The most famous and best Thai salads are: som tam, yam makhua yao and larb in general. A Thai salad or Yam resembles its Western counterpart in name only.

This broad category includes a variety of spicy and tangy dishes made with vegetables (raw or cooked), fruit, meat, fish or noodles. The principal ingredient is tossed/ mixed together with lime, sugar, chilies, fish sauce, various fresh green herbs and assorted other elements, which differ depending on the dish. While Thais appreciate a yam’s perfect balance of the four essential flavors - sweet, sour, hot and salty - first-time foreign tasters will experience its predominant sensation as spicy more than anything else.

Ayam can be made with pieces of chicken (gai), beef (nuea), squid (plaa meuk), mango (mamuang), pomelo (sorn o), wing bean (tua phu), mushroom (het) or mung-bean noodles (woon sen) to name just a few possible choices. I especially like yam makreuayao, a distinctively smoky salad made with seared green Thai eggplant and served with shrimp or pork garnished with steamed or hardboiled eggs.

When does a yam become a larb? When its principal ingredient is finely chopped meat such as beef; fish, duck, chicken or pork, dried chili is substituted for fresh, the greens are primarily mint leaves and green onion, and the cook adds pulverized rice. This Northeastern specialty is often eaten with glutinous sticky rice to damp down its fiery tendencies.

Yam and larb represent only part of the family of Thai salads. Once a Thai Northeastern marketplace snack, the celebrated som tam has become the country’s signature fast- food salad. Shredded green papaya is pounded (tam) in an earthenware mortar together with lime juice, garlic, fish sauce, sugar chilies and assorted other ingredients, such as peanuts, cherry tomatoes, green beans, depending on the chef and the venue.

The most famous salad in Thailand. Yes, it’s som tam. Everytime I hear som tam I think of a loud burst of traditional Thai Northeastern mor lam dance music.