Thai Cuisine is known for being hot and spicy and its balance of five fundamental flavors in each dish or the overall meal – hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty and bitter (optional). Although popularly considered as a single cuisine, Thai food would be more accurately described as four regional cuisines corresponding to the four main regions of the country: Northern, Northeastern (or Isan), Central and Southern, each cuisine sharing similar foods or derived from those of neighboring countries.
Thai food is known for its enthusiastic use of fresh (rather than dried) herbs and spices as well as fish sauce.