Photo Essay: Thai Food

It is not a secret- I am a food lover. I love to eat, try new dishes, experience new flavours and take photos of the food I eat when traveling. Every country surprises me a lot when it comes to its cuisine and every journey is, in some way, a culinary adventure. So far, I experienced extremely spicy food in Sri Lanka, ate way too much rice every day in China or craved Vietnamese soups for my dinner.

Craving some food
Me craving some local food: Sri Lankan cakes (top left), Sri Lankan rice and curry (top right), Chinese pancakes (bottom left) and Chinese noodles (bottom right)

However, Thailand is by far my favourite food destination. Why? Because…

Thai cuisine is essentially a marriage of centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into something special and unique”.

Everyone, even those who have never been to Thailand, love Thai cuisine. Whether chilli-hot or comparatively bland, harmony is the guiding principle behind each dish. Moreover, dishes can be refined and adjusted to suit all palates.

I love the taste of Thai noodles, fried vegetables and herbs with some large chunks of meat. Fresh herbs, lemon and a perfect combination of sweet chilli make each dish irresistible. Instead of serving dishes in courses like it is being done in China, a Thai meal is served all at once, permitting diners to enjoy complementary combinations of different tastes. There is always a harmony of tastes and textures within the dishes.

Are you already hungry? Great! Here are some of my favourite Thai dishes. Enjoy!

Fried and salty bugs
Fried and salty bugs. Many people are scared of eating them, but in fact, they are very tasty and crispy
Spring rolls
Fried vegetable spring rolls topped with sweet chilli sauce. That’s Cez’s favourite food, but after trying one I loved them too!
Desktop
A variety of grilled shish-kebabs with meat, vegetables and seafood
Bugs
Scorpions, grasshoppers, worms and bugs
Different types of noodles with some vegetables
Different fried types of noodles with some vegetables
Spicy vegetable salad with peanuts
Spicy vegetable salad with peanuts. So yummy!
Fried tofu
Fried tofu
Freshly squeezed pomegranate juice
Freshly squeezed pomegranate juice
Sausage pancakes
Sausage pancakes. We still don’t know what the green thing is ;-(
Thai soup with chopped meat balls
Thai soup with chopped meat balls. It’s pretty delicious, but Vietnamese soups are much better though.
Thai doritos filled with meat served with sweet chilli sauce
Thai doritos filled with meat or whole small eggs served with sweet chilli sauce. They are served either with sweet or spicy chilli sauce
DSC09240
Seafood served with steamed rice. Always served fresh
Papaya salad with peanuts
Papaya salad with peanuts. My favourite one! The peanuts were spicy though
Ice coffee
Iced coffee, much better than Vietnamese in my opinion, not that sweet
That's a very weird tropical fruits- a mixture of pear and pineapple. Very sweet and sour
That’s a very weird tropical fruit- a mixture of pear and pineapple. Very sweet and sour
Fried chestnuts
Fried chestnuts
Pad Thai
Pad Thai- stir-fried rice noodles with eggs/ chicken/ shrimp or fish with some tamarind juice, red chili pepper garnished with crushed peanuts, garlic, chives, pickled turnip, coriander, lime, spicy chili oil, chili powder, vinegar, fish sauce, sugar.
Chicken and vegetable soup, very milky
Chicken and vegetable soup, very creamy
Fresh bananas
Fresh bananas
They taste like dumpligs and pancakes mixed together
They taste like dumpligs and pancakes mixed together

Do you have any favourite Thai food? If so, what is it?

See also  Best Camera Strap for Hiking

If you are looking for more Thai food on a budget, check out out Culinary Journey in Bangkok on the cheap.

Share

Search
Close this search box.

We want you to know! Some links on this page may be affiliate links. We may earn a small commission from what you buy. 
It will never cost you extra, or make us bias, but helps us run this blog and occasionally get a good cup of coffee. 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Agness Walewinder
Agness Walewinder
Travel freak, vagabond, photography passionate, blogger, life enthusiast, backpacker, adventure hunter and endless energy couchsurfer living by the rule "Pack lite, travel far and live long!"
Do you want to contribute?
Publish your guest post on Etramping!

45 thoughts on “Photo Essay: Thai Food”

  1. Avatar of Kimi S.

    Naturally, this made me hungry and miss Thailand. Was just there for one month in September and already missing the variety of cheap foods. Great photos!

  2. Avatar of Earth Itinerant

    A beautiful and comprehensive photo essay!

    I’ve been in Thailand two weeks and have eaten Thai food exclusively since. But only yesterday did I grow just a tad weary of it. The problem is the vegetables, or lack thereof. I DID have an excellent green bean thing this morning at Hua Lamphong train station in Bangkok. But your tantalizing pics agree with me: few vegetables. My tummy needs GREENS!

    1. Avatar of Agness

      Thanks Earth! That’s true. Thai food is more about noodles and meat, but you can also add some veggies ;-) I love chopped caggabe and carrot.

  3. Avatar of Irina

    Gosh I miss Thailand! Octopus skewers look so yummy! Also, the first bug-dish looks tasty to me. Too bad I couldn’t force myself try them when I was there.

