Thai Sensations

Barbara Robertson is the author of Wilfrid Laurier: The Great
Conciliator and co-author of The Well-Filled Cupboard.

Three years of living in Thailand left Sherry Brydson with an enthusiasm
for Thai cooking so intense that she abandoned journalism in order to
open a restaurant devoted to it—the Bangkok Garden Restaurant in
Toronto. In Thai Sensations, she shares the recipes resulting from 15
years of striving and succeeding, and makes a reasonable number of them
seem feasible.

One of the most valuable features of the book is its provision of a
context for Thai cooking—that is, a brief history of Thailand and some
description of its climate, which is hot and steamy. The Thai rejoice
particularly in “fish in the waters, and rice in the fields” and
have an enthusiasm for cooking second only to the French. They have also
adopted useful aspects of the cuisine of numerous invaders; for example,
from the Portuguese traders of the 16th century they secured chili
peppers (until then they had used ordinary table peppers).

A second valuable feature of the book is a guide to the main
ingredients of Thai cooking, from sago flour to wild lime
leaves—ingredients that the author claims can be assembled “in any
cosmopolitan North American city.” Usefully, she suggests substitutes,
such as lime or lemon rind for wild lime leaves. Pertinently, too, she
notes cases where none exist; dried mint, for example, is not an
acceptable substitute for fresh mint.

Written in a crisp and authoritative style, this handsomely illustrated
and produced book makes Thai cooking as accessible as is possible in our
very different climate. It will be most useful to those who already
enjoy Thai cuisine and have access to the ingredients by reason of their
proximity to some cosmopolitan city. The rest of us will be able to
sample no more than a few of the recipes—preferably in the summer when
fresh herbs of good quality are available—before retreating to long,
slow cooking on short winter days.