Twenty years ago, people would get excited when a western newspaper praised Thai food as a new sensation. Foreign tourists visiting Thailand were very much impressed by what they ate here. The number of Thai restaurants overseas sharply increased, signaling the newfound popularity of our cuisine.
The government responded to this fad by initiating many projects to further promote Thai food abroad. Among them was the prestigious "Kitchen of the World" scheme which included many collaborators, from the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Ministry of Labour to two universities which designed Thai cooking courses.
Students were promised that in just 10 days. they could learn how to make tom yam kung, tom kha gai, pad Thai, pad priew wan, gaeng khiew wan and so on. Anyone could apply, as no cooking experience or tuition fee was required, the objective being to produce Thai cooks for overseas market.
The project was neither practical nor efficient, as attendees were mere amateurs and only had 10 days' worth of training. That's why most of them didn't receive working visas to be Thai cooks abroad. Some countries require at least a year's experience in a professional kitchen. Eventually, this "Kitchen of the World" project went nowhere and wasted a fair amount of taxpayers' money.
Three years ago, a former prime minister and other ministers were left disappointed by the flavour of their Thai meal overseas. They came up with a project to standardise Thai food.
The National Food Institute under the Ministry of Industry invented a machine called "Electronic Nose Electronic Tongue", a robot-like figure that can measure the density, aroma and flavour of food. Worth more than a million baht per piece, the machine was reproduced and distributed to Thai embassies worldwide so it could "regulate" the standard of food in Thai restaurants in those countries.
However, the machine was good only for one dish: beef green curry. I haven't heard anything about the project since.
Only last month, the National Food Institute came up with another project to monitor the so-called Thai flavour. They approached famous figures in Thai cooking to help set the standards for Thai restaurants overseas, including measuring, methods and flavors. They claimed that this is supposed to set the standard for "authentic" flavours of Thailand.
It clearly shows that the National Food Institute wants all Thai food sold around the world to taste the same. This is no laughing matter.
Chefs and cooks are not robots run on batteries. Cooking is an art that is both challenging and entertaining. Those who cook are the artists whose works are admired and cherished for their unique characteristics. I don't see why green curry or pad Thai need to taste the same everywhere in the world.
A world-famous piece of music such as Tchaikovsky's Concerto No.1 sounds different when portrayed through the hands and minds of musicians from Hungary, Germany, China, Japan, Vietnam or Russia where the piece originated. The music notes and instruments are the same, but the tune was different, depending on the player.
You just can't regulate the flavour of food. It's impossible! Ready-to-eat pad Thai sold in Trader Joe's in the US cannot taste identical to pad Thai thip samai in Bangkok. The Vietnamese Huy Fong Sriracha sauce tastes differently from Heinz's Sriracha sauce, yet they bear the same name. A bowl of gaeng som (sour curry) of a shop near Wat Trai Mitr will never taste the same as what is served on the dinner table of the Industry Minister.
Isn't it boring to think that a dish served anywhere would taste the same?
Food lovers around the world are keen to know more about Thai food. They want to know if a recipe belongs to a particular ethnic group; are there any specific traits to it; what are the nutritional qualities? A lot of people will want to cook it at home.
The private sector should be credited for introducing Thai food to the world via the many products it created. These companies have exported frozen foods, seasonings, chilli dips, curry pastes, sauces, spices, dried herbs and many more to the overseas market. Many publishers have made quality English cookbooks that urge foreigners to properly cook delicious Thai food in their own kitchen.
Some five star hotels have arranged Thai food festivals at their many locations around the world, and the crowd loved it. Thai communities would host events to cook and sell Thai food to the public. You can see that the private sector has contributed quite a lot and been successful.
Still, the responsible governmental sector diligently works to "standardise" the flavour of Thai food. It's getting nowhere.
What they can do, and should do is to manage the knowledge pool for Thai food. Many online sources especially YouTube videos are fast, very detailed and reachable by millions of people. Viewers are eager to know what kind of Thai food they can make and how to properly cook it.
Those videos available are, unfortunately, in Thai. I don't see many English-speaking videos.
The National Food Institute is equipped with skilled people and has a decent budget. Compared to producing a robot that can measure the quality of "authentic" Thai flavours, using this money to create detailed and correct English subtitles in the readily available cooking videos should be easier and more useful.
