Articles · Learning path · First taste

Thai food stories and science

20 lessons: vanishing dishes, little-known history, the science of flavour, UNESCO food cities and safety you should know.

20 lessons · about 107 min in total

  1. 1 Tom yum kung and UNESCO: what the 2024 heritage file actually recordsTom yum kung joined UNESCO's intangible heritage list in December 2024. What the file says about who it belongs to, how it is passed on, and what Thailand must protect. 5 min read
  2. 2 Mae Khrua Hua Pa: Siam's 1908 cookbook, its weighed recipes and lost dishesLady Plean's cookbook began as a magazine column around 1888-89 and became a book in 1908. How to convert its baht weights to grams, and why some dishes vanished. 6 min read
  3. 3 Khao chae: from Mon Songkran rice to a royal dish, and when it reached the courtKhao chae began as the Mon Songkran rice. Sources split on whether it reached the palace under Rama II or Rama IV. Plus clay pots, candle-smoked water and side dishes. 6 min read
  4. 4 Before chillies: where Thai food got its heat, and when chillies arrivedChillies came from the Americas and reached Asia with Portuguese traders in the 16th century. Before that, Thai heat came from pepper, long pepper, ginger and galangal. 5 min read
  5. 5 Phetchaburi's lost tastes: nam phrik lam paen, phat ai khui and a dish to skipThree Phetchaburi dishes in Thailand's Lost Taste project: what goes in them, their seasons, why they faded, and why the horseshoe crab egg dish is to know, not eat. 5 min read
  6. 6 Khanom jeen is not Chinese: a Mon name and a fermented rice noodleKhanom jeen is a rice noodle widely traced to the Mon. What the name means, fermented versus fresh noodles, what fermentation does, and why it keeps only days. 5 min read
  7. 7 Sticky rice is one gene away from ordinary rice, and why Isan and Laos eat itSticky rice sticks because its Waxy gene is broken, so its starch is almost all amylopectin. The mutation arose once, and Laos is still the heart of sticky rice. 5 min read
  8. 8 Pattani budu: 9-15 months of fermenting, 18-29% salt, different in every bottleBudu is salt-fermented anchovy from Thailand's far south. Pattani research gives ratios, time and saltiness; a Malaysian study found microbes differ by bottle. 5 min read
  9. 9 What makes fish sauce smell: Thai research on its key odour compoundsThai researchers fermented fish sauce from anchovies of three coasts for 18 months, sniffed it compound by compound with GC-O, and found 18 standouts that vary by catch. 6 min read
  10. 10 How hot is a Thai bird's eye chili? Lab data, and why first picks burn mostKasetsart researchers measured heat in 10 Thai chili cultivars by HPLC: most 50,000-80,000 SHU, one only 20,250, and every cultivar hottest at its first harvest. 5 min read
  11. 11 Holy basil vs Thai basil: two species, two smells, and how to get real kaphraoKaphrao is Ocimum tenuiflorum, peppery and clove-like; horapha is Ocimum basilicum, sweet like anise. Check the hairs, the stem and the smell, and how to order abroad. 5 min read
  12. 12 Pad, phat or phad? Why Thai menus spell dishes differently, and the RTGSThailand's official RTGS spells ผัด as phat, yet most menus say pad. A study of 15 Thai menus in Paris found they did not follow it. How to read menus right. 5 min read
  13. 13 Horseshoe crab eggs in Thailand: tetrodotoxin, no antidote, and why to skip themOne Thai horseshoe crab carries tetrodotoxin that cooking does not destroy and no antidote reverses. Real case numbers from Chon Buri, the warning signs, and what to do. 5 min read
  14. 14 Durian and alcohol: is the warning real, and what has research proved?Durian extract blocks an alcohol-clearing enzyme in a test tube, and rats fed durian cleared acetaldehyde more slowly. No human trial yet: what is proven, what is not. 5 min read
  15. 15 Is MSG bad for you? What double-blind trials actually foundWhen people did not know if they got MSG or a placebo, reactions were few, did not repeat, and vanished with food. What JECFA, FASEB and FSANZ found, and sodium vs salt. 5 min read
  16. 16 Wild mushrooms in Thailand's rainy season: why folk poison tests failBoiling with rice, a silver spoon or insect bites cannot spot a poisonous mushroom, and some toxins survive cooking. 2026 case counts, symptoms, and when to call 1669. 5 min read
  17. 17 Why Thai tea is orange: Sunset Yellow, the Thai FDA limit and what tests foundThe bright orange in Thai tea comes from the synthetic colour Sunset Yellow FCF, not the leaf. The legal limit, what 2025 tests found, and how to drink it sensibly. 7 min read
  18. 18 Phuket's Baba food: the UNESCO food city, from moo hong to o-aewPhuket has been a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy since 2015 because of its Baba cooking. What each dish is, where it comes from, how to order, and allergy watch-outs. 6 min read
  19. 19 Phetchaburi, UNESCO food city of three tastes: salt, palm sugar, limeA UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy since 2021, built on three local tastes: sea salt, toddy palm sugar and lime. The dishes and sweets to know, and a one-day plan. 5 min read
  20. 20 What the Thai GI mark on food guarantees, how many there are, examplesA Thai GI is a name tied to a place; the gold GI mark means a producer passed local controls. Why counts say both 239 and 252, and GI foods by province. 6 min read