The Cuisine of Phuket, Thailand

Posted on June 8, 2009 - Filed Under Dining

The food of Thailand is popular world wide. Whether the dishes are mild or some of the spicy dishes one has ever experienced, the one thing that sets the heat of the Thai dishes apart from other known dishes using chili peppers, such as the heat from the jalapeno use in Mexican dishes, is that the Thai spicing is very balanced, and the principle of harmony of flavors is applied to every dish. There are ceremonial type concerns that the chefs take care with such as many that work in the luxury Phuket hotels and some of the smaller establishments throughout the city. The combination of Western and Eastern traditional influences has produced a very unique way of cooking, that is distinctively Thai. Because so much is considered with each dish, such as by whom it is cooked or for whom it is cooked for, the occasion for the meal, each dish can vary considerably.

For many years and years, Thai cooking contained fresh vegetables, herbs, and seafood only. The history of the cuisine lies within the Buddhist community, which turned away from the use of big chunks of meat taken from large animals. Meat was always shredded. It has only been relatively recent, that the dishes now use the larger pieces of meat, as the various influences have added this characteristic and as the food has become more popular in the populations of the world that are not Buddhist. The Thai use of chilis is another new development in the history of the flavors. It was not until the 17 Century that the missionaries from Portugal introduced the peppers to Thailand. They brought them to the country from South America and throughout the rest of the century, other travelers have influenced the cuisine as well, such as the French, Dutch and the Japanese. Thailand is a city of mixed cultural backgrounds, and similar to Singapore cuisine, the cultures have added to the pot, creating truly distinguished flavors in the food of the countries in modern times.

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