Research note 049 — 2026-09-04
Dishes and Ingredients That Carry 「苦い」 in Their Name
Gather together the dishes and ingredients whose name carries the word 「苦い」(nigai, in translation: "bitter") itself, and it becomes clear that the name and what the sources actually write do not always line up neatly. There are places where the word for bitterness inside a name turns out, once the sources are checked, to point to different ingredients from one source to the next. There are places where a name carries no word for bitterness at all, yet the sources plainly write bitterness. And there are places where the same plant or the same method of preparation is called, across countries and languages, by both a name that includes 「苦い」 and a name that does not. This note walks through these, one by one, laying the origin of each name beside the bitterness that the sources actually describe.
On this page (11 sections)
- What this page establishes
- Several dish names share Thai khom
- Different name, but the source still writes bitterness
- Within uruka, one branch that claims bitterness alone
- The name nigana alone does not settle the plant
- Inside and outside the name nigauri
- A cassava name that never passes through bitter
- A vegetable only English calls bitter leaf
- Ingredients where a compound shows through the name
- What is not known
- Frequently asked
What this page establishes
- Even for a dish whose name includes 「苦い」, whether the bitterness originates from an herb or from viscera cannot be told from the name alone, and the sources are recorded as dividing into separate lines.
- For dishes such as Papaitan and Nậm Pịa, which carry no word for bitterness in their name, examples have been confirmed where sources explicitly write bitterness.
- For the same plant — as with nigana, bitter gourd, and cassava — it is recorded that the local name does or does not include the word 「苦い」 depending on the region.
- For bitter orange, a quantitative study tracking developmental stages reports levels of the glycosides that back up the bitterness the name points to.
Several dish names share Thai khom
The Thai word 「ขม」 (khom, in translation: "bitter") is defined by the dictionary as the taste of a type of neem or of a climbing vine in the Menispermaceae family — a word pointing to bitterness itself. Several dish names include this word.
Scope: The Royal Institute of Thailand, พจนานุกรม ฉบับราชบัณฑิตยสถาน พ.ศ.๒๕๕๔ [the Royal Institute Dictionary of the Buddhist Era], headword ขม ๑ [khom]
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concept-word-khom-th —is_defined_in_dictionary_as→ "『รสอย่างหนึ่งอย่างรสสะเดาหรือบอระเพ็ด.』 (in translation: "A taste like the taste of sadao [neem] or bora phet [a bitter vine].")"「ต้มขม」 (Tom Khom) is a dish name combining 「ต้ม」 (in translation: "to boil or simmer") with 「ขม」, and it appears in records as food of the Lisu, who live in the highlands of northern Thailand.
Scope: A recipe variant presented in one Thai cultural-media record
Note: Do not infer that every Tom Khom belongs to the Lisu.
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dish-tom-khom —is_documented_in→ culture-lisuYet the same name 「ต้มขม」 does not point only to a preparation built around mountain herbs. A recipe posted from the Isan region gives 「ต้มขมไส้อ่อน」, made mainly with pig small intestine and finished by adding a separate bittering ingredient,「น้ำเพี้ย」 (khi phia). Under the same name, two lines exist separately: one whose bitterness comes from an herb, and one whose bitterness comes from a viscera-derived seasoning.
Scope: The Isan dish 「ต้มขมไส้อ่อน」 (in translation: "bitter soup with pig small intestine"). One entry from a user-submitted recipe site (Wongnai)
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dish-tom-khom —includes→ seasoning-khi-phia「ลาบขม」 (Larb Khom) also carries 「ขม」 in its name. An introduction to a local dish of Phrae Province, Thailand, explains that ordinary larb made with beef or water-buffalo meat is given, by adding 「เพี้ย」 (in translation: "sediment in the intestines") or 「น้ำดี」 (in translation: "bile"), a bitterness not found in other larb. The 「ขม」 inside the name names exactly the difference from other ingredients.
Scope: An introduction to a local dish of Phrae Province, Thailand. A page posted by the Phrae Provincial Cultural Office at the Cultural Information Center (Ministry of Culture)
Note: It is also introduced under the alternate name 「ลาบแป้」 (larb pae). Quantities and how widely it is distributed inside or outside the province are not described.
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dish-larb-khom —is_defined_as→ "A type of larb made with beef or water-buffalo meat. It is given bitterness by adding, as an ingredient not found in other larb, 「เพี้ย」 (in translation: "sediment in the intestines") or the 「น้ำดี」 (in translation: "bile") of cattle or water buffalo. The chili paste for the larb is made by finely grinding dried chili, galangal, makhwaen (a type of Sichuan pepper), shallot, garlic, salt, and long pepper, which is mixed into the finely chopped meat and parboiled offal and eaten either raw or cooked through (khua). Raw vegetables are served alongside."This record comes from the Phrae Provincial Cultural Office, and it is registered as one of the local dishes of northern Thailand.
