Phetchaburi, UNESCO food city of three tastes: salt, palm sugar, lime

Phetchaburi became a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in 2021 and goes by the nickname “city of three tastes”, because one province has first-rate ingredients for all three: salty sea salt, sweet toddy palm sugar and sour lime. This article covers where the three tastes come from, which dishes define the city, and how to plan a day of eating there. It does not recommend shops.

When Phetchaburi got the title

The Tourism Authority of Thailand announced on 22 November 2021 that Phetchaburi had joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for gastronomy, the fifth Thai province in the network.

Year	City	Field
2015	Phuket	Gastronomy
2017	Chiang Mai	Crafts and folk art
2019	Bangkok	Design
2019	Sukhothai	Crafts and folk art
2021	Phetchaburi	Gastronomy

So Thailand has two UNESCO food cities, Phuket and Phetchaburi. For the other one, see Phuket’s Baba food.

Thai news coverage summed up the reasons as rich biodiversity and ecosystems, high-quality local ingredients, and traditional recipes kept alive by communities. UNESCO’s page says more than 500 groups of community cooks, artisans and food businesses make up the sector, that the city’s food strategy runs from 2022 to 2027, and that it plans a public Phetchaburi Gastronomy Information Centre for research.

Where the three tastes come from

Phetchaburi people explain their three tastes by three places:

Taste	Ingredient	Known area	Where it shows up
Salty	Sea salt	Ban Laem	Saltiness in savoury dishes
Sweet	Toddy palm sugar	Ban Lat	Almost every dish, savoury and sweet
Sour	Lime	Tha Yang	Sourness in savoury dishes

Toddy palm sugar (nam tan tanot) is the city’s star. Thai PBS World describes it as a sweetener found in almost every Phetchaburi dish.

Locals also say that because ingredients are so plentiful, Phetchaburi people like strong flavours, hotter, sourer and saltier, using more seasoning than usual for a bolder taste. Visitors should start with less heat; see Thai spice levels and the words to use.

Palace kitchens and home kitchens

Phetchaburi was once a trading post between the east and west coasts of the Malay Peninsula. Thai PBS World notes that the Ayutthaya court brought new customs and tastes in the 17th century, and the Rattanakosin court brought new cooking techniques in the 19th. Phetchaburi food mixes village cooking with palace cooking.

One interesting trace is an old rhyme someone found written in Wat Yai Suwannaram: “mu hong kaeng no mai haeng”, pork hong with dried bamboo shoots, a close relative of Phuket’s moo hong. Chinese and Thai kitchens have been mixing in many Thai towns for a long time.

The dishes to know

Savoury dishes the Tourism Authority and Thai PBS World name as the city’s own:

• Kaeng khua hua tan: a curry made with hua tan from the toddy palm, the same tree that gives the sugar.
• Khanom chin thotman: fermented rice noodles with fried fish cakes. For where the noodle comes from, see where khanom chin comes from.
• Khao chae: rice in chilled water, eaten with several side dishes.
• Kuaitiao nam daeng: noodles in a red soup.

Sweets

• Khanom mo kaeng: a baked custard sweetened with palm sugar.
• Khanom tan: a soft, fluffy toddy palm cake.
• Thong muan, alua and thong yot.
• Lot chong namtan khon: pandan noodle jelly with thick cooked-down palm sugar.

According to the Department of Intellectual Property, Phetchaburi khanom mo kaeng (khanom mo kaeng mueang phet) and Phetchaburi palm sugar (nam tan tanot mueang phet) are registered Geographical Indications (GI): the name is tied to the area and to the production rules on the register. For what the GI mark does and does not promise, see Thai GI food.

Khanom mo kaeng and khanom tan get their sweetness from toddy palm sugar. When buying gifts, read the label for palm sugar, not just the town’s name on the box.

Worked example: a one-day plan by the three tastes

Say you leave from Bangkok, about 160 to 175 km away depending on the source.

1. Travel time. At an average of 80 km/h: 160 ÷ 80 = 2 hours, up to 175 ÷ 80 ≈ 2.2 hours. Leave at 7 a.m., arrive around 9 to 9:30.
2. Late breakfast (sour and salty). Khanom chin thotman, light enough for the morning.
3. Lunch (all three tastes). Kaeng khua hua tan with a chilli dip made with local lime and salt, plus rice, or khao chae if you want something cool.
4. Dessert (sweet). Khanom mo kaeng or lot chong namtan khon. Share: they are very sweet.
5. On the way home. Buy palm sugar or khanom tan. Fresh sweets are best eaten the same day or kept in the fridge.

That is all three tastes in four dishes, with about 4 to 4.5 hours of driving there and back and the rest of the day for eating and walking.

The dishes that are fading

Besides the famous dishes, Phetchaburi has local food that younger people barely know, recorded by the Ministry of Culture’s Lost Taste project, such as nam phrik lamphaen and phat ai khui. Read more in the lost tastes of Phetchaburi, which also explains why we do not suggest trying sticky rice with horseshoe crab eggs.

Common mistakes

• Treating toddy palm sugar and coconut sugar as the same. They come from different trees and taste and smell different.
• Ordering your usual heat at a local place. Phetchaburi likes it bold. Start lower and add.
• Eating several sweets in one sitting. Khanom mo kaeng, thong yot and lot chong namtan khon are all very sweet. Share them.
• Keeping fresh sweets for days. Sweets made with egg and coconut milk spoil fast in hot weather; see storing Thai leftovers.

Summary

Phetchaburi became a UNESCO food city in 2021 thanks to three tastes in one province: Ban Laem salt, Ban Lat palm sugar and Tha Yang lime. Dishes to eat are kaeng khua hua tan, khanom chin thotman, khao chae, kuaitiao nam daeng, and sweets made with toddy palm sugar. It works as a day trip; start with less heat and check gift labels for real palm sugar. The next article in this series explains what the GI mark on Thai food actually guarantees.

Sources

• Phetchaburi, Creative City of Gastronomy — UNESCO
• Phetchaburi honoured with UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy status — TAT Newsroom
• Phetchaburi: A small town with a big flavour — Thai PBS World
• UNESCO lists five Thai provinces as creative cities (Thai) — Thai PBS
• Geographical Indications in Thailand (presentation, Thai) — Department of Intellectual Property
• The origin of mu hong with dried bamboo shoots (Thai) — Silpa Wattanatham