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Thailand is a tropical country near the sea, which is rich in green vegetables, seafood and fruits. So the main ingredients of Thai food are seafood, fruits and vegetables. The main meal of Thai people is a big bowl of rice with one or two curry dishes, a fish, a soup and a salad (lettuce). Eating order is not particular, personal preference. Snacks after meals are usually seasonal fruits or various desserts made of flour, eggs, coconut milk and palm sugar. Because of its unique advantages, Thai food has bright colors, red and green, and excellent eyes. Whether it is the gorgeous freshness of fresh vegetables and fruits, or the meat texture of squid, squid and other seafood, it makes people feast their eyes.
Unique seasoning
Anyone who tastes Thai food for the first time will find the seasoning of Thai food unique. Many seasonings are unique to Southeast Asia and even Thailand and cannot be found in China. The most commonly used seasonings are:
1, Thai lemon
Thai lemon is a unique seasoning fruit in Southeast Asia, which is slightly sweeter than American lemon in taste and personal taste. The Thai lemon is small, sour and fragrant, which often makes people who have smelled its fragrance unforgettable. It can be used as a flavoring agent for lemon juice drinks and beer, and its main use is as a flavoring agent for Thai food. Almost every dish in Thailand is squeezed with lemon juice, which makes every dish exude a rich fruit flavor with a typical Southeast Asian flavor. Thais can say that there is no fish to eat, but they can't live without lemons.
2. Fish sauce
Fish sauce is a typical seasoning in southern Thailand. Some people call it white soy sauce. As the name implies, just like soy sauce, it is similar to Chinese soy sauce. It is mainly fermented by some small fish and shrimp. The taste may make some people uncomfortable, because it has a strong smell of rotten fish and shrimp. Let people who can't get used to the smell of fish cover their noses and run away.
3. Thai pepper
It is said that Thai morning pepper is the hottest pepper in the world. Thai is called "mouse excrement pepper", which shows that this is a very small but very spicy pepper. It is widely used in Thai cooking art. Cooking without a few chopped morning peppers is just like eating Sichuan food without spicy food.
4. curry sauce
Coconut juice is the basic ingredient of curry sauce, and there are many seasonings, including lemongrass, shrimp sauce, fish sauce and more than a dozen local spices and peppers, ranging from mild to extremely spicy, which anyone can choose. Thai culture is deeply influenced by Indian and China cultures. Some people say that the father of Thai culture is India. You can feel the influence of curry sauce on Thai food.
In addition, lemon leaves and lemongrass are also commonly used ingredients in Thai cuisine.
Diversified practice
Thailand's diet is deeply influenced by China, Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian and even Portuguese, but it is unique and unique with various styles. Its practice mainly includes the following points:
1, China wok is on fire. This is a practice similar to Cantonese cuisine. Fresh vegetables with Thai seasoning can stir-fry dishes with extremely fresh taste. The main representative works are: rice noodles (fried with shrimp, pork, eggs and sweet and sour sauce), Thai curry chicken, chicken coconut (chicken juice with lemon and coconut milk) and beef salad.
2. Chinese yam. There is no substitute Chinese at present. It's a bit like a combination of soup and cold salad. Thailand is located in the tropics, so many famous yams have been bred. Among them, the famous papaya salad named "SOMTAM" is mainly made of shredded papaya, shrimp and lemon juice, with fish sauce, garlic and chop suey pepper, which is spicy.
3. stew. The subtropical climate is hot, which breeds rich soup culture. Soup is a lubricant for Thai people to maintain family harmony and enhance their relationship. Therefore, when you come to Thailand, you should drink more soup and drink delicious soup. Lemon and shrimp soup in Thailand tastes unusual, which may be difficult for ordinary people to accept. First of all, the soup is extremely spicy, with a lot of curry in it. Therefore, only people with non-mainstream tastes can like it.
Different places in Thailand have different dishes. Northeasters like to eat glutinous rice with roast chicken. On the other hand, northerners prefer a local sour meat called "NAEM". The food in the south is deeply influenced by the Muslim style in Malaysia, and there are all kinds of raw seafood.
Basic seating forms for Thai people when dining:
Traditional Thais eat on the floor, but now Thai restaurants are in the form of tables and chairs. So the way to eat is no different from ordinary Chinese food. If the diners are of different ages or generations, they will be seated in turn from the upper position near the wall or farthest from the door.
In the early days, the traditional way of eating in Thailand was to fill the rice with banana leaves and then eat it with your hands. Today's Thai tableware is also very simple. The basic tableware is a spoon, a pair of chopsticks and a plate. When eating, put the rice into a disc shape, use a spoon to hold the dishes with soup, and use chopsticks to hold the dishes.
How to eat Thai food
Not used to eating with plates, many people are a little unaccustomed to eating Thai food for the first time. As long as we know the correct method, there will be no difficulty. When eating Thai food, the correct way to eat it is: first scoop a proper amount of white rice on the plate, then mix the food with the rice with a spoon, then scoop the soup from the body to the front with a spoon, and then put the rice up after eating. Because there are many kinds of dishes, don't serve too much rice at a time, so as to avoid the inconvenience of eating all kinds of dishes in a pile. In addition, when eating, don't pour the plate into your mouth for convenience, which is neither elegant nor rude.