| Thai food is eaten with a fork
and spoon. Even single dish meals such as fried rice with pork, or
steamed rice topped with roasted duck, are served in bite-sized slices
or chunks obviating the need for a knife. The spoon is used to convey
food to the mouth.
 Ideally,
eating Thai food is a communal affair involving two or more people,
principally because the greater the number of diners the greater the number
of dishes ordered. Generally speaking, two diners order three dishes in
addition to their own individual plates of steamed rice, three diners
four dishes, and so on. Diners choose whatever they require from shared
dishes and generally add it to their own rice. Soups are enjoyed concurrently
with rice. Soups are enjoyed concurrently with other dishes, not
independently. Spicy dishes, not independently. Spicy dishes are "balanced"
by bland dishes to avoid discomfort.
 The
ideal Thai meal is a harmonious blend of the spicy, the subtle, the sweet
and sour, and is meant to be equally satisfying to eye, nose and palate.
A typical meal might include a clear soup (perhaps bitter melons stuffed
with minced pork), a steamed dish (mussels in curry sauce), a fried dish
(fish with ginger), a hot salad (beef slices on a bed of lettuce, onions,
chillies, mint and lemon juice) and a variety of sauces into which food
is dipped. This would be followed by sweet desserts and/or fresh
fruits such as mangoes, durian, jackfruit, papaya, grapes or melon.
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