A good meal, prepared from quality ingredients by a competent cook and served in pleasant surroundings with just the right wine to a hungry diner, is universally delicious. Whether it’s Thai, Chinese, French, Italian, or anything but Karen (the very outer limits of edibility) cuisine is irrelevant.
From an Australian perspective ‘Thai food’ is essentially seven or eight dishes served in virtually all Thai restaurants (or Thai/Lao – Lao/Thai restaurants which I would say greatly outnumber the genuine article). These are: Kaeng kiao (Green curry – with chicken/beef, prawns, whatever), Kaeng massamun (Massamun curry – beef/chicken primarily), Kaeng panang (Panang curry – chicken/beef), Tom yum (spicy soup – prawns, seafood), Tom kha kai (A milder, richer tasting coconut based soup – almost always with chicken), Phat Thai (we all know this is a noodle dish), Krapao kai (Chicken ,chilli and basil), and Som Tum (or more specifically Tum Thai – rather than the Pla ra version – spicy green papaya salad) – perhaps you could also throw in Kai yang (BBQ chicken) and khi niao (sticky rice) just to get the full complement – ‘khrop chut’. Interestingly, this is all Central Thai food with the exception of Massamun from the Muslim south, and Som Tum from the NE/Lao. You could also throw in Khao phat (Fried rice) for good measure – one for the kiddies and those allergic to anything remotely spicy – and perhaps leave the Panang curry out.
These represent – since we’re talking about restaurants – the ‘signature’ dishes of Thai cuisine, well certainly in Australia. Together they form a very strong nucleus for a strong ‘brand’ in terms of a food based commercial enterprise. I’m sure that for most of the readers of NM – no translation for any of these dishes is required. And I’d say the same applies for very large numbers of people who patronise Thai restaurants. The Thai words have simply entered the lexicon – Phat Thai, Khao phat (or if you prefer Pad Thai or Khao pad – and further add to the mispronunciation of Thai words), Tom yum g…, Tom kha kai, etc. In a way they’ve become part of a broader ozzie multiculture. Naturally these dishes represent but a fraction of Thai food more generally – perhaps the most palatable section. If Thai restaurants in Australia (and no doubt most other western countries) simply served such popular Thai dishes as Nam-prik, pigs blood, jungle curry (kaeng pa), or the southern curries kaeng khi lek or kaeng sa-tor, foreswearing the tried and true favourites mentioned above – they would sink without a trace in no time at all. From my experience of running a Thai restaurant in Canberra for ten years – the vast majority of patrons are incredibly unadventurous when it comes to ordering Thai food. It is the rare soul indeed who dares to try ‘anything’ even slightly outside the basic parameters of Thai cuisine mentioned above.
I closing I would like to add while there a great deal of good food to be had in contemporary Thailand there is also a huge amount of absolutely terrible crud being served up – from road side hawkers, and small unpretentious restaurants to hideously expensive up market restaurants/eateries. As I’ve learned over the years it is not particularly difficult to make good Thai food (though the tamarind based sauce used in Phat Thai can be a little tricky to produce, as can be making a good curry paste from scratch) so it amazes me how so many execrable enterprises remain in business. I seem to recall a generally much higher standard of food in Thailand during the 70s and 80s, but then again memory is always a tricky thing.
Thanks for the clarification Vikas,
Sometimes it can be hard to identify where a commentary sits in a debate, if there isn’t reference to those whom they are debating. Certainly, alarmist predictions of China’s rise abound. As do more dove-ish ones.
It wasn’t clear from your article whether you consider that China actually harbours grand hegemonic ambitions, or whether you view it is a confected fear.
In essence, I agree with you that there are a range of contstraints on China’s rising influence. I think we need to be careful also, before assuming all kinds of ambitions on the part of Chinese leaders.
Regarding labor intensive – you are quite wrong. The grand western kitchens are far more labor and time intensive. For the amateur chopping, grinding, etc. may take much time, but for the professional this goes very quickly (i am married to a professional cook whose expertise is Thai and Cantonese kitchen, and who has a not too bad understanding of western home style kitchen). The actual cooking process of Thai food is mostly very quick as well. Many western kitchens have dishes that are very complex, measurements and timing has to be absolutely exact, partly require long hours in ovens or steaming away, with many meat dishes having to spend before that many days in vinaigrette, for example.
I do like Thai kitchen a lot, especially because of having adapted many dishes from other kitchens to its own particular taste, such as Chinese, Malay, Indian, etc.
But I would not label Thai kitchen as one of the world’s great kitchens (i love German kitchen as well, but i would also not rank it as a great kitchen).
Great kitchens in my opinions are Italian, French and Chinese. Which does not mean that other kitchen’s have not great dishes – almost every kitchen, when well prepared, has outstanding dishes. Great kitchen, and great food experience are often quite separate issues.
