Thai cuisine is the national cuisine of Thailand.Blending elements of several Southeast Asian traditions,Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components.The spiciness of Thai cuisine is well known.As with other Asian cuisines,balance,detail and variety are of great significance to Thai chefs.Thai food is known for its balance of three to four fundamental taste senses in each dish or the overall meal:sour,sweet,salty,and bitter.
As an acknowledged expert of Thai cuisine David Thompson explains in an interview:"Thai food ain't about simplicity.It's about the juggling of disparate elements to create a harmonious finish.Like a complex musical chord it's got to have a smooth surface but it doesn't matter what's happening underneath.Simplicity isn't the dictum here,at all.Some westerners think it's a jumble of flavours,but to a Thai that's important,it's the complexity they delight in."
Thai cuisine is more accurately described as four regional cuisines corresponding to the four main regions of the country:Northern,Northeastern (or Isan),Central,and Southern,each cuisine sharing similar foods or foods derived from those of neighboring countries and regions:Burma to the northwest,the Chinese province of Yunnan and Laos to the north,Vietnam and Cambodia to the east and Malaysia to the south of Thailand.[citation needed] In addition to these four regional cuisines,there is also the Thai Royal Cuisine which can trace its history back to the cosmopolitan palace cuisine of the Ayutthaya kingdom (1351–1767 CE).Its refinement,cooking techniques and use of ingredients were of great influence to the cuisine of the Central Thai plains.
Thai cuisine and the culinary traditions and cuisines of Thailand's neighbors have mutually influenced one another over the course of many centuries.Regional variations tend to correlate to neighboring states (often sharing the same cultural background and ethnicity on both sides of the border) as well as climate and geography.Southern Thai curry tend to contain coconut milk and fresh turmeric,while northeastern dishes often include lime juice.The cuisine of Northeastern (or Isan) Thailand is similar to southern Lao cuisine whereas northern Thai cuisine shares many dishes with northern Lao cuisine and the cuisine of Shan state in Burma.Many popular dishes eaten in Thailand were originally Chinese dishes which were introduced to Thailand mainly by the Teochew people who make up the majority of the Thai Chinese.Such dishes include chok (rice porridge),kuai-tiao rat na (fried rice-noodles) and khao kha mu (stewed pork with rice).The Chinese also introduced the use of a wok for cooking,the technique of deep-frying and stir-frying dishes,and noodles,oyster sauce and soybean products.Dishes such as kaeng kari (yellow curry)[3] and kaeng matsaman (massaman curry) are Thai adaptations of dishes originating in the cuisine of India and the cuisine of Persia.人工翻譯，僅供參考泰國(guó)菜是泰國(guó)的烹飪方法?；旌狭藮|南亞幾個(gè)傳統(tǒng)的元素，泰國(guó)烹飪重視準(zhǔn)備的菜肴具有強(qiáng)烈的芳香成分。泰國(guó)菜的辛辣是眾所周知的。相對(duì)于其他亞洲國(guó)家的烹調(diào)方法，對(duì)于泰國(guó)廚師來(lái)說(shuō)營(yíng)養(yǎng)的平衡和多樣化以及細(xì)節(jié)有很重要的意義。泰國(guó)菜以味道均衡著稱，如每道菜或整個(gè)大餐涵蓋了三到四種基本味覺(jué)--酸、甜、咸和苦。作為一個(gè)公認(rèn)的泰國(guó)菜專家，戴維湯普森在采訪中解釋道：“泰國(guó)食物并不簡(jiǎn)單。它是通過(guò)用不同元素來(lái)創(chuàng)造一個(gè)和諧組合而完成。就像一個(gè)復(fù)雜的和弦音樂(lè)不管發(fā)生什么，都有一個(gè)平滑的表面。簡(jiǎn)單在這里一點(diǎn)都不是格言。有些西方人認(rèn)為它是一個(gè)混亂的味道，但這就是泰國(guó)菜的重要所在，人們喜歡他的復(fù)雜性。”泰國(guó)菜更準(zhǔn)確地描述為四個(gè)菜系對(duì)應(yīng)的四個(gè)主要國(guó)家地區(qū)：北部，東北，中部和南部，每種烹飪分享了來(lái)源于周邊國(guó)家和地區(qū)的類似食物：緬甸西北部，云南省中國(guó)和老撾北部，越南和柬埔寨的東部和馬來(lái)西亞泰國(guó)的南部。除了這四個(gè)區(qū)域美食，泰國(guó)菜的歷史也可以追溯到大城王國(guó)的世界性的宮廷菜。它的精細(xì)，烹飪技術(shù)和使用成分對(duì)泰國(guó)菜系有很大的影響。泰國(guó)美食和烹飪傳統(tǒng)與鄰國(guó)相互影響了幾個(gè)世紀(jì)。區(qū)域差異往往關(guān)聯(lián)到鄰近的國(guó)家（通常是共享相同的文化背景和種族邊界）和氣候、地理。泰南咖喱往往含有椰奶和新鮮姜黃，而東北部菜系通常包括萊姆汁。東北部的菜系類似于老撾南部的烹飪，而泰國(guó)北部菜系有許多是老撾北部和緬甸山的食物。許多泰國(guó)受歡迎的菜肴原本是由大多數(shù)泰國(guó)華人組成的潮汕人引入到泰國(guó)的。包括米粥，炒米粉和豬肉燉飯。還引進(jìn)了使用鐵鍋的烹調(diào)，油炸的技術(shù)、炒的菜肴，面條，醬油及豆制品。還有些食物像黃咖喱和咖喱雞，是泰國(guó)改編于印度和波斯的烹飪。