03/10/2026
A lot of newcomers eat Thai food the Western way, one plate each, fork in hand, and miss how the meal is meant to work. At a proper Thai meal the dishes are shared: the table orders a few different things, a curry, a stir-fry, a soup, a salad, and everyone helps themselves.
The spoon is your main tool, held in the right hand, with the fork used only to push food onto it, and chopsticks come out for noodle dishes rather than rice. Rice is the base of everything, so you take a spoonful or two of one dish at a time onto your own rice rather than heaping it all on at once.
And that caddy of fish sauce, dried chilli, sugar and vinegar on the table is there for you to season your noodles to taste, so using it is completely normal, not a comment on the cook. Share, spoon, season, and a Thai meal suddenly makes a lot more sense.
Which Thai dining habit took you longest to get used to? 👇
