The Crystal of Native Thai Wisdom

Knowledge garnered over nearly a millenium by Thai forebears who through trial and error like
unknown soldiers on the battlefield of life found ways to survive has crystallized in a treasure trove
of priceless wisdom, a heritage passing down through the generations to be adapted as appropriate
by each like a ceaselessly flowing river.Khaokho Talaypu is part of this stream. We combine native
Thai wisdom with the rich resources of Thailand to create products for health and the
environment that are useful and beneficial in living life, and we have always made our knowledge
available to others in keeping with our aim to be reliant on ourselves, able in business, outstanding for society.
Being close to nature, aware of the fertility of the land, the diversity of life, and the intimate relationship of life
and nature, we are conscious of the fundamental dependence of life upon nature, especially for food and
medicine. It is a source of pride that we have such profound wisdom. We have an exquisitely
detailed theory of eating for health. For instance, we have a theory of tastes and scents of medicines
or foods for protecting, building, or restoring the body; the tastes or scents are separated into ten
categories, probably one of the most detailed classifications of its kind in the world. It is not that we
are more or less intelligent than any other people, but rather it is because our environment differs that ou
r theory differs. In particular, the diversity of our flora is among the greatest in the world, providing
plants for both food and medicine, which our Thai forbears used, developing the wisdom that crystallized
as the theory of the tastes and scents of medicine and food that has come down to us.
Before the rise of modern technology, traditional wisdom classified and described medicines and foods
in a truly scientific manner though the present names of the elements and compounds, the taxonomy, and the
experimental method were absent. Experiment there was, for these plants have been used
with people for nearly a thousand years, and they are still being used, for they are what is
appropriate-they are what nature and the surroundings have given for life in this place.