Pattani chicken pot with spices. Photo / Ian Jones
Sweet, salty, sour, spicy and bitter tastes are perfectly balanced in Thai cuisine.
On a flight south from Bangkok to Phuket in Thailand it occurred to me that if the food on the ground was as good as that on the flight, I was about to land in gastronomic heaven.
It was my first visit to Thailand, a peninsula of about 65 million
people who love to eat. Although, before you get to the food you have to negotiate the sounds and sights. A motorbike shoots past with its two passengers holding a selection of hardware and tools - including a ladder three times as long as the bike.
Next, our driver swerves frantically to avoid a large lizard sunbathing on an overgrown driveway - hitting it is deemed very bad luck.
All the adrenalin of the taxi ride merely helps you work up an appetite. My first tip for dining in Thailand - or possibly any developing country - is have a bowl of yoghurt for breakfast. The healthy bacteria in it will help you fend off any nasties in other food.
That sorted, I'm off to Tung Ka Cafe on Rang Hill in Phuket Town where I'm seated in a wrought-iron chair perched on a hillside, with a 180-degree view. The cafe has two open-air dining spaces and the decor reminds you of a tree house.
I'm here to try the cafe's whole fish - served crispy fried with papaya, lime and chilli salad. It is has the crunch and flavour of tearing into a bag of potato crisps. It is simply magic.
The Thai have mastered the balance of salty, sweet, sour, spicy and bitter in their cuisine. Here in the south, the food is fresh and simply cooked, the locals relying on the fish caught from the coast and whatever is in the garden. Little mounds of crispy fish with shallot, mung beans and chilli jam are served on betel leaves, or there's a sweet and sour clam soup in which the clear liquid highlights the pristine quality of its ingredients.
Rice is integral not only to Thai food but also to the culture. A colloquial greeting I learned was: "Gin kao ruu yang", which means "How are you going?" but is more commonly translated as "Have you eaten rice yet?"
