I received an e-mail recently asking what Issan was because I had referenced it in more than a few posts over the life of the blog. The simple answer is that Issan is the Northeast area of Thailand bordered by Laos and the Mekong in the North and East, Cambodia in the Southeast, the Pratchinburi mountains in the South and Phetchabun mountain range to the North and Central plains. The word Issan comes from the Sanskrit language meaning Northeast.
The harder answer is just why the Northeast region of Thailand is called Issan. You will find many arguments across the internet about royal Lao, Khmer, Chinese, Mon and Thai bloodlines that will leave you even more confused than when you started. The simple version is that a long time ago before Thailand ( Siam ) existed many people inhabited this region from Laos and Cambodia and their descendants are still there to this day.
The Issan region of Thailand can be seen almost as another country in and of itself. The primary language of Issan is Issan, which is a combination of Lao and Khmer dialects using the Thai alphabet. The dialect will change depending where you are in Issan. Along the border areas of Laos and the along the Mekong the dialect will be heavily Lao influenced whereas the further you get South and into the central areas the dialect will still be primarily Lao but with more Khmer thrown in. In Nakhon Phanom I hear a lot of Lao and Thai mixed together while in Mukdahan you get Lao, Thai and a little Khmer for good measure.
Just as the language is distinguishably different from the rest of Thailand the food also takes on a different taste and that is definitely of Lao heritage. You’ll hear many people claim that Issan food is just a regional Thai cuisine…I would bet they don’t say such things out loud while in Issan. While many Issan dishes have filtered down throughout Thailand with its people the dishes themselves can never be categorized as Traditional Thai food. While Thai food can be very spicy, Issan food redefines spicy. The food is generally more salty, spicy and sour. You won’t find many sweet dishes here.
Issan has gone through periods of Thaianization since the early days of the last century but the area has largely remained true to it’s conglomerate heritage. Although there have been times when the powers that be have strived to make Issan more Thai they still recognized the region by officially naming it Issan early on in the 20th century.
All this and I have still only scratched the surface of what Issan truly is. My hope is to add more to this topic in the future with the knowledge I learn first hand travelling throughout Issan and spending a great deal of time in areas such as Mukdahan and Nakhon Phanom.
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Talen a good introduction into the world that is Issan. I will look forward to your future posts on a subject that has become so close to my heart. The people, food, industry, culture, country life and cities are just the tip of a very beautiful mountain of posts. Don’t forget to mention Udon Thani in them.
.-= Martyn´s last blog ..A Paid For Post – The HD Way =-.
Martyn, Udon or Udorn is Sanskrit for North. There is much yet to learn and uncover but interestingly enough I’ve been learning even more in the past day since writing this post.
Seems this post is making the rounds among a few Laotian and Cambodian forums which has muddied the waters even more. But very interesting conversations are taking place about what Issan is compared to what Lao and Khmer is. It seems to me from the outside looking in that Issan really is more of it’s own country than anything with everyone looking at the people of Issan as more of one and less of another.
Hopefully more coming soon…
[...] What is Issan? | Thailand Land of Smiles thailandlandofsmiles.com/2009/08/21/what-is-issan – view page – cached I received an e-mail recently asking what Issan was because I had referenced it in more than a few posts over the life of the blog. The simple answer is that Issan is the Northeast area of Thailand bordered by Laos and the Mekong in the North and East, Cambodia in the Southeast, the Pratchinburi mountains in the South and Phetchabun mountain range to the North and Central plains. — From the page [...]
Actually the answer to the origin of the word Isan is easy – it’s Sanskrit/Pali for Northeast. I had written about it on my blog some month ago. It originally was only applied to the area of Roi Et and Ubon Ratchathani, while the area of Udon Thani got its name due to the northern location, thus it’s origin from the word North (Udon) in Sanskrit, whereas the area now know as north was named Phayap (Northwest).
.-= Andy´s last blog ..Municipal decisions from June 25 2009 =-.
nice interpretation of isan, well done. only thing i can add, before Thais modernization and better hwy infrastructure, isan was a bit isolated and hard to reach until American build hwys between the air bases during vietnam war. so isan was and is, basically the region of 19 provinces located on the korat plateau. isolated do to lack of hwy to bkk, mekong to the ast, and hills to the west. it has grown and progressed considerably, bkk thai is spoken most cities, but all things isan seem to rule just a few kms our of any large city, which are few.