Curries are most of the time pre-prepared, but most Thai food is prepared as you order. So it is never a problem to ask for “Mai Pet Maa”, Thai for “not too spicy please”. Even many Thai cannot or do not eat the very spicy food.
Better is to train yourself a little bit into more spicy food :-). You will discover after some time (you need to get used to it), that it works like a stimulus for more intensive taste. And chili helps your body to cool down in the Thai heat. It is good your your health and does not harm you in any way. We should all eat more spicy food.
If you do not like the spicy stuff? Do not worry, there are many non-spicy dishes as well and just remember always ask for “Mai Pet Maa”.
I hardly eat fruit at home. But once in Thailand, I want my fruit every day. There is always plenty of different fruits, many of them are unknown to us. Thai like sweet and sour in fruits, and the border between fruit and vegetable is vague. So they will make salads with all ingredients we know for a salad but with additional apple, sour mango or some other fruit.
Fruits to try
Rambutan
Rambutan - looks like it is alive, but it's just a fruit and tastes a bit like lychee
Mangosteen
Mangosteen - looks like a nut, but is soft inside and has a very perfumed taste. Delicious!
Sweet yellow Mango
Is delicious with sticky rice. One of the nicest deserts in the world: Sticky rice with coconut milk sauce on top and nice ripe slices of fresh cut sweet mango. You'll see it everywhere in Thailand.
Sour green mango
is refreshing and is often used in salads
Pineapple with sugar and chili
On the street you will see a lot of vendors selling pineapple. They cut, put in a plastic bag and you can ask for chili sugar to add to the pineapple. It is a special experience.
Durian
The king of fruit is a very special one. It smells like pee, it tastes like a creamy complex dessert and it is controversial. It's expensive, you cannot bring it into most hotels in Thailand, and most Thai love it.
I was surprised the first time i ate it, that the bad smell is gone once you have eaten it. Nown I love durain. There is no fruit like it.
Should you try Durian? Definitely! Have a small part en try. It could be the best and most tasty fruit you have ever tasted. But you need to get over the smell first.
Thailand is a gourmet heaven. Foodies from all over the world flock together in Thailand every year. Chefs from the best restaurants in the world come here to discover new tastes and textures. Thai cuisine is among the finest and most diverse in the world. On almost every corner of any street, food is sold. You have great restaurants, nice bars and you can enjoy a gourmet holiday here not comparable to anything you have ever tried.
Noodle soups are available on every street corner. It's a soup with some noodles and depending on your choice, chicken, pork or beef is added. You can add fresh vegetables / herbs yourself and you get a set of "seasoning tools" (like fish sauce, chili, vinegar, sugar, ...), to make the taste exactly like you like it. A must try! You eat it with chop sticks and a spoon.
Now the other most interesting food thing in Thailand is the food court. You find them in almost every shopping mall in the basement or top floor. The procedure is easy. You prepay an amount to get a card, with that value. You go to any of the food preparation stalls and you order your food, drinks desserts. You hand over the card and the cost of the food is deducted from your prepaid amount. After finishing your meal you get the rest back at the cashier. It is simple, clean and convenient.
Tip: always put 100 or 200 THB more on the card than what you plan to eat. What you did not spend, you get back anyway, but it saves you the hassle in case you “expand your order” with some rice at 10 THB and then have to go queue up again to top up your card.
Food safety
Well... this is a difficult one. Or no; it is not. I haven spent about 10 months in Thailand now. I have eaten every day between 2-6 times some Thai food.
Most of the times I just buy the food in the street. Sometimes, I eat in local restaurants, sometimes in fancy ones. I have been ill because of food twice in the 9 years traveling to Thailand. Considered the 3 times real food poisoning I had in upper standard restaurants in my home county, Belgium, I think Thailand stands strong.
My mother (as a 75 yo.) traveled for 3 weeks in Thailand and never had any stomach problem with the food. The main reason why you can avoid food poisoning easily in Thailand is that the people are very clean. Food is absolutely their thing and they know all about it... As long as you eat Thai food.
If you go for milk, butter, raw meat, like we often (like to) eat in our Western culture, there you go on the dangerous side. Thai cooking is mainly based on wok and frying. So any germs that could have been on the food are killed by high temperature cooking. If you stick with Thai food, you should be on the safe side.
Let me bring you in the mood, for Thai street food!
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Curries are most of the time pre-prepared, but most Thai food is prepared as you order. So it is never a problem to ask for “Mai Pet Maa”, Thai for “not too spicy please”. Even many Thai cannot or do not eat the very spicy food.
It's a soup with some noodles and depending on your choice, chicken, pork or beef is added. You can add fresh vegetables / herbs yourself and you get a set of "seasoning tools" (like fish sauce, chili, vinegar, sugar, ...), to make the taste exactly like you like it. A must try! You eat it with chop sticks and a spoon.