My Greatest Love

If there is one thing that is universally known about me, it is my undying love of Thai food. I wish I had clearer memories of the foundation of this affair with this cuisine. I feel fairly confident in saying that my very first experience with Thai food was most certainly at Thai-Rific in San Luis Obispo, Ca. Famous for it’s ivy covered wall, this SLO institution opened in 1985 which helps me in no way in figuring out exactly how old I was the first time I walked through those doors. Honestly the only part of the meal I remember was the hot pot of soup with the translucent glass noodles and the blue orange flame keeping everything boiling hot. Between that and the seeming opulence of the hammered silver serving vessels the rice came in, I was enchanted. My first time trying something outside of a standard curry or pad Thai (which was created in the 1930’s as a way to galvanize nationalism) was in Baywood Park at Little Noi’s Thai Takeout. It was here that I had Pad Kee Mao aka Drunken Noodles for the first time. A spicy stir fried noodle dish, it is generally made with broad rice noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, meat, garlic, chili, black pepper pods, and holy basil. Most think the name drunken noodle came about as it is a popular street food after a night of drinking, perfect for soaking up all the alcohol you might have consumed. What I know about Pad Kee Mao is that I first tried it probably around 1999 and it was the hottest, most delicious thing I had ever eaten. When I say this, I mean, I have eaten it while tears streamed down my face. What I miss about Noi’s ... man, Noi Miner would be standing over her wok ready to make your order and she would size you up. I always thought she took secret delight in pushing you to your spice limit. You never EVER said, “spicy” to Noi unless you were aiming for death or you were a Cal Poly Dudebro that didn’t know any better. I achieved “medium” and quiet honestly was proud of myself the day Noi didn’t ask if it was too spicy last time. Side note , it looks like their original location in Baywood has since closed but Noi has opened a new restaurant with her sister called Noi and Doi’s in neighboring Los Osos.

Okay, well what exactly is Thai cuisine? Is it like Chinese food, I get asked a lot. Well, sort of. Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components and a spicy edge. And yes, some Thai food is heavily influenced by Chinese cuisine and also Many Indian dishes as well. When we talk about Thai curry and what distinguishes it from other curries, we tend to talk about coconut milk and the use of curry paste vs the curry powder of Indian or Japanese curries. Curry paste has an extremely potent flavor, achieved through the mixing of spices, fresh ingredients, and then mixed with oil. Curry paste is often the base of a dish, ideally being pan fried for a minute or two before adding coconut milk, vegetables, and meat. Curry powder, on the other hand, is a dried spice blend best added to a dish already being prepared to a slow cooked, stew like dish.

Regionality has the biggest influence on The dishes. Bangkok style has more of a Portuguese influence and as the capital city, leans more to the royal style. As the capital, it also has more Western influence than the other regions. Thai royal cuisine that dates back to the Ayutthaya kingdom (1351-1767) and was a great influence on the cuisine of the central Thai planes. This time period also introduced Theravada Buddhism and can perhaps take credit for the reason Thai cuisine features such a vegetable forward nature that can be seen to this day. A Siamese kingdom, Ayutthaya emerged as a centralized and major power after the fall of the Khmer Empire. By 1600, the kingdom’s vassals included parts of the Malay Peninsula, Burma, and Cambodia. Central Thai is where we find the wet and flat rice-growing plains and also where coconut milk has a strong presence. The central region is where we find green curry, Tom yam, Tom Kha kai. Isan aka northeastern Thai is heavily influenced by Laos and Cambodian cuisine. Northern Thai shares a lot of ingredients with Isan and is found in the Thai highlands and tends to be milder than the rest of the country. Next we travel down to Southern Thai which is bordered by two tropical seas and where you will find more of a Hainanese and Cantonese influence. Here we find Massaman Curry, and sate.

I want to take a moment to talk about the most surprising (to me at least) entry in the list of Thai cuisine influences: Portugal. The Portuguese influence can be seen through much of the Bangkok and Royal styles of cooking as Portugal was the first European nation to make contact with the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1511. After being freed from Malacca by Afonso de Albuquerque, a Portuguese tailor named Duarte Fernandes was sent on a diplomatic mission to the court of Ramathibodi II, King of Ayutthaya. A Treaty of Friendship followed in 1518 which allowed for trading and commerce. In 1548, when the Burmese attacked Ayutthaya, they were met with Portuguese musketeers, forcing a retreat. After this, King Chairachathirat gave the Portuguese a plot of land just south of the capital. The Portuguese brought with them foods they had found in their explorations of Brazil such as sweet potato, lettuce, tomato, papaya, custard apples, and pineapple. Perhaps the must important introduction from the Portuguese to Thai cuisine was chilies.

Does the amount of regionality surprise you a little? When you walk into aThai restaurant today, do you expect to see the same entries: pad Thai, pad Kee Mow, your red, green, yellow, and Massaman Curry? Well there’s a reason for that! In the early 2000’s the Thai government created a centralized cooking . In 2001, the Thai government began using a foreign policy known as gastrodiplomicy in order to drive the tourist industry in Thailand. The establishment of Global Thai Restaurant Company, Ltd., has set the goal of opening 3000 restaurant worldwide and has even published a book called A Manual for Thai Chefs Going Abroad. Pure speculation on my part here, but I would have to assume that the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis which started with the collapse of Thailand’s currency and lack of foreign currency. One would assume (me, I am the “one”) that the efforts of Thai government to use this culinary diplomacy to both drive tourism dollars and create jobs for the Thai people. In 2013, Thailand’s National Innovation Agency created the Thai Delicious Plan, set forth one million dollars in order to develop recipes with authentic Thai taste, create a biosensor equipment to analyze and evaluate taste, develop instructional food guidelines, and provide certifications for Thai chefs cooking abroad. The agency posted 11 “authentic” recipes including pad Thai, Massaman Curry, green curry, and Southern Thai style sour curry. By 2020, the agency had planned to release over 300 recipes.

The Siamese Revolution of 1932 transformed the government from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one. 1939, Siam became Thailand. So the 1930’s see some fascism, a revolution, a new constitution in the late 40’s as well as a restoration of the monarchy in the 1950’s. I know that there is a lot there and I don’t want to get into it so much( we are talking lots of military coups and what not), but that’s the super brief history leading Thailand to siding with the US in the Vietnam War and the US government changing immigration laws from Thailand in 1960s. Many American GIs acquired a taste for Thai cuisine when they found themselves stationed in Thailand, waiting to be deployed to Vietnam. Chada Thai in Denver, CO first opened it’s doors in 1959 and is the oldest Thai Restaurant in America. In 1972, the first ever Thai market, Bangkok Market, was opened in Los Angeles.

What else can I say about Thai cuisine? Like my previous blog about Five Spice, Thai food is all about balance and harmony between the flavors sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. The complexity in Thai dishes are a juggling act of disparate elements to create a harmonious finish. A complex symphony of flavors, if you will. All right, all right, I won’t wax poetic any longer over Thai food. Drop me a message about your favorite Thai dish or favorite restaurant, I would love to know!