Green papaya salad is a spicy

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed ingredients, frequently vegetables. They are typically served chilled or at room temperature, though some can be served warm. Condiments called '' salad dressings'', which exist in a variety of flavors, a ...

made from shredded unripe papaya. Originating in

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, it is a national dish and a cornerstone of Lao cuisine, known locally as ''tam som'' or ''tam mak hoong''. The dish exemplifies bold, vibrant flavors, blending sour, spicy, salty, and sweet elements, and holds deep cultural significance in Laos. Green papaya salad is also widely popular in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, particularly in the

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...

region, which shares close ethnic and cultural ties with Laos due to its predominantly ethnic Lao population. Introduced to Thailand via Isan, the dish—called ''som tam'' in Thai—became a staple of Thai cuisine and spread nationwide. Beyond Laos and Thailand, green papaya salad has also gained regional prominence across continental Southeast Asia, including

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, as well as Xishuangbanna (

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Etymology

The dish is deeply rooted in Lao cuisine, where it is traditionally called ''tam mak hoong'' (, , ) or ''tam som'' (, , ), in which the word ''tam'' () refers to the pounding of ingredients in a mortar, a method of preparation central to Lao and neighboring culinary traditions. In Thailand, the salad is widely known as ''som tam'' (, , ), combining the Thai words ''som'' (ส้ม, "sour") and ''tam'' (ตำ, "pounded"). In Isan, a region with strong cultural and linguistic ties to Laos, the salad uses Lao-derived names ''tam bak hung'' () or ''tam som'' (). Regional variations and names include: * Burmese: သင်္ဘောသီးသုပ် (''thìn bau: thi: thoùp'') * Khmer: បុកល្ហុង (''bok l’hong'') * Rakhine: ပဒကာသီးသုပ် (''pədəɡà θí θùp'') * Vietnamese: ''gỏi đu đủ'' (a general term for papaya salad, often less spicy)

History

Papayas and chili peppers were introduced to Southeast Asia by the Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the 17th century from the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

in the

Columbian Exchange The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the New World (the Americas) in the Western Hemisphere, and the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) in the Eastern Hemis ...

. Simon de la Loubère (1642-1729), a French diplomat, mentioned in his book that the cultivation of papaya was already widespread in Siam in 1693. Although it is unknown when papayas and chili peppers entered Laos specifically, they had already been fully integrated into the Lao territory by the time Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix and Henri Mouhot visited in mid-1800s,Mouhot, Henri, and Ferdinand de. Lanoye. Voyage Dans Les Royaumes De Siam, De Cambodge, De Laos Et Autres Parties Centrales De L'Indo-Chine: Relation Extraite Du Journal Et De La Correspondance De L'auteur. Hachette, 1868. 322. Print and were listed among key ingredients for preparing main Lao dishes. The Lao were introduced to papaya (''mak hung'') from Khmer Loeu living in provinces bordering the southeastern Laos (who called them ''l'hun'' or ''lohung/rohung'' in Khmer). Papaya, among other fruits, were cultivated in Cambodia in the 1500s. Green papaya salad was mentioned as a favorite Lao dish by a former Lao politician, Katay Don Sasorith (1904-1959), in a memoir recounting his experience during his primary school years in 1910s. Furthermore, according to the travelogue “Nirat Wang Bang Yi Khan” written in 1869 by Thai poet Khun Phum, the dish was already known among members of the Lao royal family living as war hostages in Bang Yi Khan compound in Bangkok, Siam. Others believe that ''som tam'' has evolved from a Thai dish called ''pu tam or tam pu'' ( หรือ ตำปู, ) mentioned in a recipe by chef, Khunying Plian Phatsakarawong in her 1908 cookbook. This dish shares similarities with modern-day ''som tam'' but does not include papaya as an ingredient. The earliest known recipe of ''som tam'' in Thailand appeared in the Yaowapha cookbook series by Princess Yaovabha Bongsanid in 1935, which included ''Som tam ton malako'' () or ''Khao man som tam'' (). This recipe is similar to ''som tam'' as prepared today and includes roasted peanuts and dried shrimp as key ingredients. It is often served with rice cooked in coconut milk.

Preparation

The dish combines the five main basic tastes: the sourness of the lime, spiciness of the chili,

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

iness and

savoriness Umami ( from ), or savoriness, is one of the five Taste#Basic tastes, basic tastes. It is characteristic of broths and cooked meats. People taste umami through taste receptors that typically respond to Glutamic acid, glutamates and nucleotid ...

of the

fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, L ...

, and sweetness of

palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar may be qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed simila ...

