FOOD OF NORTHERN THAILAND

Food of Northern Thailand is a beautiful deep dive into the regional cuisine of northern Thailand with a documentarian's approach and a photographer's eye.

The food of northern Thailand is a world away from the highly refined, royal court- and Chinese-influenced style of cooking in Bangkok--the Thai food that most of us are familiar with. It's a cuisine with its own distinct identity, one that is rustic and earthy, meaty and fragrant; one with roots in the Thai repertoire but with branches that extend into unfamiliar areas; a cuisine that feels ancient, but is ever evolving.

A writer, photographer, and travel-guide writer, Austin Bush has lived in Thailand for nearly 20 years. In this book, Bush travels across northern Thailand to talk to the region's home cooks, academics, restaurateurs, writers, and hawkers. Their recipes and stories, along with Bush's photographs, capture the people, countryside, markets, and of course, dishes and cooking techniques of northern Thailand. Each of the chapters in the book will focus on a single province, giving a snapshot of the dishes, staple ingredients, cooking methods, and people specific to that area.

Austin Bush has lived in Thailand since 1999. He speaks, reads, and writes fluent Thai, and has written extensively about Thai food. His writing and photography has appeared in more than 20 books for Lonely Planet, as well media outlets including bbc.com, Bon Appétit, CNN Travel, Condé Nast Traveler, Olive, Monocle, the New York Times, Saveur, time.com, Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, VICE, The Wall Street Journal Asia, and the Washington Post, among others. His blog, AustinBushPhotography.com/blog, was a finalist in Saveur magazine's Best Food Blogs awards. He works closely with Andy Ricker and has photographed the New York Times bestseller Pok Pok and its follow up, The Drinking Food of Thailand.