Standards for the Thai kitchen

[PatOngo]

This puts last nights speech by the PM into some context --when he stated that in order to improve exports of rice (we) need to encourage the world to eat more rice and eat less bread.

Now we need to make sure that all Thai food tastes the same. - Thai food often tastes different within Thailand due to regional differences in ingredients and preparation - That's what makes all food fun, the range and variety of tastes

UK Thai food restaurants produce food for UK pallets, not Thai. So perhaps Thailand should stop telling UK chefs how to cook Thai food for UK people, as Thailand clearly knows very little about the customer base the food is aimed for!

The General stands no chance of replacing bread consumption with that of rice. Bread is to Westerners what rice is to Asians. Cheese and pickle on a bed of rice doesn't work.

I pity those poor Australians trying to spread Vegemite on their rice, will Americans have peanut butter and jelly rice?

[ratcatcher]

Is this Notthenation ???

They are seriously worried about this? Can I complain about American fried rice?

Isn't Pad Thai a Vietnamese dish? Can I sue in the local market if she uses the wrong ingredients?

Isn't Pad Thai a Vietnamese dish? Right you are!

History A dish of stir-fried rice noodles is thought to have been introduced to the ancient Thai capital city of Ayuthaya by Viet traders, and was subsequently altered to reflect the Thai flavor profile. The etymology of the dish's name in Thai suggest Chinese origins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pad_Thai

[laobali]

Can you imagine how boring and dull the culinary profession would be if all national dishes, Feijoada, Stinco, Eggs Benedict..etc. all had the same exact "standards" and procedures? Thais are crazy to suggest this bonehead idea and take away the creativity of Thai cooking by every chef and cook in the world by its mere suggestion.

I stopped reading the article after the first few paragraphs. So boring, it gave me indigestion!

[laobali]

It starts to be:

How we have to think, how we have to dress, how we have to eat...

What's next?

How to solve murders?

[Time Traveller]

Food police? Since when did the police start deciding how my food tastes? A$$ holes

Everyday Thailand loses more of it's freedoms.

[Time Traveller]

deleted post.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Time Traveller

[AyG]

Isn't Pad Thai a Vietnamese dish? Can I sue in the local market if she uses the wrong ingredients?

Isn't Pad Thai a Vietnamese dish? Right you are!

History A dish of stir-fried rice noodles is thought to have been introduced to the ancient Thai capital city of Ayuthaya by Viet traders, and was subsequently altered to reflect the Thai flavor profile. The etymology of the dish's name in Thai suggest Chinese origins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pad_Thai

There is not a shred of evidence that it's a Vietnamese dish. The Wikipedia article includes the notes (oh so carefully omitted by "ratcatcher") "when?" and "citation needed". In other words there's absolutely no hard evidence for the vague speculation it came via Viet traders. Indeed, that seems most unlikely since there has been relatively little culinary influence upon food in Thailand from Vietnam or Champa; China has had a far, far larger influence given the large number of traders, and subsequently immigrants, from China.

Field Marshall Phibun was responsible for the popularisation (and probably invention) of this dish. "Kway teow" is indeed from a Chinese dialect, and is used for noodle dishes both dry and wet, both Chinese and Thai in origin. However, the Chinese-derived dishes are almost invariably made with wheat noodles. Phad Thai is made with rice noodles - a decision made by the Field Marshall to support Thai rice farmers. The etymology of kway teow is irrelevant here in determining the origin of the dish.

The inclusion of peanuts. eggs and meats were a deliberate decision to enhance the (protein deficient) diet of Thai people at the time. The Field Marshall codified the recipe and had it published widely to move Thai people away from rice and nam phrik and to give them a nutritious alternative.

[attrayant]

Oh yeah, this'll happen. Most Thai restaurants in the USA would soon go out of business if they served their food as it's made here in Thailand, with random hunks of chicken skin and gristle. Market forces will put an end to international flavor standards.

[kentiopsis]

Most Thai restaurants in Hawaii are owned and run by Lao people. My wife and I were in the business for 11 years in Hilo and Honolulu. My wife's from Khonkaen, and she knows almost everybody in the biz there. They're not bad people, they work hard and want to make good food. But they have to adjust their recipes for local palates, as has been mentioned earlier, but my wife says a lot of them don't know how to make real Thai food in the first place. It's interesting that there are Thai resteraunts and Vietnamese restaurant, but no Lao restaurants. And yeah, that ketchup in the pad Thai has to go.

The Thai Delicious campaign takes the bureaucratic mindset and stupidity to new heights, but it's valuable, however, for the insight it provides into the mindsset of the That bureaucracy and giverment. Simply stunning

Edited October 8, 2014 by kentiopsis