Steamed glutinous rice is preferred, traditionally kneaded into small balls with the fingers. Northern curries are generally milder than those of central and northeastern Thailand. The influence of neighbouring Burma is evident is such popular dishes as Keang-Hang Le, a pork curry that relies on ginger, tamarind, and turmeric for its flavour, and Khao Soy, a curry broth with egg noodles and meat, topped with spring onions, pickled cabbage, and slices of lime. A favourite regional specially is a spicy pork sausage called naem. The traditional form of meal is called a Khantok dinner during which diners sit around as low table.
Northeastern food reflects the influences of neighbouring Laos in a number of dishes.
Meat is scarce in villages, and freshwater fish and shrimp are the principal source of protein, sometimes femented. As expected, freash seafood from the surrounding waters is abundant, fish, prawns, lobsters ,crab, squid, scallops, clams and mussels. Cashew nuts fromlocal plantations are eaten as appetizers or sitr-fried with chicken and dried chillies, while a pungent flat bean called sato adds an exotic, if somewhat bitter, flavour much admired by southern diners. Sino-Thai food is popular in large cities as well. Mango and sticky rice a favourite Thai sweet during the hot season.