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Thai Cuisine
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Thai cuisine uses some of the most exotic ingredients you can imagine - coconut, lime, coriander, lemongrass and fish sauce. Chillies also crop up fairly often - you might want a bottle of water on standby!
Thailand is a relatively small country and a lot of the ingredients crop up again and again, but it still has its fair share of regional specialities.
Inherent to all meals is the idea of bringing together spicy, salty, sweet and sour flavours, which is perhaps one of the reasons Thai cuisine is so interesting. |
Thai officials have brought in a set of rigorous standards to ensure food is up to scratch, and the market stalls and restaurants that meet them are allowed to proudly display a sign that says ‘Clean Food, Good Taste'.
Thai Cuisine - Savoury dishes
Khao Pad - fried rice
Jasmin rice is fried with meat or fish, tomato, garlic, egg and a carefully chosen blend of flavourings. Coconut and pineapple are sometimes thrown in, too.
Pad Thai
Rice noodles, stir-fried with fish sauce and served with meat, fish such as shrimp, or bean sprouts. Pad Thai comes with a bit of a tang, from lime juice or tamarind pulp (the same stuff that goes into HP sauce!), and a bit of a kick, from chilli powder. |
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Pad Kee Mao
Also known as drunken noodles, presumably because of the brandy in it, pad kee mao is stir-fried noodles, garlic, some kind of meat and spices.
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Tom Kha Gai
Chicken, lemongrass, coconut milk and a few extra ingredients are boiled up to make a fragrant, slightly spicy soup.
Gaeng Khiew Waan
Gaeng khiew waan, or green curry, is... green. There are meat, fish and vegetable green curries, and they're made from coconut milk, lime, aubergines, the omnipresent fish sauce and more.
Tod Man
Delicious fish cakes. |
Som Tam
A sort of salad dish that has less greenery and more fire than you'd expect. The main ingredient is papaya, which is grated and tossed with crab, lime, chillies, fish sauce and a small amount of sugar.
Thai Cuisine - sweet things
Coconut milk is used to make a variety of desserts, such as kanom chun and kanom tan, but there are plenty of good reasons to opt for the healthy option in Thailand.
As well as coconuts, mangos and pineapples, there's rambutan (imagine a bright pink lychee), sapodilla (a fruit that looks like a potato, but has sweet, brown flesh), guava (whose taste has been compared to pears) and the king of Thai fruits, the durian - a giant, foul-smelling ball which tastes a bit like custard and is revered, for some reason, by many Thais. |
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Thai Cuisine - drinks
Thanks to the abundance of fruit, there are 101 varieties of smoothies and juices, including coconut water. Beer and wine are expensive but whisky is affordable - Mekong is one of the best to try.
If you are thinking about a gap trip to Thailand you'll be able to try Thai cuisine for yourself. Check out our gap trips to Thailand below.
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Learn the techniques of Muay Thai, discover the culture and language, visit a temple, meditate with Buddhist monks, and lounge on the famous Thai beaches. An excellent, unusual introduction to Thailand, with various project lengths available. |
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Earn some money, help out others and experience three very beautiful countries. Get everything you need to find work in Oz and NZ and discover the real Thailand through volunteer placements, trips – and time on the beach! |
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This programme is temporarily unavailable. Please contact us for details. This 40 hour online TEFL course allows you to learn at your own pace, when and where you like, to fit around your life schedule allowing flexibility and plenty of time for you to gain the most out of the course. |
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This programme is temporarily unavailable. Please contact us for details. A 60 hour online TEFL course that is slightly more comprehensive with an extra 20 hours gaining a specialist certificate in grammar. Learn at your own pace online and gain your TEFL qualification in your own time! |
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This programme is temporarily unavailable. Please contact us for details. A complete and comprehensive 80 hour online TEFL course that includes everything that the 40 and 60 hour courses include with the addition of 20 hours in 4 specialist teaching certificates and a lifetime access to teaching helpdesk. |
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Travel through the USA, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand and India during an unforgettable gap year. Fit in volunteer placements, excursions, paid work opportunities, cultural activities and loads more – but also have time to do your own thing. |
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Dive around Koh Tao, develop your media skills and earn money! You’ll be taught to record, edit and produce DVDs of the dive centre’s customers, and then to sell them to the customers. |
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An excellent opportunity to teach Thai children and contribute to the local communities in a positive way – they’re really keen to learn English as this enhances their future employment opportunities. |
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Experience Thailand through a unique combination of activities. Take a PADI scuba diving certificate, trek through jungle and rainforest, stay in a Buddhist temple - a rare privilege for travellers - and get to grips with the Thai language. |
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Help mahouts (elephant riders) in the ecological centre as they take care of the elephants. Join them for weekly exercise in the national forests of Thailand! |
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Spend the night in a Buddhist temple, take part in a community project or trek through a national park, watch some fire dancing and snorkel off the island of Koh Samet. An unforgettable introduction to Thailand!
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Get involved with innovative and highly successful work to return gibbons to the wild. Study them, help care for them on a daily basis and just enjoy watching them interact against a stunning natural background. |
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Work with the traditional hill tribes of northern Thailand, teaching, building and getting involved with new projects. If you’re patient, compassionate and creative, and interested in new cultures, this is an ideal project. |
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Spread a little happiness through Thai orphanages. Give informal English lessons, work with the children in the garden, run sports and craft sessions and generally show them compassion and enthusiasm. |
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Choose a diving programme to suit you and learn or hone your skills in Thailand’s beautiful blue waters. Take the instructor programme and gain the necessary qualifications to work in a scuba diving centre. |
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Help with the day-to-day care of sick and disabled wild animals. You might be preparing food for bears, crocodiles, big cats or other animals, or assisting with building enclosures. You might even get to go on a night safari! |
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Combine paid work, volunteering and travelling into one fantastic gap year. Everything from flights to job offers is included – that means less hassle, and more chances to get the best out of Africa, Australia and Thailand! |
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Discover why so many travellers love this part of the world! Volunteer in India, spend eight weeks in Thailand and work with the wildlife in Malaysia. You’ll get to see things many people miss. |
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