Given its strategic location on the Asian continent, mid-way between the ancient empires of China and India, the kingdom of Siam was at the crossroads of Asia. Siam was a natural hub for sea-faring and overland traders, explorers and diplomatic missions. The kingdom’s role as a port of call, and ancient crossroads, has contributed to the Thai kingdom’s very colourful past, and rich legacy.

Seventeenth-century Ayutthaya, with an estimated population of one million, was the political and commercial epicentre of Southeast Asia. Like Rome before it, all roads, rivers and sea lanes led to it, drawing merchants and travellers from all Asian and European realms to marvel at, and partake in, its riches. As a result, Siam blossomed from a backwater into a cultural centre, blending influences from a dozen cultures. It experienced a revolutionary flowering of its cuisine that transformed it into the sumptuous dishes we enjoy today.

In times past, travellers yearning for the flavours of home had to prepare the dishes themselves, usually with ingredients they carried in their saddle bags, since many of the fruits, vegetables and spices were alien to Siam.

Merchant caravans set up tents and camping fires on the outskirts of Ayutthaya, and sailors spent four months anchored in the river below the city, awaiting the turning of the monsoon winds that would blow them home. The same winds undoubtedly wafted the fragrances from their cooking pots to the nostrils of passing Thais.

Drawn by these tempting scents, the passers-by would undoubtedly wish to know more about the magical herbs and spices that had created them. If they spoke a common language, they asked for a taste, then for the recipes, and then for the ingredients. In the Siamese courts, visitors shared their culinary secrets with their Siamese friends. Over time, Thai cuisine was augmented to become the unique amalgam of flavours that has captured the world’s acclaim and tastebuds.

Halfway between India and China, Ayutthaya was a natural hub. Traders who initially paused on their way to other cities soon found lucrative markets in Siam itself and established trading posts there. In the 16th century, the Asians would be augmented by Europeans sailing the seas to the capital’s gates.

From the North came Chinese mule-and-pony caravans carrying gold and silver art objects, silk, tea, dried fruit, lacquerware and musk to Ayutthaya and on to Burma for trans-shipment to markets in India and beyond. Two western routes carried Indian — and later, British and French — traders into Thailand. One crossed the Tennasserim Range to Pranburi from which goods were sent northwards by boat. Indian merchants also arrived in Ayutthaya via Three Pagodas Pass, west of Kanchanaburi.

Perhaps as early as the 6th century, merchants were arriving from Srivijaya in Sumatra to trade in estuary towns along the Siamese peninsula. These Indian, Malay and Indonesian traders would move north into Ayutthaya during its heyday. By the 16th century, the Portuguese (and later, the Dutch), and resident Nonya Baba Chinese from Malacca, who ruled the enclave until the 15th century, sailed to Ayutthaya with their mouth-watering cuisines. By the 17th century, the southern seas were being traversed by the Dutch from Java. Ships bearing Muslim traders from Indonesia (Makassar) began calling at Ayutthaya, eventually establishing communities along the Chao Phraya River, can be seen from the many mosques that line the riverbanks to this day. Indians and Europeans sailed through the Straits of Malacca to drop anchors below Ayutthaya’s walls.

Since before the 9th century, when the Hindu kingdoms of Java and Angkor had enjoyed close relations, goods had been arriving overland from the east. Coastal ships also brought cargoes and foodstuffs from Vietnam and China.

Each group introduced new dishes, utensils, techniques and dishes which were adopted intact or modified to suit Siamese palates. Spices, fruits, and vegetables hitherto unavailable in Thailand — or which existed here but whose potential as cooking ingredients had gone unnoticed — soon became integral to Siamese royal kitchens.

Throughout history, ordinary Thais, in common with all their Southeast Asian neighbours, have made a meal of plain rice and fish accompanied by fresh vegetables. From the 13th to 17th centuries, courtiers didn’t eat much better. Royal cuisine comprised rice, fruits, wild vegetables and vines. Indigenous fruits and vegetables included taro, sago palms, sugar palms, bananas, durian, roseapples, Thai mango, Thai orange (som keow wan) and pomelo.

Wild meats, fish and shellfish — there appear to have been no domesticated edible animals until the 16th century — were grilled. The principal dishes were yum (salads) and kruang jim (dips). Fish was also turned into nam plaa (fish sauce), and kapi (fish paste) to add savour to plain food. The chicken was domesticated in India and found its way from there to Thailand. The pig, domesticated in West Asia about 7,000-5,000 BC, did not arrive in Thailand until the 17th century.

Food was cooked in clay pots. No dishes were fried or stir-fried until the introduction of the wok from China in the 16th century, along with bamboo steamers for dumplings and haw mok — a spicy, custard-like dish made by blending aromatic herbs and spices with finely-ground fish meat and coconut milk. Spices were added primarily to mask the gamy flavour of the meats or the bitterness of some vegetables.

