Tom Yum Kung, Thailand’s Hot and Sour Prawn Soup, Joins the UNESCO Heritage List

UNESCO inscribed Tom Yum Kung on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 3 December 2024, at the nineteenth session of its intergovernmental committee in Asunción, Paraguay (4 December in Thailand). It is Thailand’s fifth element on the list, after Khon masked dance drama in 2018, Nuad Thai massage in 2019, Nora dance drama in 2021 and the Songkran new year festival in 2023.

What was listed

The inscription does not concern a recipe. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes Tom Yum Kung as the culinary wisdom of the riverside communities of the central plains: people who lived beside rivers and canals, caught freshwater prawns and cooked them with the herbs that grew around their houses. The nomination presents the dish as the product of a simple, self-sufficient way of life close to nature.

The soup

Tom means to boil, and yam means mixed, the word for the Thai salads that balance sour, salty and hot. Kung is prawn. Tom yum is a family of hot and sour soups, and the version with prawns is the best known.

The base is water or a light stock in which three aromatics are simmered: lemongrass, galangal and the leaves of the makrut lime. They perfume the soup and are not usually eaten. Prawns go in at the end and cook for a minute or two, and the soup is seasoned with lime juice, fish sauce and chilli.

There are two styles. Nam sai is the clear soup. Nam khon, which appeared in the 1980s, is made cloudy and richer with evaporated milk and often with roasted chilli paste. The same method is used with fish, chicken, mixed seafood or pork.

For travellers

Tom Yum Kung is on almost every Thai menu, from street stalls to hotel dining rooms. It is not a first course: in a Thai meal it arrives with the other dishes and is eaten with rice, a spoonful at a time. Diners may ask for the clear or the creamy version, and for less heat. The large river prawns of the central plain make the richest soup.

In Bangkok the dish can be eaten at every price. Our article on the arrival of the Michelin Guide in Bangkok describes the street cook whose version with seafood is among the most sought-after in the city.