Thai food is popular worldwide. Thai food is also thought of as one of the healthiest due to the fresh herbs and spices used to flavour the meals. The experience of eating in Thailand however will differ from having a meal at your local Thai restaurant. Thai eating is designed for groups, families and friends who will gather around the table to enjoy the meal together. Each person usually has an individual plate of food such as rice, noodles or soup and on the table will be a variety of other options that are ‘communal’ foods that each person helps themselves to in whatever quantity they wish.

Jasmine Rice (khao hom ma-lee), which is very fragrant, is eaten with every meal, for breakfast, lunch and at dinner. It is usually eaten with a spoon and a fork. In some regions of the southern part of the country, Muslims are known to eat the rice with their right hands. Another popular meal is sticky rice (khao niao) which is very easy to make. This is normally steamed until cooked and sticky and then rolled into balls to be served with the meal and is usually eaten by hand. Chopsticks are used with dishes such as noodle soup although a small spoon is also used with the soup.

Vegetarians are rare in Thailand and so most dishes are cooked using ingredients or sauces, such as fish sauce, that are not suitable for vegetarians. If eating out in Thailand then it is a good idea to tell the chef if you are vegetarian so that food can be prepared in a different manner. There are vegan (a-han-jay) options and many of the larger towns and cities in Thailand will have restaurants specifically for vegans. Thailand does have a vegetarian festival that lasts for two weeks during the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. This falls usually around the end of September and the beginning of October. Many Thai people become vegan for the two week festival and so food free from animal products will be easy to find.

The style of Thai cuisine can vary for each of the four regions. This is due to the fact there are a variation in spices and herbs that are local to each region and is used to prepare the meals giving each regional flavour a distinctly different taste. Typical dishes for each region include for the North, Geng Hang Lay which is a curry without chillies. This is usually made with pork and tamarind and has a sweet and sour flavour. This is often eaten with sticky rice. Khao Soi is egg noodles that come with a curry sauce. Usually containing meat, it is also cooked with lime and both spring and pickled onions. Naem is another pork dish but usually made with pork sausage. It also containing green chillies and it can be eaten with either sticky rice or friend rice and is often consumed raw.

North Eastern dishes consist of meals such as Som Tam which is made with an unripen papaya. It contains peanuts and seafoods such as shrimps or river crab and the Som Tam has a sweet flavour. Gai Yang is barbequed chicken that has been marinated first and is a very simple dish.

The central region has popular dishes such as Tom Yam is a soup which can be made with seafood or chicken and is flavoured with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal. Geng Kiao Wan is a Thai green curry that is made with green chillies and sweet basil and it often contains some form of meat or fish.

The southern regions have delicacies such as Massaman which is a meat curry with a sweet flavour that contains peanuts and coconut cream or Roti which is a dish that is similar to a tortilla or a pancake that can be either sweet or savoury. The sweet varieties are made with ingredients such as bananas or condensed milk and the savoury variety are made with meat curries.

Sweet snacks can be bought at any time of the day from street vendors. A popular snack is unripe fruits dipped in salt. Fruits in general are a very popular snack and can be bought from markets which sell a large variety of fruits by the kilo or slice, mangos and lychees are a very popular buy.

Recent years have seen an increase in the wine consumption throughout Thailand. The central and northern areas of the country produce wine and there are some very famous vineyards located here. Some of the vineyards have tours so that visitors can have a look around, see how the wine is produced and sample some of the produce. The export of Thai wines worldwide is generally for Thai restaurants and so is not yet as well-known as a wine producer as for example France is.