All that changed with the arrival of the outside world. Their impact on court cuisine was profound. They introduced ingredients like white potato (first taken by the Spanish to the Philippines in the 16th century and by the Dutch to Java in the 17th from whence they were taken to Siam), maize and wheat — initially used to make noodles, a Chinese and Vietnamese contribution. Cashew, a New World tree, was introduced to Siam by the Portuguese in the 16th century.

Other Western explorers brought onions and shallots, as well as fruits like rambutan, mangosteen, lychees (linchee), longan, jackfruit, custard apple, sapodilla, star fruit, papaya, watermelon, pineapples and passion fruit originally grown in their own countries, or in nations along their trade routes. Brought to Southeast Asia and dispersed by neighbouring merchants, these edible imports were eventually propagated in Siam. As its name, farang, (foreigner) suggests, the guava was brought from the New World by the Spanish at an early date and likely made its way to Thailand via the Portuguese.

Until the arrival of sugarcane, domesticated in New Guinea in remote times, Thai chefs had sweetened food with honey or the extract of the sugar palm. The merchants also brought garlic, peppercorns, and, surprisingly (considering Westerners’ perceptions of Thai food as infernally spicy), capsicum chillies that were unknown in Siam before the 16th century. A native of the Americas, chilli peppers were likely brought to Ayutthaya by the Portuguese again.

Tea originated in the Burma-India border regions and was taken to China by Buddhist monks and thence to Thailand. Coffee originated around the Red Sea and came to Ayutthaya from India and Java. Betel, or areca, nut was cultivated in Malaysia from the seed of a native Malaysian palm and disseminated in Thailand.

Not only did the merchants introduce ingredients and dishes, they brought the utensils needed to create them. Thus, in addition to the wok and steamer brought by the Chinese, metal pots and implements gradually found their way into Thai kitchens.

They also brought complete dishes which were quickly adopted by the Siamese.
Rice noodles in all shapes and forms came from China as did the concept of sweet and sour. Not to be outdone, the Thais would eventually combine four flavours — sweet, sour, salty and hot — into many of their dishes. Despite its name, khanom jin (Chinese fermented rice noodles) came from Mon, Burmese and Vietnamese cuisines.

There were also regional Thai cuisines, heavily influenced by their neighbours, which eventually filtered down to Ayutthayan tables. From the North came dishes like kaeng hang le and khao soi, which derived from Burmese, Chinese and Indian antecedents. Northeastern cookery is influenced by Lao cuisine and, to a lesser extent, Vietnamese and Cambodian. Southern dishes like satay and massaman reflect Sumatran and Javanese cuisine, and they too found their way north along the trade routes.

The 17th century, particularly King Narai’s reign (1629-1688), saw the arrival of European merchants — British, French, Dutch and Portuguese — who exposed Siam to hitherto unknown culinary techniques and ingredients. The key culinary influencers were the Portuguese whose contributions arrived via India and Malacca and directly through its own emissaries. The Portuguese changed the composition of curries. For example, pre-1600, kaeng phet was paste based like kaeng paa. The 1600s saw the addition of coconut milk to give the curry a body, a technique used by both Portuguese and Indians (likely via Goa). Also, they added tomatoes and eggplants, not used before.

While trade is the conduit for merchandise, it also brings scholars and emissaries with new cultural ideas. They, as much as the merchants, were responsible for creating what noted gastronomic expert McDang (M.L. Sirichalerm Svasti) calls the “Golden Age of Thai Cuisine”. It came in the late 17th century with the arrival of Marie de Pina Guimar, best known by her title, Thao Thong Klibmaa, and by the famed of her husband, Constance Phaulkon, a Greek who was the principal minister to King Narai. An accomplished cook, this Japanese-Portuguese woman began preparing dishes for courtier friends and in the process introduced ingredients, utensils and dishes previously unknown in Thai court cuisine.

In 1688, Simon La Loubere wrote: “The Table of the Siamese is not sumptuous… their common Food is Rice and Fish. Their Sauces are plain, a little Water, some Spices, Garlic, Chibols, or some sweet Herb …”

Given the reputation Thai cuisine enjoys today, something has changed. Dramatically.

Sources for the article:
Gastronomic expert McDang (M.L. Sirichalerm Svasti), Simon La Loubere, "The Kingdom of Siam", published 1688, Teddy Palasthiera, Wikipedia.com for herbs and spices, Dr. Charnvit Kasetsiri, Gomes Martins, Cultural Attache at Portuguese Embassy and Dr. Kanit Muntarbhorn, author of "Gastronomy in Asia".