Some of my most memorable food experiences have actually been in kitchens that are mostly known for its absolute boredom. One in particular was in Tibet, during a religious festival, and the food consisted of nothing but in large drums steamed chunks of Qinghai Lamb together with chunks of simple bread.
Yet if i would be given the choice of a 3 Star cook prepared meal, and one more time the chunks of lamb – without hesitation i would chose the lamb.
You’re an anthropologist, right?
Then why are you trying to postulate a cultural universal here?
Aren’t tastes in foods culturally and socially (and, may I add, economically) constructed? Just as in music, the taste of the food does not matter for answering your question.
Example: I am sure we have all encountered Thai people who claim that they do not like or cannot eat Indian food. Meanwhile, so many Thai dishes are nearly indistinguishable from Indian ones, the claim is preposterous on the face of it. Unless, that is, the question is not really about the food.
Here are songs I heard from the ‘Luk Tung’ local radio on the way back to Bangkok from the long weekend recently (I believe I was in Samut Songkhram then) :
“A call from the Thai man” by Suraphon Sombatjaroen :
c.) In terms of labour, it generally requires more time than most western food. If you have to do chopping, grinding and stirring manually, it can be a very time-consuming cuisine. However, I believe that it is still less labour-intensive than the Japanese cuisine.
This is why you need Thai restaurants. If it was so simple, everyone would be able to make it at home or the cuisine would be served at mainstream restaurants.
Yes, I agree that “Thai cuisine” is one of the best in the world.
However, I think it is best because it is not really Thai. Recipes are actually derived from many different origins e.g. India (curry), China (fried dish/non-spicy dish) or even Europe (see Maria Guyomar de Pinha).
There are other two factors that contribute to the success of Thai cuisine worldwide.
a.) Thailand is at a strategic location to secure best quality ingredients. Most of the ingredients can be produced locally or imported from neighboring countries.
b.) “Thainess” is deeply rooted among the populace. This is unique for the country. Unlike many multicultural societies, Thais are ready to claim that any good local foods are their. (and, of course, if it is not good, it belongs to others.)
Only a few days after ‘they’ took over the reins of power and NM is already having to do threads on Thai cuisine to avoid having to face the inconvenient truth that the sales-drive promises of this government had faded even before they got the office keys.
NM’s political fashion fops have flopped a real whopper over the last 5 years. You will improve the quality of your political punditry immensely by calling things as they really are, regardless of which bunch of color-coded successionist clowns (and their payroll) they originate from.
@Huw Slater: I’ll try to answer the questions you have raised in your comment – who am I contradicting and why I think they are wrong.
The press in China’s neighbourhood abounds in alarmist claims about prospective Chinese aggression. Even in countries that are relatively secure from a prospective Chinese aggression like India (due to the Himalayas and a rag tag nuclear arsenal) and Australia (due to distance and lack of any historical/territorial conflict) doomsday prophets are not difficult to find.
So, who is predicting Chinese aggression? I will draw examples from India and Australia since I am relatively familiar with the debates in these countries. See opinion pieces by Dibb for an assessment of Australian doomsday prophecies:
I did not cite anyone because alarmist predictions have presumably become common knowledge. In any case, the above links will provide you with “Who is it exactly that has forseen Chinese “aggression abroad””. The answer to your question “why is their theory incorrect?” is there in the article above. Briefly, the alarmists ignore the geographical, historical, technological, etc factors that are likely to restrain any Chinese tendency to sustain aggression abroad. Now how does my position differ from those contained in the links provided above? Instead of going into who said what, etc I simply look at the setting in which China operates and suggest that irrespective of posturing there are inherent limits to the extent to which China can sustain any aggression abroad.
(In passing note that the China has its own share of alarmists who predict that India is going to attack China. In http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/04/07/is-a-sino-indian-war-really-possible/ I argue that alarmists on both sides of the Himalayas have misunderstood the structure of the game between China and India.)
I hope to have answered both your questions. Pl feel free to raise additional issues.
In Australia the ability to set up a small business is relatively easy for not only Thais married to Australians, but Thai investors which also include students.
Thai people know Australians are adventurous when trying new foods. They understand their market and can easily modify their simple yet complex dishes to the westerners tastes. They are also often cheaper and more healthier in comparison to what you would get for the same price in a western take away.
Take one pound of very hot red chili peppers, add one pound of very hot green chili peppers, add one pound of even hotter chili peppers (any colour), add another pound of chili peppers, then slice, dice and pound. Cook for 15 minutes so the fumes cause everyone to start sneezing, wheezing and coughing then serve with rice.
Viola, the Thai national dish.
Now try eating something with real fresh flavours. You can’t taste anything you say? Nor can you taste anything for the rest of the week. Oh well, no problem, your taste buds have been destroyed, so stick with the chili.
