Flowers bloom in Thai cuisine

A restaurant worker prepares the Thai speciality dish of steamed lotus leaf pocket, known as Khao Hor Bai Bua, fragrant parcels of rice, lotus seeds, boiled rice, marinated pork, salted egg that are wrapped infused with the flavours of large green lotus leaves, at a shop known for specialising in them, in Bangkok, Thailand. - Photos EPA

Floral ingredients used extensively, not just as garnish.

DELICIOUS and beautiful, Thai food is appreciated the world over for its striking tastes and surprising combinations of sweet and salty, spicy and sour. But lesser known is that flowers also bloom in Thai cuisine, they appear as essential ingredients in popular dishes, as snacks sold at street stalls in the form of battered flower fries, to speciality dishes at local restaurants, to full banquets in five-star hotels promoting extensive floral banquets.