. Pounded salads in Laos all fall under the parent category of ''tam som'', which may or may not contain green papaya, however, when no specific type of ''tam som'' is mentioned, it is generally understood to refer to green papaya salad. For absolute clarity, however, the name ''tam maak hoong'' may be used, since this name means "pounded papaya". In Thailand, it is customary that a customer ask the preparer to make the dish suited to his or her tastes. To specifically refer to the original style of papaya salad as prepared in Laos or Isan, it is known as or ''som tam Lao'' or simply as ''tam Lao'' and the dish as prepared in central Thailand may be referred to as ''som tam Thai''. Traditionally, the local variety of green papaya salad in the streets of Bangkok is very spicy due to the addition of a fistful of chopped hot

bird's eye chili Bird's eye chili or Thai chili ( owing to its shape) is a chili pepper variety (botany), variety from the species ''Capsicum annuum'' that is native to Mexico. Cultivated across Southeast Asia, it is used extensively in many Asian cuisines. It m ...

. However, with its rising popularity among tourists, it is now often served less spicy as it used to be in the past.

Additional ingredients

Together with the papaya, some or most of the following secondary items are added and pounded in the mortar with the pestle: * Asparagus beans *Brined "rice field crabs". These belong to the freshwater crab genera '' Sayamia'', '' Chulathelphusa'', and '' Esanthelphusa'' (previously classified as part of the genus '' Somanniathelphusa''), which all belong to the Gecarcinucid crab subfamily Parathelphusinae. found in flooded rice fields and canals. Isan people eat the entire crab, including the shell. *

Chili pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

* Dried shrimp *

Fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, L ...

Garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

* Monosodium glutamate * Hog plums * Lime slice and lime juice *

Palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar may be qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed simila ...

* Shrimp paste * Fish paste *Raw Thai eggplant *

Cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

tomatoes (green or ripe) Green papaya salad is often served with

glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

and '' kai yang''/''ping gai'' (grilled chicken). It can also be eaten with fresh

rice noodles Rice noodles are noodles made with rice flour and water as the principal ingredients. Sometimes ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are added in order to improve the transparency or increase the gelatinous and chewy texture of the noodle ...

or simply as a snack by itself with, for instance, crispy

pork rind Pork rind is the culinary term for the skin of a pig. It can be used in many different ways. It can be rendered, fried in fat, baked, or roasted to produce a kind of pork cracklings (US), crackling (UK), or scratchings (UK); these are ...

s. The dish is often accompanied by raw green vegetables such as water spinach and white cabbage wedges on the side to mitigate the spiciness of the dish.

Variations

A non-spicy green papaya salad version exists in Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, which is much sweeter; it often contains crushed peanuts and is less likely to have fish paste or brined crab. Dried brine shrimp are used in this Central Thai version. There are also versions that make use of unripe

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

es,

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s, cucumbers, carrots and other firm vegetables or unripe fruit. Besides using varieties of fruits or vegetables as the main ingredient a popular option is to use vermicelli rice noodles wherein the dish is known as ''tam sua''. Instead of papaya, other ingredients can be used as the main ingredient. Popular variations in Laos and Thailand include the salad with: *Cucumber, usually the small variety (''tam maak taeng'', ''tam taengkwa'') *Green and unripe mango (''tam maak muang'', ''tam mamuang'') *Green and unripe

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s (''tam maak kuai'', ''tam kluai'') *Hard and unripe santol (''tam krathon'') * Banana flowers (''tam hua pli'') * Malay gooseberry (''tam mayom'') * Pomelo (''tam som o'') *'' Mu yo'' sausage (''tam mu yo'') *Mixed fruit (''tam phonlamai ruam'') * Coconut rice (''khao man som tam'') File:Lao papaya salad.jpg, Lao papaya salad with pork rinds File:Luang Prabang papaya salad.jpg, Luang Prabang style Lao papaya salad from Northern Laos File:Lao papaya salad with seafood.jpg, Lao papaya salad with selected crustacea, mollusks, and shellfish in addition to papaya strips File:Som tam thai.JPG, Thai green papaya salad with peanuts File:Som tam pu.jpg, Green papaya salad with brined rice paddy crabs (''som tam pu'') File:Tam phonla mai ruam.jpg, Green papaya salad with mixed fruit (''tam phonlamai ruam'') File:Somtam huapli832.jpg, Green papaya salad with banana flowers (''tam hua pli'') File:Tam mu yo.jpg, Green papaya salad with '' mu yo'' sausage (''tam mu yo'') File:Tam mamuang pla haeng thot.jpg, A variation of the salad with green mango instead of papaya and dried anchovies (''tam mamuang pla haeng thot'') File:Tam maphrao on sen mi krop 02.jpg, ''Tam maphrao on sen mi krop'': a variation with soft coconut meat and deep-fried rice noodle

Reception

The Thai variation ''som tam'' has been listed at number 46 on ''World's 50 most delicious foods'' compiled by '' CNN Go'' in 2011 and 2018.

Etymology

History

Preparation

Additional ingredients

Variations

Reception

See also

Note

References

Further reading