Thai food is beloved all around the world.

It's unique, exotic, and also boasts a wide range of varieties.

Read ahead!

While traveling in Thailand, one thing you just cannot afford to miss is to explore the delectable Thai cuisine. It's unique in all aspects, be it the taste, cooking techniques, or even dining etiquettes. Whether it's veg or non-veg, the dishes are packed with lots of flavors that would create a sensation in your taste buds, and eventually satiate both your soul & appetite. What's more, it's quite affordable and offers an impressive range of health benefits as well. Without further ado, let's talk about some interesting Thai food facts that you probably didn't know.

It has a perfect balance

Talking about Thai food, the first thing we have to mention is its amazing balance of flavors. It usually consists of four different flavors - salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. They mostly use shrimp paste/fish sauce for saltiness. Also, the sweetness comes from palm sugar, fruits, or coconut milk. Spices like chilies, pepper, turmeric, galangal, basil, lemongrass, etc. are widely used in the dishes.

They use only fresh ingredients

Thais like their food fresh, and never relies on dried or preserved ingredients. Their dishes are made of various fresh fruits and vegetables such as mango, durian, lettuce, beans, and more. They never prefer canned fish/meat for non-veg dishes as well. This freshness is evident in the food's taste as well as texture.

Noodles are a new addition

Most westerners believe that Thais have been eating noodles for centuries (which owes to the extreme popularity of Pad Thai in the west). However, this is surely not the case, and Thais prefer rice more as their staple food. Noodles were first brought to Thailand during World Wat II, to alleviate a rice shortage.

They barely use chopsticks

Contrary to what many believe, the Thais don't use chopsticks to eat their food. They use it only while having Chinese noodles in a bowl, such as Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, Pad Kee Mao, Rad Na, etc. They simply use a spoon (in the right hand) and a fork (in the left hand) at the dining table. Also, they don't need a knife, as almost everything in Thai food is bite-sized.

Thai people love sharing food

Thai people enjoy sharing food, and this is an example of how friendly they are to each other. They eat in big groups and order many different dishes in large quantities. Instead of filling the plate with a particular dish, everyone at the table helps themselves to try small amounts of each dish. They don't like wasting food and take only as much as they can eat.

Some must-try dishes from Thailand are Pad Thai, Tom Yum, Som Tam, Khao Soi, Mango Sticky Rice, etc.