Thai food rightly enjoys wide popularity, but it is not just delicious tasting, it’s also extremely healthy in its emphasis on fresh ingredients and a subtle balance of flavours. Most of the ingredients used in Thai cooking carry medicinal benefits. Such a variety of ingredients is not only music to the palate, but harmony to the whole body. The chillies, ginger, lemongrass and lime leaves that feature so strongly in the Thai cuisine are there not only for their distinctive taste, but to stimulate the digestive system. Some visitors have heard, incorrectly in point of fact, that all Thai food is hot, or extremely hot. Although some Thai dishes are quite spicy, far more dishes are completely mild, and require no adjustment whatsoever. Much of the heat of the spicy dishes comes from red or green peppers, commonly referred to as chillies. The Thais call them phrik. There are no less than a dozen of these, ranging from quite mild, almost innocuous, all the way to searingly strong and burning. However, important as they are, chillies constitute only one of the many ingredients combined to give a unique blend of flavours. When properly used, they should never overshadow the delicate citron taste of the lemongrass (a common ingredient in Thai cooking), or the somewhat different kaffir lime, or the elusive flavour of turmeric. Moreover, each cook will vary the recipe according to taste, and the blending will differ from one cook to another and from one province to another.