Thai Street – Albuquerque, New Mexico
By chronological standards, Thai cuisine–especially as we know it today–is relatively new to the world culinary stage. Culinary historians believe Thai cuisine may be as young as 1,400 years, coinciding with a mass migration of people from regions of China. These settlers dined mostly on seafood, herbs and plants prepared mostly by stewing, baking and grilling (over time, stir-frying and deep-frying also became popular). Large domestic animals such as water buffalo and oxen were too valuable to slaughter for food. As such, meat was used very sparingly though considering the settlers’ propensity for seasoning, a small amount of meat went a long way. While Chinese–particularly Szechuan–dietary practices were the most significant early influences, the introduction of other ingredients and…