste is sweetness, and this characteristic is typical of authentic Thai-style noodle dishes, although those used to Bangkok offerings may not like it.
Some people are convinced that phat Thai has to include shrimp, and when they find it made with no shrimp but with pieces of sour fruit sprinkled on top they think that they are being served some perversion of the real thing. The truth is that this is the way the dish was originally made.
Other examples are the grilled jaeng lawn sold at Sapsin Market in Chon Buri City and the grilled haw moke available at the Ban Krut market at Bang Saphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan. Both are made from sea fish with the seasonings used to make traditional haw moke (seafood and herbs steamed in a curried coconut custard) but are grilled and have a firm, not overly moist texture. Here again the dominant impression is of sweetness and, as with the noodles, they are not adaptations but the authentic original local recipes.
If you are willing to put aside your usual expectations of how certain dishes should taste, you open the way to some unforgettable experiences savouring local versions that show new aspects of familiar favourites.
You may even find that you prefer them, and your knowledge of the amazing diversity of Thai food will be enriched.