Scope: One record registered in 2020 by the provincial cultural office as a local dish of Phrae Province (northern Thailand)
Note: Its distribution across other parts of northern Thailand outside Phrae Province has not been confirmed.
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dish-larb-khom —is_documented_in→ region-northern-thailandDifferent name, but the source still writes bitterness
Not every bitter dish carries a word for bitterness inside its name. A column article on the Ilocos region of the Philippines names a "range of bitter flavors" as what characterizes the region's cooking, and lists Papaitan as one of its representative examples.
Scope: The infobox and body text of the English-language Wikipedia article, and a 2007 Philippine Star column on Ilocano food culture
Note: Neither source is primary field research; both are culinary-media accounts — an encyclopedia and a national-newspaper column. Which of Ilocos Norte or Ilocos Sur is more central cannot be determined from these sources.
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dish-papaitan —is_documented_in→ region-ilocosNậm Pịa, from northwestern Vietnam, is likewise a dish whose name alone gives no word for bitterness. The sources define it as ruminant offal simmered together with pịa, a digestive fluid drawn from the junction of the small and large intestine, and bone broth, scented with herbs.
Scope: The Tai (Thái) people of northwestern Vietnam (Sơn La province, Mộc Châu, and elsewhere)
Note: The anatomical definition (the junction of the small and large intestine) follows a journal article (Vương Xuân Tình, 2025). The ingredient makeup also agrees across state-media outlet articles.
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dish-nam-pia —is_defined_as→ "A dish in which the internal organs (heart, liver, lungs, stomach, intestines, and so on) of ruminants such as water buffalo, cattle, or goats are simmered together with a digestive fluid (pịa) drawn from the junction of the small and large intestine, and bone broth. It is scented with mắc khén seeds (hạt mắc khén), lemongrass, chili, and cilantro."Pịa itself is named explicitly as the bitterness among the five tastes making up chéo, the Tai people's dipping sauce, alongside the saltiness of salt, the pungency of chili, the sourness of fermented bamboo-shoot liquid, and the sweetness of meat and fish. Even though the name does not derive from a word for bitterness, the source itself names this ingredient as the bitter one.
Scope: The Tai (Thái) people of Quỳnh Nhai district, Sơn La province
Note: Based on a direct quotation from a journal article (Nguyễn Thị Hảo, 2021). The dish name "nậm pịa" itself does not appear in this paper; it is mentioned only as a reference to the use of pịa as an ingredient.
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seasoning-pia —is_used_in→ "One of the components of chéo, a dipping sauce essential to the Tai (Thái) people's table. It is counted as one of 5 elements, alongside the saltiness of salt, the pungency of chili, the sourness of fermented bamboo-shoot liquid, and the sweetness of meat and fish."Within uruka, one branch that claims bitterness alone
Uruka, a salted, fermented preserve made from the flesh and internal organs of ayu, branches into different names depending on the part of the raw material used and the method of preparation. Among them, niga-uruka is recorded, in a source on local dishes of Oita Prefecture, as the name for the line made using only the internal organs, without the flesh.
Scope: Uruka of Oita Prefecture (a local-dish source from Oita) and a nationwide product survey (a 1996 paper)
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dish-niga-uruka —is_a_form_of→ dish-urukaA study that gathered a literature survey together with product descriptions sets out how many names —「身うるか」 (mi-uruka), 「子うるか」 (ko-uruka), 「にがうるか」 (niga-uruka), 「渋うるか」 (shibu-uruka), and others — divide by region according to differences in the raw-material part and the method of preparation. Even under the same name niga-uruka, the definition itself varies between places of production.
Scope: Ayu uruka products sold nationwide, and descriptions in prior literature
Note: A classification organized by a 1996 academic paper from a literature survey and a collection of product descriptions. The definitions vary by place of production, and there are examples — such as niga-uruka — where the same name is defined differently from one production area to another.
