Isaan food: the real Thai food
I think if you were to ask most people if they like Thai food the answer would likely be "yes." Thai food is, without question, the most popular South-East Asian cuisine in the world and one of the most iconic types of food overall. However, it surprises me to find out how very few of my western friends who love Thai food, are completely unfamiliar with a very major part of it - Isaan food.
Isaan (sometimes spelled Isan) is pronounced "eee-saan" and is a major part of the country. It consists of twenty provinces in the North East of the country and comprises nearly a third of the landmass of Thailand.
Most people who travel to visit Thailand do not go up there and to be honest there are lots of reasons why that is the case. There isn't much to see up there. The area consists almost entirely of flat farmland and the scenery could be considered to be quite featureless outside of the northern, mountainous areas.
Now another (quite tragic but true) aspect of Isaan is that for the most part it is dreadfully poor. One third of the entire Thai population lives in Isaan but they manage to acquire only 10% of the overall wealth. I think that this lack of income contributed to the citizens becoming very creative with their cuisine and over the eons we ended up with Isaan Food, which is remarkable and you should definitely try it.
Isaan food encompasses a lot of different dishes, but the most famous one is "Som Tum" which is a salad made of shaved papaya (most of the time) or mango. This is put into a giant bowl along with citrus, sugar, red onion, tomato peanuts, and chilis (and a wide variety of other optional things) and then bashed with a giant pestle until all the flavors are mixed together.
It is normally eaten with sticky rice which is used to soak up all the juices that were released during the "smashing process."
This can end up being blisteringly spicy so be careful. I can handle quite spicy food but if i put more than say 5 chilies in mine i wont be able to eat it. I think 1 or 2 chilies is a good way to start for the uninitiated. One time some Thai friends of mine were eating a somtum with more than 20 chilies in it and they invited me to share. I took one bite and spent the next hour with hiccups and drinking water to try to put out the 5-alarm fire on my tongue.
Another staple is called "larb" which is a minced meat salad that can be made from just about anything you can imagine. I have seen one that was made with grub worms and while it tasted fine, I am not a big fan of eating worms so I would say stick with chicken, pork, beef, or fish. Again, this one can end up being very spicy so be sure to ask for not spicy (say "My pet" for Thai) and take it from there.
Roasted meats or sausages are normally served with this as well. My favorite is the roasted pork but again all the other meats are available as well. They are served with different sauces and I think it is best to just take the chef's word for it on which one to use. Whole BBQ fish is a common site here as well.
I think the best part about going to an Isaan restaurant is that it is expected and customary to order for the whole table. Each individual dish is quite cheap so ordering say 10 things for the everyone to share is the name of the game. If one of the dishes ends up being the favorite don't worry, you can always order more. It is expected of you.
There will also be a lot of fresh vegetables served with the meal including lots of fresh herbs. Some of which I don't even know what they are but i recommend trying them all because you never know when you will stumble upon something amazing and unexpected.
While I would imagine it is quite rare to find a restaurant abroad that sells ONLY Isaan food you can probably find a dish or two on the menu of your local Thai restaurant - more likely than not it will be "Som Tum." It should come as no surprise that these places are going to be better in Thailand, and much much cheaper. Isaan restaurants are not just in Isaan, they are everywhere. You could be cruising down the side of some random-ass road in Thailand and there will be an Isaan restaurant. I once lived in a jungle community of just a few hundred people for miles in any direction and we had two of them.
So if you find yourself in Thailand try your hand at this very famous style of Thai food. If you can manage to not like any of it i would be genuinely surprised and even if you don't, it is some of the cheapest food in the land so at least you had an experience! Step away from the Pad-Thai and friend rice and have a look at some of the most authentic but rarely spoken-of Thai food in existence.
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I laughed when you said to step away from the Pad Thai, since I almost always order Pad Thai at Thai restaurants in the UK. I tend to eat Chinese food much more often, so when I do eat Thai, I prefer the different shaped noodles, which have a more lingering and sweet aftertaste.
Interestingly, offhand, I'm quite sure I've seen the larb mincemeat on menus, though not the Som Tum. I do like papaya, and I like mango even better, but rarely ever eat them, as they are exotic luxuries here, really.
