The name (sometimes spelled Isan) given to the people, dialect and land area of Northeast Thailand. However, the people are of Laotian descent and their culture is still as much if not more Lao rather than Thai and their cuisine reflects this.

The staple of the Isaan (and Lao) diet is sticky rice. Perhaps the best-known Isaan dish is som tam (or tam mak hung in Lao/Isaan), a spicy salad prepared from unripe papayas. While Thais prepare this with dried shrimp, in Isaan the preferred style is with preserved crab (puu) or mudfish. Other characteristic dishes include different types of salad combining cold meat, mint, chilli and lime juice, known as larb. The people of the region also eat a wide variety of other creatures, including lizards, frogs and fried insects. Soups are a frequent element of any meal, and contain either vegetables and herbs, noodles, chunks of fish, balls of ground pork or a mixture of these.