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dish-uruka —has_variant→ "「身うるか」 (mi-uruka), 「親うるか」 (oya-uruka), 「子うるか」 (ko-uruka), 「白うるか」 (shiro-uruka), 「黒うるか」 (kuro-uruka), 「にがうるか」 (niga-uruka), 「渋うるか」 (shibu-uruka), 「どろうるか」 (doro-uruka), 「切り込みうるか」 (kirikomi-uruka), 「取り混ぜうるか」 (torimaze-uruka), and other name lines, differing by region according to the part of the raw material used (flesh, internal organs, roe, milt) and the method of preparation, are reported from the literature and from product descriptions."The name nigana alone does not settle the plant
The ingredient called 「ンジャナ」 or 「ニガナ」 (njana or nigana) in Okinawa is connected, in a prefectural food-culture source, to the plant Crepidiastrum lanceolatum (hosoba-wadan). The source adds a qualification, however: the name nigana alone cannot identify the plant.
Scope: The Okinawan ingredient njana / nigana
Note: Connected to Crepidiastrum lanceolatum (hosoba-wadan) through a prefectural source and GBIF. Not automatically merged with a different plant that shares a similar name.
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ingredient-nigana —is_derived_from→ organism-hosobawadanAn Okinawan ingredient source records that this plant's leaves have bitterness and are used in shira-ae and in soups. The 「ニガ」 inside the name does point to the actual bitterness of the leaves.
Scope: The leaves of Crepidiastrum lanceolatum (hosoba-wadan), eaten in Okinawa as njana / nigana
Note: An ingredient source originating from Okinawa Prefecture records the leaves' bitterness and their use in shira-ae (a tofu-dressed dish) and soups. Confidence calibration (2026-08-31 review): downgraded from supported to contextual, since the grounds are only public and press cultural records.
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ingredient-nigana —is_used_as→ organism-hosobawadanInside and outside the name nigauri
The same plant, Momordica charantia, is also called, depending on the region, by names that include no word for bitterness. A Thai local-government source lists 「มะระเล็ก」 (mara lek, in translation: "small mara") and 「มะระขี้นก」 (mara khi nok) as common names for this plant, and a separate home-cooking article lists side by side, as the two types commonly eaten in Thailand, the Chinese-derived 「มะระจีน」 (mara jeen) and「มะระขี้นก」. Neither name includes the word 「ขม」 itself.
Scope: A list of scientific and local names recorded in a publicly released Thai local-government source
Note: The source gives the same scientific name, Momordica charantia L. The side-by-side listing of the 2 types, including mara jeen (the Chinese-derived type), is based on a separate source (a home-cooking explanation from Suan Dusit). This is not a claim of a formal varietal name.
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ingredient-mara-khinok —is_a_type_of→ ingredient-bitter-gourdIn Vietnam, meanwhile, a simmered dish made mainly from the same bitter gourd is called"canh khổ qua". "khổ" is a word expressing suffering or hardship, and an article introducing Tet holiday cooking uses this name within a description of removing the seeds from the green fruit, stuffing it with meat, and simmering it.
Scope: Canh khổ qua hầm / nhồi thịt, as recorded by VOV
Note: Based on the cooking description in the same article. Not generalized into a recipe. Confidence calibration (2026-08-31 review): downgraded from supported to contextual, since the grounds are only public and press cultural records.
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dish-canh-kho-qua —uses→ ingredient-bitter-gourdA cassava name that never passes through bitter
Cassava, too, has a naming split between sweet and bitter cultivars. A large-scale Brazilian cultivar survey defines cultivars below a given level of cyanogenic-compound content, per fresh weight of root, as 'sweet cassava,' and those above it as 'bitter cassava.' This is an agronomic naming, and the authors add that the distinction is not uniform across regions.
Scope: Manihot esculenta (3,354 landrace and breeding lines originating from 26 Brazilian states)
Note: The authors add that while this agronomic naming distinguishes between cultivars in Latin America, it is in some cases not distinguished in Africa. The body text contains no data verifying, through human sensory testing, the correspondence between the naming and the measured HCN values.
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ingredient-bitter-cassava —is_defined_as→ "Cultivars with an HCN content, per fresh weight of root, below 100 mg/kg are called 'sweet cassava,' and those from 100 to 500 mg/kg FW are called 'bitter cassava.'"Yet the local Brazilian names themselves do not pass through any word for bitter. A public technical source records that the sweet cultivar sold for eating raw or lightly processed is calledmandioca-mansa or aipim, while the other cultivar, used exclusively for processing, is called mandioca-brava.Brava is a name owed to the high cyanogenic-compound content of the root, not a word that directly expresses bitterness. As a matter of naming lineage, the English-language classifying term "bitter cassava" carries a word for bitterness, while the local Portuguese name chooses a different word.
Scope: A description centered on the Recôncavo Baiano region of Brazil
Note: Records only the origin of the name and the distinction in use, without touching on toxicity figures or mechanisms.
