Thai food has played an important role in vital traditional ceremonies since the establishment of Ayutthaya in 1351 which had been explained in one of the King Chulalongkorn’s diaries which recited the 12 month ceremony process.
Each month a ceremony was followed by making merit by inviting monks for Buddhist chanting in the morning, with a particular type and mostly seasonal food or dessert served.
The 12 month ceremonies are a significant part of Thai history reflecting Thailand’s food culture used in royal vital ceremonies.
Thai culture in the Ayutthaya era reflected multicultural influence. During Somdet Phra Narai, the king of Ayutthaya from 1656 to 1688, Maria Guyomar de Pinha or Thao Thong Kip Ma in Thai (the Japanese-Portuguese lady born in Thailand), worked in the palace’s kitchen where she was responsible in making desserts for the royal family and their foreign guests and the French ambassadors.
Maria Guyomar de Pinha became famous for introducing her new dessert recipes that were adapted from Portuguese culinary influence with the using of local ingredients of coconut cream, rice flour and sugar.