Long gone are the days when Thai cuisine could be simply identified by carved vegetable garnishes, or a basic flavouring of fish sauce and chilli. Today's culinary auteurs have raised the benchmark — and there's no looking back!

Western kitchens now commonly house Thai and Asian cooking utensils. Food columnist Cherry Ripe notes in her book Culinary Cringe that even a decade ago, some 60 per cent of Australians already had a wok, and stir fried meals were common. Celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver today tout Thai-style mortars and pestles — and not only for crushing garlic. You just don't get the right feel and texture using an electric blender.

Foodies today are likely to encounter excitingly new Thai creations playing old and new together. Cookbook author and restaurateur Vatcharin Bhumichitr's marriage of oysters on the half shell topped with mangosteen segments dressed with a yum (Thai salad) dressing is but one example. Pongtawat Chalermkittichai's baby back ribs with bitter chocolate and Thai spices, is yet another. There is also Neil Perry's use of traditional Thai herbs and native ingredients in cosmopolitan cuisine, or in a non-Thai setting. Furthermore, the absence of oil in Thai salad dressings (de rigueur in classic French) is showing up in lighter-style Western dishes as well.

There is a true international exchange occurring on the culinary level with the use of Western ingredients in traditional Thai dishes and the adaptation of traditional Thai dishes to non-Thai/Western tastes and preferences.

DEFINING THAI CUISINE
But what defines “Thai cuisine”? Is it the flavour? The technique? Or the ingredients?

Renowned Thai chef Pongtawat “Ian” Chalermkittichai has been instrumental in taking Thai culinary art overseas, and he believes it is a combination of flavour and technique that sets Thai cuisine apart.

Chef Ian is currently involved in some 24 plus restaurant projects in Thailand
and around the world via his food and beverage management and consulting
company, Cuisine Concept Ltd. Notable restaurants he has created are the
celebrated Murmuri in Barcelona and also Kittichai, billed as 'one of the sexiest
restaurants' in Soho in New York.

Chef Ian believes that it is critical to stick with the fundamentals of Thai cuisine, maintaining authentic flavours and adhering to traditional techniques. Adopting and adapting new ingredients meanwhile reflects the constant evolution of Thai cuisine that has occurred through the centuries. It also reflects creativity, resourcefulness, and innovation on the part of Thai chefs and cooks.

This process of ‘adopting and adapting’ ingredients is evident in royal Thai cuisine — food prepared in the royal court of Siam. Thai culinary art evolved and achieved a new level of sophistication as more and more ingredients from the ancient empires were traded along the Old Silk Route. Imported ingredients from the so-called New World were also making their way to the royal kitchen. These new culinary creations were prepared in a Thai way with distinctly Thai flavours and featured cooking techniques based on ancient Thai folk wisdom. They are therefore intrinsically Thai in character.

Chef Ian gives the example of kaeng phet ped yaang, a Thai-style red ‘curry’ with roasted duck as one of the main ingredients. Roasted duck is not an indigenous Thai dish. It is of Chinese origin. Yet because of the flavours and the traditional techniques used, kaeng phet ped yaang retains its ‘Thai-ness’. There are many other examples of such creative adopting and adapting in Thai cuisine.

Chef Ian sees innovation as being an essential and inevitable part of progress — the need to keep pace with changing times, ever-evolving lifestyle needs and trends, the availability of ingredients, and most important, the critical need to surpass customer expectations on delivery. The clientele at Kittichai travel the world. They’ve been there, seen that and done it all. They look for refreshing change — something truly extra-ordinary. Chef Ian’s culinary creations, however, stay true to their Thai origins.

THAI FOOD – THE NEW COSMOPOLITAN OR WORLD CUISINE

"We love it, we love it, we love it," gushes New York-based food editor Tina Ujlaki.

• The ‘Signature’ or ‘Hallmark’ of Thai Cuisine
  The well-rounded and delicate balance of flavours — salty + sweet + sour + chilli hot
  
  Food & Wine magazine food editor Tina Ujlaki has presided over American cooking trends for some 20 years, and her explanation for Thai food's popularity is simple: "It’s the fact that there are so many flavours in Thai cooking that we already embrace: sweetness, coconut, chili, aromatics, herbs and lemongrass. Take any one of these flavours by itself and add that to your cooking, and we are all happy campers." Just as importantly, Ujlaki contends that Thai eateries are ideally suited for the increased popularity of vegetarianism in the 21st century.
  