I never knew about Isaan as a place, and the economics is eye-opening. It's cool that they celebrate Isaan food outside of Isaan, always a sign of quality and distinctiveness.
I'll try to step away from the Pad Thai next time, but it's difficult for me, as I'm a creature of habit, and when I have a favorite, I tend to rinse and repeat. :)
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go with what you like buddy! I have only had som-tum outside of Thailand once as papaya and mango are indeed luxuries outside of the tropical world. They grow friggin everywhere here so perhaps that is why it is so cheap :) Pad Thai is fine, it't highly sought after over here as well although it is consumed in much greater quantities by tourists than actual Thai people :)
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Eating Pad Thai in Thailand seems nuts for a tourist, though. To go to the trouble of traveling half way across the world to eat the most common dish in your local restaurant! Surely that is the time to quit Pad Thai and try something else. Even for me lol.
When I visited West Africa as a boy, I climbed a few mango and papaya trees. They don't call papayas that in West Africa, they call them paw paws. But my favorite tree in Africa was called the black tumbler tree. It grew these sweet little orange things, the size of a thumbnail, that were contained in pods, which grew in huge bunches. The trees were hard to climb, with long trunks, but those black tumblers were so delicious, each one melting in your mouth like warm ice cream. :)
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Eating Pad Thai in Thailand seems nuts for a tourist, though. To go to the trouble of traveling half way across the world to eat the most common dish in your local restaurant! Surely that is the time to quit Pad Thai and try something else. Even for me lol.
When I visited West Africa as a boy, I climbed a few mango and papaya trees. They don't call papayas that in West Africa, they call them paw paws. But my favorite tree in Africa was called the black tumbler tree. It grew these sweet little orange things, the size of a thumbnail, that were contained in pods, which grew in huge bunches. The trees were hard to climb, with long trunks, but those black tumblers were so delicious, each one melting in your mouth like warm ice cream. :)
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Mouth watered just mentioning Thai food, favorite in Asia for sure. And visited Thailand more than 20 times and never past by Isan land, as you say nothing much to lure people in I suppose. Will keep an eye out for the food though! Good post mate, uprooted and followed!
Awesome man! I love isaan food! There are actually quite a few issan restaurants here on samui. Sometimes they spell it e-san or like you have mentioned above.
But it’s great! I always love having lots of dishes to try many new things, Thai food really is delicious and the best.
But it’s great! I always love having lots of dishes to try many new things, Thai food really is delicious and the best.
One of my favourite things about Asian food in general is having lots of dishes to share and try! Great post :)
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yeah dude! get a friend or two and just go in there and experiment. There is one dish me and a friend had no idea what it was called "Yum Tua Pu" and it is a favorite. When everything on the menu is a dollar, well, you can be wrong from time-to-time. :)
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It's fascinating how an uninteresting place has very good and palatable dishes. After reading the article, even I want try out the larb staple. It's no surprise the foods are affordable as well. After all, most parts of Isaan are dreadfully poor. I wonder if I can get the Larb staple in my country in one of those Thailand restaurant.. I will definitely ask around. I have to try it out.
Som tum? Made of salad. Looking delicious. I will try that.
Roasted meat? Water poured out from my mouth after watching these yummy 😋 foods.
Roasted meat? Water poured out from my mouth after watching these yummy 😋 foods.
Thanks for review about Thai Food, @gooddream I've been post about restaurant in Jakarta, Indonesian.
Thai food is very famous. People who do not like Thai food find it difficult to find in the world. And when i see the pictures of the food you gave, the water came to the tongue. Thank you sir for sharing this testful food item with us. @gooddream
You have given a lot of beautiful food here. I want to eat them. The toys are very fun and test. Thank you very much.
The food at this place is insanely delicious .The Thai food is also very different from other in the way they make it.The spices they put and presentation of the food everything together makes them for a great sight.
More people should try and i promise all you guys will enjoy it.
More people should try and i promise all you guys will enjoy it.
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Maybe someday I will try to taste the food.
I think that its delicious food
looks very tasty and delicious food ..greetings and have a nice weekend
I think that its delicious food
looks very tasty and delicious food ..greetings and have a nice weekend
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