The Origins of Pad Thai

[webfact]

The Origins of Pad Thai

 

 

The world can’t seem to get enough of Pad Thai. That one is true. In all corners of the world, Pad Thai – a Thai-style stir-fried noodle – is likely to be available for your cravings. For the debut food clip that we are doing in this column, I can’t help featuring this iconic dish of my country.

 

Ask any Thai, and you’ll notice that we don’t reckon Pad Thai as our staple as much as rice dishes. After all, as anyone knowns, rice largely equals Thai food. But Pad Thai – the dish prepared mainly with rice noodle – appeared in our history as something of a tasty adaptation.

 

 

Story has it that back in the World War II, Thailand was having a serious rice shortage. Everything was expensive, but instead of applying rations in our food supply system, our then Prime Minister Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram or Chomphon Por touted an idea of nationalism in a dish. The wartime creation of Pad Thai was a recipe for survival back the day. We borrowed the rice noodle from the Chinese kitchen and stir-fried it with Thai local flavours.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/the-origins-of-pad-thai/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-03-27

[leeneeds]

Still inexpensive at 25 baht at my local market

tasty with a  little heat, one days evening meal done

and enjoyed.

[metisdead]

A troll post has been removed. 

[ricklev]

Rice noodles are made from rice.  How does that help during a rice shortage?  

 

This makes a little more sense to me. .  https://priceonomics.com/the-invention-of-pad-thai/

[Fex Bluse]

Not sure this will be enough to distract from slow election outcome.

 

Pad Thai is Chinese, as are many other Thai dishes with others in the

 

south east being Cambodian influenced,

 

the northern Lanna/Chiang Mai food often being Burmese influenced,

 

the northeast food being clearly Laos and

 

the southern food being clearly Malay. 

 

Next 

[Orton Rd]

They usually wack too much sugar in it,  Chinese, as Thai as Muay Thai!

[Jimbo in Thailand]

I love pad Thai topped with scrambled egg and a generous dusting of finely ground peanuts.  And NO sugar please!  Saap saap!  ????

[candide]

2 hours ago, ricklev said:

Rice noodles are made from rice.  How does that help during a rice shortage?  

 

This makes a little more sense to me. .  https://priceonomics.com/the-invention-of-pad-thai/

Thai logic?

[Misterwhisper]

Mitigating a serious rice shortage by concocting a stir-fried dish that uses a copious amount of rice noodles is a very Thai solution to solve a problem, it seems.

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Prime Minister Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram or Chomphon Por touted an idea of nationalism in a dish.

And how is a dish that's so quintessentially Chinese able to promote (Thai) nationalism? Someone enlighten me, please?

[metisdead]

Some troll posts have been removed.

 

Please use discretion in your references to the government. Phrases which can be considered as anti-coup will be removed. Referring to Thailand or the government as a dictatorship, military dictatorship or other such terms will be removed.

 

 

A number of off topic political troll posts have now been removed.

[myshem]

When you know what crap they put in this dish, you do not eat it anymore...

 

[Fex Bluse]

26 minutes ago, myshem said:

When you know what crap they put in this dish, you do not eat it anymore...

 

Especially the high amounts of sugar which others have mentioned. In fact, too many Thai dishes are ruined by too much sugar.