    1. Avatar of Agness

      The octopus skewers were yummy. We always try all food no matter how bad it looks ;) Miss Thailand too, but I’m back there in January!

  4. Avatar of The Guy

    Some great shots there Agness. I’m not attracted to eating the fried bugs though and it looks a lot like the streets of China food vendors.

    I think I heard somewhere that Bangkok has the highest ratio of eateries per capita. Little wonder they are so varied and good with food.

    1. Avatar of Agness

      I have lived in China for 10 months so I know what you mean. You should try some bugs anyway. It’s a part of travel adventure :) I’ve heard the same and it’s kinda true.

  5. Avatar of Daniel McBane - Funny Travel Stories

    I think I miss the fresh tropical fruits and the grilled meat kebabs the most from Thailand. The bugs were fine, but I can’t say I miss them. It’s the kind of thing you try once or twice, but you don’t want to eat it regularly–at least I don’t.

    I’m surprised you loved the papaya salad…..I thought I remembered you writing you don’t like foods that are too spicy and I found the papaya salad to be one of the spiciest dishes in Thailand. It was good, but always REALLY spicy.

    1. Avatar of Agness

      That’s right. I don’t like spicy food and I mentioned it 100 times in my posts from Sri Lanka. You have a good memory :). The papaya salad itself wasn’t spicy at all. It was served with peanuts which were very spicy though. I have recently discovered that I’m alergic to peanuts. I still can have them (a tiny bit of them from time to time), but not too much. I asked the cook not to put too much chili peanuts so I enjoyed it a lot. I also miss tropical fruits. I used to have them every day in the morning and during the day. Easy to grab and cheap :)

      1. Avatar of Daniel McBane - Funny Travel Stories

        I remember because you wrote many times that you don’t like spicy food, but then you had many pictures of yourself eating spicy curry.

        All the papaya salads I had were really spicy. In fact, I think the top 5 spiciest dishes I had in Thailand were all papaya salads, so I didn’t really enjoy them that much. I actually like spicy foods, but I don’t like it when my fruit is spicy.

      2. Avatar of Agness

        That’s true. Despite the fact I don’t like spicy food at all, I try spicy dishes very often as a part of my travel experience. Fortunately, Cez is a big fan of spicy food so he always finishes off the leftovers. Spicy fruits are often served with spicy powder and sauce.

      1. Avatar of Earth Itinerant

        I had mango salad the other day (in Ayutthaya). It was prepared like papaya salad. I didn’t like it as much.

  6. Avatar of Fidel

    Great choices! Have you thought about taking a Thai cooking class? I took one and even though it might cost slightly more than $25, you’ll be in a for a great treat and a lot of food!
    I tried the salty bugs and they were surprisingly good. Kinda tasted like scrambled eggs.

    New visitor to the page. I like it! I see we share similar theme taste lol.

    1. Avatar of Agness

      Hi Fidel. Thanks for stopping by. I have never thought of taking the Thai cooking classes, but I’ve seen the advertisement inside all travel agencies. I would prefer to go Couchsurfing in Bangkok and ask my host to cook Thai food with me. Would be more fun and much cheaper :).

      I agree. Salty bugs and they were surprisingly good ;-). I loved them. Don’t know why people are so scared of tasting them :P!

    1. Avatar of Agness

      Never heard of pandan, but thanks for letting us know. I’m back in Bangkok in January and I’m planning to visit the same place and ask the lady in Thai language :)

    1. Avatar of Agness

      It was the same with me when I had different kinds of fruits. They tasted so good but I couldn’t remember the name of them ;)

  7. Avatar of Fern

    The last one is my all time favorite! It’s called ‘Kanom Krok’
    Btw, I’m Thai and it’s nice to see people out there love Thai food :)

  8. Avatar of Aggy

    My goodness that looks yummy! Maybe the green stuff in the sausage pancake is cocopandan extract, which is usually that green?

    I think I will have to travel to Thailand just to eat!

    1. Avatar of Agness

      People always ask me what the green extract is and what it is made of, but I have no idea. The Thai lady who was selling these pancakes did not speak any English. She shouted some words in Thai, but I didn’t understand. You have to come to Thailand to discover the real taste of food :), it will be a great culinary journey for you. I can recommend some restaurants to you. x

  9. Avatar of Ian of Borderless Travels

    This is why I love Thailand Agness!!! The food in Thailand is amazing! Discovering that Papaya Salad is one of the most popular and tasty dishes here was my favourite foodie experience. Plus, where else in the world can you get such fresh and amazing food for the day and accommodation for less than $10 if you’re really budgeting :)

  10. Avatar of Wannee

    I came across to your website. Seemed like u really enjoyed Thai food. I am Thai and I am so proud of our food. Did you have a chance to try Thai soups like Tom Yum Koong? It is one of my favorite dishes.

    1. Avatar of Agness Walewinder

      Yes, I did try it so delicious! I love Thai cuisine! Feel free to write a guest post for us about your favourite Thai dishes :)!! x

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *