Turns out Pad Thai isn't an authentic dish (and neither is most of what goes on in international Thai Restaurant menus). I first learned about this when I looked up why Thai Tea is orange. I...
Turns out Pad Thai isn't an authentic dish (and neither is most of what goes on in international Thai Restaurant menus).
I first learned about this when I looked up why Thai Tea is orange. I figured there must have been some kind of reason around the harvesting or a seasoning or something in the processing of the tea leaves. But it turns out it's just food coloring. They needed a signature drink and decided "Americans like sweet things and weird colors" and the cloyingly sweet concoction we know now was born.
I dunno... I guess I can agree that it's not a traditional dish, in view of how far back their history stretches, but I don't see any reason today why it shouldn't be considered authentic. Like...
I dunno... I guess I can agree that it's not a traditional dish, in view of how far back their history stretches, but I don't see any reason today why it shouldn't be considered authentic. Like Andong said, by now generations of Thai people have grown up eating it, it's part of their cultural fabric. In my experience, Thai people are fiercely proud and protective of pad thai, and have strong opinions on what is acceptable and what isn't, even when they don't agree among themselves. To me, the important thing is that they claim it.
To be fair, I did know the broad strokes of this story beforehand, so maybe I'm a little biased.
Very interesting video, I had no idea Pad Thai was not only such a recent invention, but also so specifically used as a tool by the government. Stuff like this pops in my mind as the other side of...
Very interesting video, I had no idea Pad Thai was not only such a recent invention, but also so specifically used as a tool by the government.
Stuff like this pops in my mind as the other side of the coin when I read about food authenticity and appropriation. What gets considered an authentic and traditional dish associated with a culture can be very fuzzy and messy and relative and sometimes arbitrary.
Generally in American food media "authentic" usually means "the version of the dish the author first encountered when they were studying abroad or whatever." It sort of assumes that other cultures...
Generally in American food media "authentic" usually means "the version of the dish the author first encountered when they were studying abroad or whatever."
It sort of assumes that other cultures are a sort of primordial, essentialized thing that doesn't evolve or adapt to its circumstances. And if it does adapt, it's only being polluted.
There's a bit of truth to the pollution line as I think industrial food ways, which had a big impact on traditional American and British cuisine, do tend to be kind of damaging to food cultures (and they have been very damaging to American and British food culture, which is why everyone makes fun of how White people have childish palates).
It tends to make things more standardized, less experimental, less tied to how the ingredients came to be in the pantry. This is all a result of producing food for volume and shelf-life at the expense of all other considerations. It drains the "color" out of food traditions to do this. But that's also a modernist/industrialist thing more than anything else. Like Thai nationalists don't need to hate McDonalds because it's American, they can hate McDonalds for all the reasons Americans hate McDonalds.
Restaurants are businesses and they do what they can to create and follow trends. The unusual thing here is that a government was involved. Another example: Tandoor ovens go way back, but...
Restaurants are businesses and they do what they can to create and follow trends. The unusual thing here is that a government was involved.
Another example: Tandoor ovens go way back, but supposedly, Tandoori chicken became a trend due to the popularity of a particular restaurant that became a large chain.
You might compare with hamburgers, fried chicken, banh mi sandwiches, or bubble tea.
(Then again, restaurants often make up stories so you can't be too sure about the history.)
Turns out Pad Thai isn't an authentic dish (and neither is most of what goes on in international Thai Restaurant menus).
I first learned about this when I looked up why Thai Tea is orange. I figured there must have been some kind of reason around the harvesting or a seasoning or something in the processing of the tea leaves. But it turns out it's just food coloring. They needed a signature drink and decided "Americans like sweet things and weird colors" and the cloyingly sweet concoction we know now was born.
I dunno... I guess I can agree that it's not a traditional dish, in view of how far back their history stretches, but I don't see any reason today why it shouldn't be considered authentic. Like Andong said, by now generations of Thai people have grown up eating it, it's part of their cultural fabric. In my experience, Thai people are fiercely proud and protective of pad thai, and have strong opinions on what is acceptable and what isn't, even when they don't agree among themselves. To me, the important thing is that they claim it.
To be fair, I did know the broad strokes of this story beforehand, so maybe I'm a little biased.
Very interesting video, I had no idea Pad Thai was not only such a recent invention, but also so specifically used as a tool by the government.
Stuff like this pops in my mind as the other side of the coin when I read about food authenticity and appropriation. What gets considered an authentic and traditional dish associated with a culture can be very fuzzy and messy and relative and sometimes arbitrary.
Generally in American food media "authentic" usually means "the version of the dish the author first encountered when they were studying abroad or whatever."
It sort of assumes that other cultures are a sort of primordial, essentialized thing that doesn't evolve or adapt to its circumstances. And if it does adapt, it's only being polluted.
There's a bit of truth to the pollution line as I think industrial food ways, which had a big impact on traditional American and British cuisine, do tend to be kind of damaging to food cultures (and they have been very damaging to American and British food culture, which is why everyone makes fun of how White people have childish palates).
It tends to make things more standardized, less experimental, less tied to how the ingredients came to be in the pantry. This is all a result of producing food for volume and shelf-life at the expense of all other considerations. It drains the "color" out of food traditions to do this. But that's also a modernist/industrialist thing more than anything else. Like Thai nationalists don't need to hate McDonalds because it's American, they can hate McDonalds for all the reasons Americans hate McDonalds.
Restaurants are businesses and they do what they can to create and follow trends. The unusual thing here is that a government was involved.
Another example: Tandoor ovens go way back, but supposedly, Tandoori chicken became a trend due to the popularity of a particular restaurant that became a large chain.
You might compare with hamburgers, fried chicken, banh mi sandwiches, or bubble tea.
(Then again, restaurants often make up stories so you can't be too sure about the history.)