The principle of contrast and balance runs strong in Thai cuisine. Very often, the savory, sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and umami elements all play within one dish. Curries are classic examples of this principle. However, for me, the balancing of the cuisine also happens between meals. You might eat a breakfast, lunch and dinner where you chew on raw chiles, but in between, you pick up a coconut-based snack or drink coconut water.
As it is in many cultures, the sweets of Thailand don't ordinarily belong at the end of a meal so much as they function as a snack. That snack may appear as a neatly pinned banana leaf pocket of warm sticky rice cradling a banana. It may be a bowl with shaved ice piled over a confetti of fruits and sweetmeats. It may even be a collection of amuse-bouche-sized confections. Coconut milk is the single ingredient that runs through all of them. You cannot stroll through a Thai market without nibbling on one of the scores of sweets hawked from many stalls.
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