  
• Health benefits
  These are another reason for Thai food’s increased popularity. On a recent food tour for the American Dietetic Association, host Morrison Polkinghorne of Globetrotting Gourmet heard members lauding the ability of chillis to increase metabolic rates — essential for weight control. Likewise, these dieticians quoted evidence about fresh lime juice counteracting fat — a similarity to the French paradox of red wine improving health.
  
  

  Thai herbs are noted for their healing properties and therapeutic value. This forms the basis of many traditional Thai herbal healing techniques, some of which feature in contemporary Thai spa menus. Thai vegetables and fruits are also rich in anti-oxidants and nutritional value generally. In a few notable cases, native species far exceed their temperate counterpart in terms of vitamins or minerals. An Introduction to Thai Herbs Please click to view

  
  
• Improved availability of Thai ingredients overseas
  Fresh Thai herbs and rhizomes are widely sold around the world today — both locally grown and imported. As Sydney-based restaurateur Sujet Saenkham explains, "When I started in Australia, if I could find simple ingredients like kaffir lime leaf and Thai basil, I would be very excited. But now you get everything." Likewise, London-based David Thompson says, " We have someone in Thailand organizing our supplies weekly. It is much more expensive, but it’s also much better…"
  
  
• Just as important is the emergence of quality, commercially prepared Thai ingredients sold overseas, such as supermarket curry pastes and stir fry mixes. Cooks can now quickly and easily recreate authentic Thai flavours back home. This means a Thai meal is not just for special occasions, but has become standard weekly fare.
  
  
• Perceived simplicity
  In time-pressed Western societies where two breadwinners in the home is increasingly the norm, quick-cooking Thai wok dishes like phad Thai are ideal. Steamed vegetables and boiled meats seasoned with Thai flavours are also convenient to prepare.
  
  
• Increased tourism to Thailand helps
  Returning tourists often want to both re-create and re-experience the flavours of their last holiday. As one former restaurateur, puts it, “When we cooked originally in 1992, people would say, 'This is so spicy, I can't eat it.' But after six months other people came and said,' This is so Thai, so authentic.”
  
  Conversely, a greater number of Thai students studying abroad plus larger ethnic enclaves overseas mean expat Thais have more opportunities to cook native dishes for the local hospitality industry.
  
  And there may be another consideration. Thai food is eaten with fork and spoon, not chopsticks. This means a whole generation of maladroit Westerners face no embarrassment when entering a Thai restaurant.

Gastronomic Innovation
Just as a good grounding in classical ballet allows choreographers freedom to play with modern dance forms, leading Thai chefs compose their creations from a base of authenticity first and foremost. In this brave new world, fusion elements are to be found primarily in contemporary presentation aesthetics.

What is certainly coming more into play is the improved availability of authentic Thai ingredients air-freighted weekly to leading European and American restaurants. Conversely, there is the importation of foods, fruits and vegetables from temperate climes.

In key tourist destinations around Thailand, culinary styles are also being influenced by the tastes and preferences of expatriates and international visitors. Furthermore, spa cuisine has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for culinary innovation. An increasing awareness of the health and wellness benefits of 'moderation' and changes in lifestyle among affluent Thais have contributed to the growth of new cuisine.

As London chef David Thompson of the exclusive restaurant Nahm puts it, food in Thailand now "is simply less intense (in flavour) as people eat less rice with it."

Add to this both the public and health authorities clamouring for healthy and less fatty offerings, and you have a cuisine in flux. Thai chefs steam meats rather than fry them, or favour water-based kaeng curries instead of using coconut milk, or opt for whole grains over polished white rice.

• Maintaining Authenticity Whilst Promoting Culinary Innovation
  Thai restaurateurs and chefs unanimously note how international clients have become more discerning today compared to as little as a decade ago.
  
  Gion Heymann, co-founder of Zurich's famed Sukhothai restaurant in 1992 explains, "This planet gets smaller and smaller. When people get back to their home country they know how the food tastes in other countries. They expect the same flavours." If they (chefs) change too much the ingredients, and if their dishes have tastes that are not the same, people can be very critical."
  
