Mountains, rivers and sea

The cooking of the central plains region is what most Westerners think of as Thai food. The area has an extensive river system and fertile soil. This is where you’ll find the capital Bangkok, and therefore sophisticated, wide-ranging cuisine influenced by the royal palaces and the demands of urban society.

Chicken, duck, prawns and freshwater fish are common ingredients. Pineapple fried rice, studded with prawns and Chinese dried sausage or shredded pork, flavoured with curry powder and served in a hollowed-out fresh pineapple shell, is one of central Thailand’s best-known dishes. Thai green curry, perhaps the country’s most famous curry, also hails from the central plains, though it has become ubiquitous.

The north and north-west of the country are mountainous regions with lots of forest. It is cooler here than in the south but still hot by British standards. Sticky, rather than long-grain, is the preferred form of rice. Meat, especially pork, is often used.

Northerners do not eat much raw food or salads as, thanks to the proliferation of trees, they have not experienced a shortage of fuel. One of the most typical northern curries is kaeng hung lay, a braised dish of pork and pickled garlic sweetened with palm sugar and tamarind, and garnished with crisp pork skin and ginger.

In the south, a long coastline stretches east around the Gulf of Thailand, while to the west lies the Andaman Sea. Seafood therefore is common, so too tropical fruits, coconut, chillies and shrimp paste. Near the border with Malaysia, you will traditionally find richer curry flavours and satay. Yellow curries are typical of the south. They are generally much hotter than the better-known red and green curries, and are coloured with turmeric. Another key dish of the region is the rich mussaman curry, made with plenty of dried spices, peanuts and coconut cream.

The north-east of the country is an arid, high-altitude plateau and not particularly wealthy. The food, which tends to be low fat, is very hot and features a lot of herbs but otherwise a fairly limited range of ingredients. On the other hand, people of this area eat insects (some of which are considered delicacies), plus frogs and lizards, making it arguably quite a diverse menu.

Chicken larp or larb, the light yet chilli-hot minced meat salads that are now popular throughout Thailand, hail from the north-east, and probably from China before that. Green papaya salads – also a national favourite – originated in the north-east too, as a snack sold in markets.