Nam phrik (chilli relish) as a category

Nam phrik (chilli relish) belongs to the oldest stratum of Thai cooking, older than the chilli itself, which reached Southeast Asia from the Americas through Portuguese and Spanish traders and was taken up into relishes already made from dried and fresh native peppers, shallots, garlic and fermented seasonings. David Thompson treats the category in Thai Food and Thai Street Food as the clearest evidence of the country's regional diversity, since each province and each culture within Thailand keeps its own relish, shaped by the local land, water and harvest.

A structured overview of the nam prik (chilli relish) category — the oldest and most diverse of all Thai preparation categories — defining the full taxonomy of the tradition and the principles that distinguish the major preparation styles. Thompson devotes extensive coverage to nam prik in both Thai Food and Thai Street Food, treating it as the preparation category that most clearly reveals the regional diversity of Thai cooking: each province, each culture within Thailand, has its own nam prik.