Thai cuisine — 19, Royal cookbooks

ไทย is the local name used in this atlas beside Thai cuisine. Thai cuisine balances chili heat against lime, palm sugar and nam pla. Central curries (gaeng) sit beside Isan som tum and grilled gai yang, northern sai ua and a southern Muslim-Thai turmeric-and-chili belt. Home cooking is nam prik with vegetables and rice, not a seven-curry banquet. The tourist chili dare is a restaurant sport; families still cook to taste.

A national cuisine that is actually four, held together by rice and nam pla. Isan eats sticky rice, pla ra and papaya salad that can be punishing. The north prefers milder herbs and pork sausage. The south burns with turmeric and bird's eye chili. Bangkok is the blender: Chinese-Thai noodles, royal-ish banquets and the street density that tourists photograph.

Nam pla, pla ra, shrimp paste (kapi) and pickled garlic are the funk. Coconut milk is central, not national. Curry pastes are pounded, not scooped from a single colour. Green, red and yellow are starting points, not a complete map. A Thai meal is shared rice plus several dishes of different tastes. Solo pad Thai is a lunch form, not the home grammar.