{"id":6027,"date":"2013-01-26T09:30:19","date_gmt":"2013-01-26T02:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/?p=6027"},"modified":"2020-07-26T20:15:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T13:15:05","slug":"introduction-to-isan-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/introduction-to-isan-food","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to Isan Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

It might come as a surprise to some, but Thailand is actually a fairly big country, with many regional differences, including language, culture and perhaps most noticeably, cuisine. And when it comes to Thai cuisines, perhaps none is more distinctive or unique (or popular for that matter) than the legendary Isan cuisine<\/strong>, from the Northeast of Thailand.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Isan<\/a>

Thai Isan Food – Lab Gai<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Isan food<\/strong> is based primarily on sticky rice, along with vegetables, spices and fish. Although meat is also used, Isan folk will use far less than what\u2019s used in the heartier dishes seen in central Thailand. Isan food<\/strong> also tastes far more pungent than other Thai foods, due to its heavy reliance on spices for flavoring.<\/p>\n

The Northeast is one of the main rice-growing areas of Thailand, and so the food would typically be prepared in the morning, so the workers could take it into the fields with them to eat later on.<\/p>\n

For this reason, Isan food<\/strong> is not served hot (although you can\u2019t exactly call it cold either, given Thailand\u2019s typical day time temperatures!). The sticky rice was  stuffed into small bamboo containers, while the rest of the food was wrapped in banana leaves.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most classic of all Isan dishes<\/strong> is Laap<\/i>, an exotic blend of red and green chilies mixed together with fish sauce, meat (pork, chicken or beef), onions and herbs, which is typically eaten with sticky rice. Isan people traditionally eat with their hands, taking small balls of the glutinous rice and dipping them into the Laap<\/i>, before eating them.<\/p>\n

Som Tam <\/i><\/a>salad is equally famous amongst Isan foods<\/strong>, and popular across the whole country, not just in the Northeast. Most commonly made from Papaya, it can actually be made using various different fruits and vegetables, including mango, and is known for its red hot spicy taste. Som Tam <\/i><\/a>can be eaten with sticky rice, or else noodles and other vegetables also go well with it.<\/p>\n

Finally, we must not forget that simple, but most delicious Isan cuisine<\/strong> \u2013 grilled chicken with sticky rice. It is exactly what it says it is \u2013 no fancy, spicy ingredients here, but boy does it taste good!<\/p>\n

Do you want to experience all of these Isan dishes<\/strong>? Then check out our Bangkok and Beyond Food & Cooking Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It might come as a surprise to some, but Thailand is actually a fairly big country, with many regional differences, including language, culture and perhaps most noticeably, cuisine. And when it comes to Thai cuisines, perhaps none is more distinctive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[604],"tags":[806,423],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6027"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6027"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11323,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6027\/revisions\/11323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangkokbeyond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}