I was asked by Tourism Authority of Thailand to host and lecture a group of foreign editors who came to Thailand as guests of the Government. As you probably know that our Prime Minister wanted to promote Thailand to the rest of the world, these quests were invited to see first hand what opportunities exit for tourism, investments etc.

           I received this group at a market by the river and took them by boat to a Thai style house on Nakorn Chaisri river and gave a lecture on the history of Thai cuisine as well as doing a 11 recipes cooking demonstration. I thought that my speech might be useful for the readers of my column as well as the public at large. My next two columns will be devoted to the transcript of this speech.

FIRST COLUMN

INTRODUCTION

           It is my duty today, to give you some background information on Thai food culture. So today I will take you on a historical and cultural journey through Thai food history. I will cook some dishes, which represent typical Thai cuisine. I want to arm you with background information on Thai food culture so that you will be able to appreciate our food not only in terms of its taste but its cultural, historical and even medicinal qualities.

RICE – CENTRAL PAST OF EVERY MEAL & HOW WE EAT THAI FOOD

           In Asian cultures, rice plays the central part of every meal. That is to say that we eat everything with rice…well almost everything. The other important element of every meal, is that, we share many dishes with our family. Unlike the Western eating culture where everyone has his or her own plate of selected food. We have many dishes prepared and put them in platters or bowls and place them in the middle of the table, each person is given a plate with rice and take what ever food they want from the middle of the table. Since everything is already cut up for you in all the dishes, we eat Thai food with fork and spoon. The spoon is in your right hand and the fork is in your left hand. You put food that you want to eat in the spoon and put the spoon in your mouth not the fork. Most Western cultures put the fork, which is in your left hand in your mouth because they have to cut their food. We also use chopsticks in Thailand and we have the Chinese to thank for introducing them to us. But we mainly use chopsticks when we eat noodles or rice porridge, which has many accompanying condiments. Fork and spoons were brought here to Thailand by Westerners but we use them differently.

           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.

INGREDIENTS AND COOKING TECHNIQUES

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. I will demonstrate these early dishes done during this period.

COOKING TECHNIQUE MENU ITEM
Tom or Boiling Gang Liang ( Gang means soup)
Yaang or Grilling Gung Pao (Grilled prawns)
Yum or Salad Yum Ma Muang (Green mango salsa)
Jim or Dip Nam Prik ( Shrimp paste dip)
See attached recipes.

           I have only touched on the beginning of Thai cuisine and alas there is not enough space. In my next column I will continue the story to present day.

1. Pound the garlic in a mortar to a fine paste. Then add the shrimp paste and pound further to mix the ingredients well.

2. Still pounding away, add the chili peppers and small Thai eggplant. Pound to crush the chili peppers and bruise the eggplant a little. Season the mixture in the mortar with pal sugar, fish sauce, if needed and lime juice. Mix by stirring with the pestle. The paste should taste salty, sour and slightly sweet.

3. Spoon the dip into a small dip bowl and serve it with the accompanying vegetable and fried fish.