Food in Thailand: Introduction to Thai Street Food

If you’re a culinary enthusiast planning a trip to Thailand, Thai street food is an experience not to be missed. Street food in Thailand is one of the most popular forms of dining, and you’ll likely find the meals unique, delicious and convenient.

Thai Street Vendors

Thai street vendors set up stalls and wagons all over the streets of Thailand’s cities, filling up street corners, empty lots, alleyways and parking lots. These places are rapidly transformed into bustling food bazaars, and some street vendors even serve their meals from boats in the canals and waterways of various Thai cities.

Popular Street Food in Thailand

Many dishes are popular as street food in Thailand, and a few of the most prevalent ones include:

• Guay teow: Noodle soup, made from your choice of egg or rice noodles, chicken, pork or beef stock and a variety of vegetables. Fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and chili peppers are normally offered as condiments with guay teow.
• Kanom krok: Coconut-rice pancakes made from coconut milk or cream, sugar, tapioca and rice flour, rice, shredded coconut, salt and peanut or corn oil. Coriander, corn and green onions are sometimes cooked into Kanom krok.
• Miang kham: A snack consisting of coconut shavings, onions, chili peppers, ginger, garlic and lime wrapped in the leaves of the cha plu plant. These leaves are slightly bitter, and fish sauce or palm sugar syrup is often used as a coating.
• Pad Thai: A stir-fry of rice noodles, eggs, fish sauce, bean sprouts, tamarind juice and chili peppers. It's served with your choice of chicken, shrimp or tofu and is usually garnished with peanuts, coriander and lime. Pad Thai is offered by many street vendors.
• Satay: Marinated and skewered grilled meats. Thai satay is traditionally pork, beef or chicken. The meat is marinated in a variety of mixtures, a common one composed of turmeric, sugar, pepper, cumin and coconut and sweet condensed milk.

Thai Cuisine: Insects

Fried insects are a popular street food in Thailand. Most insects found in Thailand are available as a deep-fried delicacy, including grasshoppers, maggots, crickets and ants. The insects themselves are fairly bland, but are often marinated or deep-fried with flavorings like kaffir lime leaves, garlic and chili peppers. If the thought of eating insects isn’t a pleasant one for you, the sweets in Thailand may be more to your liking.