The Thai Kitchen

- Equipment and Utensils
- Essential Techniques
- Cooking Methods
- Traditional Recipes
- Characteristics of Thai Food and Seasoning
- A Note for Vegetarians

A Note for Vegetarians

While there are very few specifically vegetarian Thai dishes, most recipes can easily and successfully be adapted for the strict vegetarian; in this cuisine, dietary requirements are not a limitation or restriction but an opportunity. Simply use a good vegetable stock, season with light soy sauce rather than fish sauce, and omit any meat or fish ingredients. There is a wonderful versatility about Thai cooking, where adaptation is not necessarily compromise but merely reflects the availability of ingredients, the season and the preferences of the cook.

Remember that rice is the principal part of the Thai meal; everything else is used to add savor. The meat is merely one of many components that comprise the soup, curry or whatever - which is itself only one dish in a meal consisting of several dishes. The Thai simply place less importance on meat than Westerners do.

- Adapted from Thai Food, by David Thompson