  

  © Sujet Saenkham

  Sujet and partner Padet Nagsalab have been in Australia for over two decades, but it was only in the past five years that they came into their own with the opening of Spice I Am. Typical of a successful restaurant, Spice I Am quickly grew through word of mouth among the cognoscenti — specifically for authenticity. Despite its very basic fit out, crowded stool seating, and no-reservations policy, Sujet's and Det's first restaurant was soon called "Australia's best Thai" — and that was in the face of some fierce competition. But what makes Spice I Am different from others? It is estimated that there are some 400 Thai restaurants catering to Sydney's population of four million. "I stick to the root, the culture of the food as much as possible," Sujet explains. "I cook authentic food. I never adapted anything for Australia, not even making massaman with lamb."

  	However, as a Ratchaburi boy he still bemoans the lack of palm toddy sugar for his sweets. "Coconut palm tastes short in the mouth, and is not lingering," he observes. It's no wonder David Thompson waxes equally lyrically about palm sugar, calling it "fluid like taffy: biscuity, toasty, nutty and suave." Sujet prides himself on making all his own curry pastes from scratch.

  
  
• Dégustation menu
  Chef Arun Sampanthavivat of Chicago began with "an upscale eatery in a storefront space" in 1985. With only six tables originally, today, his 12-course tasting, or dégustation, menu "showcases Arun's understanding of authentic Thai flavours, his sense of the delicate balance of savoury and spicy, light and rich, tender and crispy."
  
  There also seems to be a trend emerging from prestige dining experiences around the world like the Sukhothai in Zurich, Sydney's former Darley Street, London's Nahm, and trendy new Bangkok eateries like Bo Lan. It makes sense: blending Western courses with Eastern sharing. In some venues, items off the prix fixé menu arrive individually, one at a time, and in others staggered with several dishes served at once, but always with a basic format of appetizers, starters, mains and desserts.
  
  
• Communal dining
  Considering Thais traditionally eat family style, sharing a banquet-length table with strangers is another innovation. These can be found at Martin Boetz's Longrain in Sydney or Long Table, the Bangkok nightclub.
  
  
• Old-style tastes
  After studying both in Australia and the UK under the direction of David Thompson, Thai chef Duangporn Songvisava returned to Bangkok in early 2009 to set up her own restaurant with partner Dylan Jones. Their creation, Bo Lan, is a hybrid name blending Duangporn's nickname Bo with the last syllable of Dylan. Their goal is to resurrect early to mid 20th century Thai cooking styles and recipes. Reinterpreting it for the 21st century, however, involves fusion presentations on over-sized white ceramic plates, and graphic food layouts.
  
  "We work on slow food philosophy," says partner Dylan. "When creating Thai menus, we look at promoting the biodiversity of ingredients. We research an old recipe and try to safeguard the heritage of foodways. It has to attach to land and seasons."

Sydney-based restaurant, Atom Atom Namkhantee learned at the side of his mother, and has relished cooking ever since. He notes that one of the greatest changes in Thai cooking overseas concerns dieting — as in fighting fat. "People ask for foods not fried" — although few foreigners truly eschew rich coconut milk curries. Indeed, his customers clamour for thick chu chii over runnier kaeng — and the latter often comes packed with more vegetables and less broth than the authentic curries in Thailand. "Many people in Australia ask for less oil, or ask for steamed food, so we cook a bit differently," he explains. One example is green curry, which his staff now cook as a dry stir fry. There's a similar progression in Thailand itself, where he chanced upon stir fried kaeng kheow wan at Nakhon Chaisri, an hour from Bangkok. Atom is equally enthusiastic about Thai chefs re-embracing boran, or old-style, tastes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
News Room sincerely thanks Chef Pongtawat “Ian” Chalermkittichai of Cuisine Concept Ltd., New York-based Food & Wine magazine food editor Tina Ujlaki, Chef David Thompson of the exclusive London-based restaurant Nahm, Chef Sujet Saenkham of Spice I Am in Sydney, Chef Atom Namkhantee of Sydney-based restaurant, Atom, Chef Duangporn Songvisava and partner Dylan Jones of Bo Lan, Jim Thompson and Jim Thompson on Dempsey Hill in Singapore for the tremendous support in providing valuable insight and/or images for this special feature.

About The Authors
Robert Carmack is co-author of Thai Cooking (Periplus) and other cookbooks. He and partner Morrison Polkinghorne host culinary trips to Southeast Asia annually through their companies www.asianfoodtours.com and Globetrotting Gourmet. The team visits Thailand several times each year to continue culinary research, as well to source textiles for Morrison's wholesale import business.