Fired up over sauce
It’s time Thailand takes back the rights to the name of a chili sauce that is associated with a Thai geographical region. The sauce’s name was usurped from Thailand without any benefit to the original producers or the Kingdom of Thailand in 1979. And the consumption of it has grown by leaps and bounds along with the popularity of Thai cuisine. Very likely not by coincidence. If you have not guessed already, I’m referring to the Sriracha brand of sauce now being produced in the US from peppers that are not grown in Sriracha and may not even be of same varietal. By the way, even the word Sriracha is mispronounced by most consumers!
The brand is hugely popular in the US and throughout most of the world. It is produced by a Vietnamese company in California, Huy Fong, and has gone viral in the US in the past 10 years. There are a variety of product spin-offs based on the Sriracha taste and uniqueness of its colour. All the way from chocolate to supercar-like colour schemes. It hurts my Thai pride every time I see the Huy Fong Sriracha imitation sauce being served in a restaurant and even more to hear the mispronunciation of the word Sriracha. It gets me hot under the collar. Certainly hotter than the Huy Fong Sriracha sauce can generate on my palate.
Sriracha-designated origin products deserve the same designation of origin protection as any other intellectual properties that the West has been using for its products. Similar rights have been claimed by producers of Champagne, Balsamic vinegar of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The names of these products are protected by the European Union’s Protected Designation of Origin. According to the WTO: “A product’s quality, reputation or other characteristics can be determined by where it comes from. Geographical indications are place names (in some countries also words associated with a place) used to identify products that come from these places and have these characteristics (for example, Champagne, Tequila or Roquefort).”
According to a story by the Los Angeles Times published in February 2015, David Tran “invented” the sauce, but never trademarked the brand. I would like to make two points here. The prestigious US paper did not even know that Sriracha sauce was not invented by David Tran, and David Tran probably did not trademark it because he knew he didn’t invent it. It was invented in Sriracha, Thailand by the Sriracha company!
Thailand joined the WTO in the same year it was started in 1995. Huy Fong sauce started in 1979. So there was no mechanism in place in 1979 to stop Huy Fong Food from naming their imitation sauce Sriracha. To get the name Sriracha back under Thailand’s control we need both the private sector and the Thai government to work together. First, the government must apply to the WTO for protection of the usage of Sriracha sauce under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) TRIPS. Second, all the Sriracha sauce companies in Thailand should pitch in and distinguish their products from imitations by labeling them “Original Sriracha from Thailand” accompanied by a brief explanation of the origin of Sriracha sauce. Third, with the popularity of Thai cuisine and a large number of Thai-owned restaurants around the world, the Thai government can ask for voluntary assistance to promote our Thai Sriracha sauce through education by making the “Original Sriracha” sauce available and not the imitation from Huy Fong food.
It’s never too late to to claim what is rightly yours.
ML SAKSIRI KRIDAKORN