The Thai street food made from shredded green papaya with chili is som tam. It is a spicy salad prepared by pounding unripe papaya with ingredients such as chilies, lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, garlic, tomatoes, and peanuts or fermented crab, depending on the regional style.
Som tam is especially associated with Thailand’s northeastern Isan region, whose cuisine has strong Lao cultural connections. The broader dish is known in Laos by names including tam mak hoong and tam som. In Thailand, som tam became widely established as a national favorite through migration, roads, food carts, and the growing popularity of Isan cuisine in Bangkok.
The name is descriptive: som means “sour” and tam refers to pounding ingredients in a mortar. A common mix-up is treating every green papaya salad as identical. Thai som tam, Lao tam mak hoong, and neighboring Cambodian or Vietnamese versions can differ significantly in heat, sweetness, fermented ingredients, and seasoning.