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ingredient-bitter-cassava —differs_from→ "Unlike the sweet variety (mandioca-mansa, commonly known as aipim) sold for eating raw or lightly processed, mandioca-brava is given this name because of the high level of cyanogenic compounds (compostos cianogênicos) in its root, and is used exclusively for processing."A vegetable only English calls bitter leaf
Vernonia amygdalina, a vegetable native to Nigeria, has its leaves washed by kneading and used as a vegetable or as a flavoring, and its representative dish is called bitter-leaf soup.
Scope: Nigeria
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dish-bitterleaf-soup —contains→ organism-vernonia-amygdalinaThe soup made with this vegetable is also recorded, within the culinary system of southeastern Nigeria, under the Igbo-language name "Onugbu". Where the English word "bitterleaf" carries a word for bitterness directly in its name, the local name uses a different word.
Scope: The culinary system of southeastern Nigeria
Note: Recorded as onugbu soup.
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dish-bitterleaf-soup —is_documented_as_part_of→ culture-igboIngredients where a compound shows through the name
For the citrus bitter orange (C. aurantium), a quantitative study tracking developmental stages reports that, in every organ — leaf, flower, and fruit — the level of neohesperidin, a bitter flavanone glycoside, exceeds the level of naringin. The bitterness that the "bitter" in its name points to is backed up by the presence of this group of glycosides.
Scope: Quantification of C. aurantium by organ and developmental stage (fruit including the peel)
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ingredient-bitter-orange-peel —contains→ compound-neohesperidinAmong China's kudingcha teas, the source plant of the line called the large-leaved type is stated explicitly as Ilex kudingcha. The word 「苦丁」 in the name appears in the sources as the name of the tea itself, made from this plant.
Scope: China
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organism-ilex-kudingcha —is_used_as→ ingredient-kuding-teaWhat is not known
- No record has been reached that systematically sorts out, across sources, whether the same name 「ต้มขม」 points to herb-derived bitterness or to a viscera-derived bittering ingredient.
- For Papaitan, this account stops at the culinary-culture description of a "range of bitter flavors" in the Ilocos region; the sources available to this research lab do not reach the origin of the word that makes up the name itself.
- The definition of niga-uruka varies between places of production and cannot be written as a single, fixed standard.
- A different plant sharing the same name may exist alongside Crepidiastrum lanceolatum (hosoba-wadan), which the sources state explicitly as the plant called nigana, but this catalog does not extend beyond the record for hosoba-wadan.
- No source has been reached that verifies, through human taste testing, the correspondence between cassava's sweet/bitter naming split and bitterness as an actual sensory evaluation.
- What the name Onugbu itself means in the local language is not explained by the sources in this catalog.
Frequently asked
Why is Papaitan bitter?
A column article introducing the cuisine of the Ilocos region of the Philippines names a "range of bitter flavors" as an element that characterizes the region's cooking, and lists Papaitan as its representative example. The name itself contains no word indicating bitterness, but the source places this dish among the region's group of bitter dishes. However, a description reaching into the specific ingredients or cooking method that produce the bitterness has not been confirmed within the scope of this source.
Are nigauri (ニガウリ) and kugua (苦瓜) the same vegetable?
Both point to the same plant, Momordica charantia, but whether the name includes a word for bitter divides by region and language. Thai sources use names such as 「มะระเล็ก」 and「มะระขี้นก」, which include no word for bitterness, while in Vietnam it is called by a name such as "khổ qua", which includes a word expressing suffering. Japanese「ニガウリ」 (nigauri) falls in the line of names that do include a word for bitterness. Even for the same plant, whether the name carries a word for bitterness differs from language to language.
Related:ขม (Thai) /Tom Khom /Larb Khom (ลาบขม / ลาบแป้) /Papaitan (Pinapaitan) /Nậm Pịa (Nặm Pịa) /Pịa /uruka (salted, fermented ayu entrails) /niga-uruka (bitter uruka, ayu entrails) /nigana greens /bitter melon /Bitter cassava (mandioca-brava) /bitter-leaf soup /bitter orange peel /Ilex kudingcha
Related research notes: The Map of "Bitter": East and West /Wild-Greens Dish Names Are Not One Plant /How Are Bitter Leaves Brought to the Table? /Research note: Which Plant Parts Become Bitter Seasonings
Related topic hubs: The Words for Bitterness /Bitter Gourd's Bitterness
Source ledger: the source ledger
How to cite this page
Aoki, M. (NIGAMI LAB) (2026). Bitter in the Name. https://nigamilab.com/en/notes/bitter-in-the-name/
Each claim card has a stable anchor (#clm-…). The dataset is CC BY 4.0; see the data page. Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22739101