CRAVING THE REAL DEAL
Purists may not approve, but Thai food abroad can be as tasty as the original
Many Thai people move to other countries due to work, family matters or education. Some of us love to travel abroad often. We miss Thai food when we are not home. When we do, we dine at a Thai restaurant in the city we visit. You might be surprised there are quite a few, especially in big cities. I have many thoughts about overseas Thai food. Firstly, it’s overpriced. Secondly, it doesn’t taste like Thai food. Nuea
phad num man hoy (beef fried in oyster sauce) elsewhere adds carrots, onions and kale to the ingredients; som tam uses carrots (again) mixed with spicy seafood paste; kang kew wan
(green curry) uses broccoli or phad thai with spring onion. These wrong ingredients make the dishes taste strange. To be honest, not-so-Thai food also tastes too sweet.
Some people say the variant is made for farang, not for Thais. Besides, certain ingredients are hard to find outside Thailand.
The question of authenticity aside, I think Thai food is easier to find in other countries. Even in a small town, you often find Chinese or Japanese restaurants but now you may find one or two Thai restaurants as well.
Thai ingredients, both imported or produced locally, can be bought in a big supermarkets. Williams Sonoma, the biggest store selling food products in the US, has its own house brand Thai products such as pastes for chicken satay, panang curry and phad thai sauce. Trader Joe’s also produce phad thai sauce, microwaveable phad thai and all kinds of Sri Racha sauces. This proves how popular Thai food has become. However, we don’t know for sure whether it’s because foreigners know Thai food from the many Thai restaurants abroad or due to supermarkets selling these ingredients that makes it more and more popular.
Either way, the merit of its subtle uniqueness plays a major part in Thai cuisine’s increasing popularity. I believe tourists who visit our country are the true PR for our food. They try to experience Thai food at many levels from street vendors to five-star hotels and tell their friends back home about how delightful it is.
For example, phad thai using only fine-cut white rice noodles, eggs and sprouts sold on Khao San Road for 10 baht and a pricey upgraded version with lobster might taste similar to foreigners who are not used to Thai food.
Many also cannot differentiate between panang and kang
phed, which are more popular from online recommendations, because they look and taste almost exactly alike, only the texture and smell are different. But Thai expats can tell and should play a role in recommending authentic restaurants overseas.
However, the bottom line is that authenticity doesn’t guarantee deliciousness. Even back home tom yum made in northern and southern Thai kitchens doesn’t taste the same. Kang
som from the Central region and its southern counterpart, which is called kang lueang, don’t even look alike and, of course, they taste different. Hor mok and panang kai made according to the same recipes but by different cooks don’t taste the same either.
We can’t say hamburgers from American-owned Slider Snack restaurant in Nichada Thani, Nonthaburi, are not real compared to those of The White Castle Slider in Kansas City. They are just made from different recipes but they both are hamburgers.
So it’s fair to say overseas food can be different from that in the original country.
It can be fun to try the adaptation. But for those who are attached to the original and crave Thai food during their overseas trips, my advice is to buy the ingredients in the mentioned stores and cook for yourself. It’s not too bad, it’s easy to make and it doesn’t cost much.
It’s true that we should honour the authenticity but in reality the difference can be fun. Lighten up and enjoy the true merit of food, which is what you can enjoy with your loved ones.