Geographically lying right in the heart of the country, the central region of Thailand is the most fertile area. It is blessed with natural water, dominated mainly by the Chao Phraya River. The fertility of the area is ideal for many crops to be harvested here. Rice is the chief agricultural product in this region but there are also a wide variety of other fresh produce be they vegetables, fruits and flowers. This freshness and abundance is key to the region's variety of delicious cuisine.

Chili dip or 'nam prik' is a typical dish served together with fresh vegetables which are in season such as cucumbers, morning glory stalks, makok leaves, cha-om and gratin. There are many types of chili paste dips distinguished by the main ingredients or the techniques in making dips.

Not only eaten with fresh vegetables, the chili paste dip is also applied to make many more complex dishes. The spicy Thai salad or 'yam' also derived from dipping. 'Yam' or Thai-style salad usually refers the dish with has sweet and sour taste and has a great aroma from some herbs such as kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass.

In the central region, there are many kinds of traditional dessert, cooked with different techniques. But whatever techniques are used, they all mostly share the three basic ingredients-flour, coconut and sugar. Another desserts of the central area are fruits. Apart from eating them fresh, the Thais are creative to apply them to make many delightful desserts. Simply add fresh fruits into light clear syrup and put some crushed ice into it, and then you will have another dessert that is easy-to-prepared and very delicious. We can see that it's quite simple to prepare to cook typical food of the central region. In fact, it's the ingredients where the secret actually lies.

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