Thai food by region, and how to eat it

How does Thai food change by region?

Isan, the northeast

Isan food is light, fresh and spicy, and rarely uses coconut milk. Sticky rice is the staple, eaten with som tam (green papaya salad), larb (a minced meat or fish salad with herbs) and kai yang (grilled chicken). Fermented fish, pla ra, gives many dishes their depth.

The north

Northern, or Lanna, cooking favours smoky and herbal flavours, slow-cooked meats and broths served with sticky rice. Khao soi, egg noodles in coconut curry topped with crispy noodles, is the best-known dish; sai ua, a grilled pork sausage full of herbs, is another. Our Chiang Mai guide covers the region.

The south

Southern food has the most powerful flavours in the country, with plenty of chilli and sour tamarind. Seafood is everywhere, alongside curries such as kaeng som (a hot and sour fish curry), kua kling (a dry, fiery meat curry) and massaman, a mild curry of Muslim origin with potatoes and peanuts.

Central Thailand and Bangkok

Bangkok brings the regions together, with many dishes visitors already know from Thai restaurants abroad: tom yum kung, a sour and spicy prawn soup with lemongrass and lime; tom kha kai, a creamy coconut chicken soup; green curry; and pad kra pao, minced pork or chicken stir-fried with holy basil and chilli, served over rice. Street food is at its most varied here; our Bangkok guide includes an evening in Chinatown.

Which dishes should you try first?

If you are new to Thai food, start mild and work up. Pad see ew (wide rice noodles fried with egg and soy sauce), khao pad (fried rice), massaman curry and kai jeow, a Thai omelette often eaten with rice for breakfast, are gentle on the palate. Som tam, tom yum and pad kra pao are usually much hotter. For dessert, mango with sticky rice and coconut cream is a favourite.

How do Thais eat?

• Spoon and fork. Rice dishes are eaten with a spoon in the right hand; the fork is used to push food onto the spoon, not to put food in your mouth.
• Chopsticks for noodle soups. They are not used for rice or for most dry dishes.
• Sharing. Apart from individual soups, dishes go in the middle of the table. Take a little at a time onto your own rice.
• Sticky rice by hand. In Isan and the north, sticky rice is often rolled into a small ball with the fingers of the right hand and used to pick up food.
• Small courtesies. Pass dishes and pay with your right hand, leave a little food on your plate to show you are full, and call staff with a quiet word or a palm-down wave rather than by snapping your fingers.
• Tipping. It is not compulsory, but rounding up or leaving around 10% in sit-down restaurants is appreciated; leaving just one or two baht can seem rude.

Street food tips

Choose stalls that are busy with Thai customers and cook food to order in front of you, with raw meat and fish kept on ice. Cooked food is safer than raw salads if your stomach is not used to the local diet, and whole fruit you peel yourself is safer than pre-cut fruit. Do not drink tap water; restaurants normally use purified water for drinks and ice. If you prefer milder food, ask for ไม่เผ็ด (mai phet, "not spicy"); condiments on the table, such as fish sauce with chillies, sugar and dried chilli, let you adjust the taste yourself. Food in Thailand is also part of giving and merit-making: our guide to lucky symbols and beliefs explains the morning alms round.