Thai Cuisine and Etiquette for Visiting Thailand

By V. Laherty Adams

Thai cuisine

Thai cooking involves lightly prepared dishes with an emphasis on strong, aromatic, somewhat spicy elements.  The four categories of traditional Thai cuisine include: tom (boiled dishes), yam (spicy salads), tam (pounded foods), and kaeng (curries).

For regular groceries, when I was in Thailand for two months, a young woman did my shopping for me; her name was Tarn. When I asked her to buy milk, she asked if I wanted cow’s milk. She sent me pictures of the food items to be purchased via WhatsApp.

There are four Traditional Thai traditions: ingredient tradition, origin tradition, taste tradition, and recipe tradition.

In 2017, seven Thai dishes appeared on a list of the “World’s 50 Best Foods”, an online poll of 35,000 people worldwide. Thailand had more dishes on the list than any other country: tom yam kung, pad thai, som tam, massaman curry, green curry, Thai fried rice, and nam tok mu.

Thai cuisine has used neighboring countries’ influences, the culinary traditions and cuisines of  Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia, over the course of many centuries.

Etiquette for Visiting Thailand

By V. Laherty Adams

Basic etiquette for visiting Thailand includes some key concepts that go along with showing respect for the country and cultures you are visiting. This will establish that you come with goodwill in your heart and plan to behave according to the customs and expectations that all good travelers exhibit. Some travelers arrive to make noise and make a nuisance of themselves. Let this not be you. Have courtesy and learn some elemental customs.

Don’t touch anybody. Learn how to do the ‘wei’, the bow in which you press your palms together in front of your chest and lean forward slightly. If you are a young person speaking with an older person, you raise the level of the hands pressed together to face level. Just hold your hands together in front of your chest or face for a moment, and bow slightly. The greeting is accomplished. No need for shaking hands, or, God forbid, a hug. There are instructional videos on YouTube that show how and when to use the ‘wei.’ To use the ‘wei’ as a visitor to Thailand shows respect for the country, and the people of this culture and shows a willingness to cooperate in behaving well in the country you are visiting and are a guest thereof.

Take off your shoes when entering a building or someone’s hotel room. This requires some extra thought since, as Westerners, it is not our custom and might seem strange. A good thing to do is to keep an eye out for the doorway you wish to enter. If you see shoes outside the door, it is a good reminder to take your shoes off. If you are in a hotel room and have ordered room service, the server who comes to your room with your food will remove their shoes outside your door. It is not at all an overly familiar gesture; it is the highest respect and in keeping with Thai culture.

Don’t point your feet at anyone or anything. Feet can be especially rude in Thailand. Certainly, never point your feet at a monk, a Buddhist statue, or in a temple. Just keep your feet to yourself, and remove shoes when you go inside. If you have your hands full and are trying to hail a taxi or a tuk-tuk, don’t use your foot to do the hailing. Put your items down and hail the taxi or tuk-tuk. There are plenty of apps for taxis.

Don’t mock the royal family – this can land you in jail, and there is no need for it. The freedom of expression as is codified and celebrated in the Western world is a different animal than exists in Asia. Be respectful. You are a guest. Imagine if a visitor to the United States, the UK, or any other Western country began mocking and criticizing its leaders. It just is very rude, and in the case of Thailand, fraught with risk. Thailand has some of the world’s strictest lese majeste laws (mocking of a monarch or leader). Criticizing the King, Queen, or heir apparent, or even talking about them,  can lead to a maximum 15-year prison sentence for each offense. This is just about the most stupid thing you could do in Thailand.

Be respectful of Thai temples. Below are the rules for visiting Buddhist temples in Thailand.

Some of the most beautiful sights in Thailand are the temples. The greenery of the hills and mountains provides a lush setting for the beauty of the temples. These temples have been an essential element of Thai life for over seven hundred years. The strongest religion is Theravada Buddhism.

The Sukhothai Kingdom was the capital of Thailand in ancient times. Temples since then have been a way to glorify Theravada Buddhism, for teaching the Tripitaka (the holy book of Buddhists)  to monks, creating spaces of peace, creating a space for important social events such as marriages, funerals, and holiday festivals. The architecture is spectacular and unique to each temple. There are approximately 34,000 temples in Thailand.

The fact that the temples provide spaces for social uses includes the vital importance that certain rules must be followed:

Temple Rules:

1. Dress modestly – cover bare shoulders. Skirts must come to the knee, and if shorts are permitted, then they must also come to the knee.
2. Take off your shoes before entering the temple
3. Don’t point your feet at anyone, especially the monks or Buddhist images
4. No public displays of affection
5. No smoking or vaping
6. Anywhere in Thailand, don’t mock, ridicule, criticize or imitate royalty
7. Don’t sit on places reserved for monks
8. Keep your head lower than images of the Buddha
9. No alcohol on temple grounds

Incorporating the basic rules of etiquette into your visit to Thailand will show your host country that you respect them and have thought about your trip and how to be a gracious visitor to their country. The kindness, in turn, that this will generate will ensure that you are treated very well in Thailand and that you have represented your own country well. Goodwill will be established all around.