Freshness is one of the key ingredients of Thai cuisine, vegetables from the garden, fruit from the orchard fish and shellfish from the rivers, an array of seafood from the fishing boats and of course the ever present rice: Thai rice. Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice, with the jasmine rice being one of the most prized varieties available. Enhancing all this abundance of fresh product are the herbs and the spices that give Thai cooking its uniqueness.

Snacks

These savory tidbits can be eaten alone or as side dishes. Traditional favorites include stuffed dumpling, satay, crisp-fried noodles topped with sweet-and-spicy sauce, and spring rolls.

Chili dips

Usually served with vegetables, meat or fish, chili dips are very versatile. A dip can be a main dish or side dish, added to a pan of fried rice to flavor it, or drizzled on chips to liven them up. A cook will make up bowl of dip from whatever is available, including chilies, garlic, onion, shrimp paste, sour tamarind etc.

Salads

Thai salads, called yam, are sour, sweet and salty. A simple dressing works equally well for meat, seafood, vegetable and fruit salads. This is made from fish sauce, lime juice and a dash of sugar. The heat comes from the fiery little chilies, but just how hot a salad should be depends on the texture and flavor of the meat, vegetable or fruit used. Fresh herbs such as marsh mint, lemongrass, Kaffir limes leaves and cilantro is usually used as garnish.

Soups

Thai soups are either hot and spicy or clear and bland. The soup is served not as a first course but together with the other dishes, and can be spooned onto the plate of rice the same as the other dishes.

Desserts

Thai desserts are sweet, but not intensely so. Sticky rice with ripen mango, banana or flour dumplings in sweetened coconut cream and seasonal fruits in sugar syrups with crushed ice are favorites. Fresh fruit is always on hand to end a Thai meal.

Curries

The heart of all Thai curries is the curry paste, which is made from fresh herbs and spices. The paste is cooked in coconut cream before the meat or vegetables are added. Main ingredients in most curry pastes are chili, garlic, shallot, galangal, coriander root and krachai, the latter a small indigenous root.