In all my years in Thailand, except in decent hotels and restaurants, I have rarely found chili not killing a dish.
Spicy I don’t mind, chili in copious quantities I do.
“First, we are in the “middle income trap”. Korea, Taiwan and Singapore once were in a similar position…”
By this definition, are there any country that has not been in the “middle income trap”? In any case, how can you go from a GDP of $1,000 to $12,000 per capita (World Banks’s definition of middle income countries) without being stuck there for a while.
“Malaysia, once ranked in the mid-30s, similar to Thailand, now ranks 10th in competitiveness. Indonesia, once in the 50s, is now ranked in the 30s.”
“Also consider that Thailand’s share of global trade has moved from 1% in 2004 to 1.1% in 2009. Over the same period, China moved from 0.1% to 10%.”
I assume China’s numbers is a typo. Thailand’s current export per capita is almost $3,000 annually. China’s is $1,100. I don’t think Thailand is doing too badly compared to China. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports
“With populist policies, we are using future money today to what end? One day, we may be in a similar position to Greece, where people don’t want to work.”
Thailand’s debt to GDP ratio is down from 60% to 40% in the last 10 years. Its foreign reserve stands at $200 billion. That doesn’t sound like Greece to me.
“Even now, we see our young people not wanting to work because they know the state will support them. It’s become ingrained.”
Thailand is a welfare state where people can live comfortably on unemployment benefits?
“It is the middle class that pays taxes, but it is the lower class that benefits from populist policies. Resentment about the perceived injustice will build…”
Right, but the high standard of living the middle class in Bangkok enjoy is to a large degree due to the services they buy cheaply from rural people.
Imagine if 1 million rural Australians came to work in Sydney for $100 a week. Sydney natives would suddenly be able afford to eat out daily, hire services to cook, babysit, clean, mow the lawn, etc…
A great bargain for the middle class in Sydney you would think. But wait, the middle class is paying most of the tax, and the rurals almost none. Such injustice! On top of that rurals are demanding higher minimum wages and increased investments in their areas. The government may cave in. How populist!
The one-man-one vote may not work anymore. The lower class from rural areas need to be be kept away from power. And they need to be taught sufficiency economy so they understand the benefits of living at subsistence level.
Well of course you know that Thai food in the USA isn’t really what Thais would recognize as their own cuisine, just like Mexican food in the States is heavy loaded on the meats, fats and cheese and less on the corn and beans. Likewise, the popular Thai dishes are heavy on the sugar and coconut milk and lacking in the spicy hot chilli peppers and fish sauce, like Musaman Curry and Pad Thai. The fish and seafood dishes are noticeably lacking, and most restaurants have only one seafood dish–usually Seafood Spicy Lemongrass Soup–and the Tod Mun Pla or Tod Mun Goong appetizer.
Also, there is a supply problem because Thai eggplant is impossible to obtain for the green keeowan curry, as is fresh green papaya for the som tum, due to US Department of Agriculture restrictions on the importation of fresh vegetables and herbs from Southeast Asia. I think that most Isan and Lanna dishes, such as Larb Ped or Larb Pla and Kaou Soi, are unknown to foreign palates, and I am not sure how many westerners would find frogs, water beetles, and crickets delicacies.
Another interesting observation I made on my last trip to the USA is that many so-called “Thai” restaurants aren’t being run by Thais. In one shop in the Seattle area they were actually Hong Kong Chinese proprietors with no Thais on the staff, and in my hometown the “Thai House” restaurant was actually being run and staffed by Laotian Americans transplanted in the late 1970s and staffed by their completely Americanized son and daughters. At least they still served sticky rice, not because they had it on the menu but because they ate it for lunch themselves!
It’s also difficult to find Thai wait staff. This is because it is difficult for Thais to get work visas to America. In Concord, New Hampshire they had more Japanese college students working there as waitresses than Thais. In State College, PA they had only American college students (no Asians at all) at one restaurant, which was owned and operated by a Bangkok hi-so family; whereas the second restaurant was really Vietnamese run and their Vietnamese dishes (like “Phu”) were superior to their “Thai cuisine.”
Thanks Andrew for sharing a very very great feedback in this blog. Yes, it was a very good opportunity to frankly talk and discuss about various parts of the Thai studies. I look forward to joining again next time.
I have been to a real village based on the sufficiency economy model, and let me tell you, I wouldn’t want to live there. They have basic, one room concrete houses with a single electrical line and double wall socket into each home, and bicycles and low priced 100 cc motorbikes for getting around. Yes, they spend a lot of time gardening in a mostly pleasant rural environment, and there is the typical government school for the children, but I left really wondering if most folks could be satisfied with this bucolic, humdrum existence. Especially when nowadays the typical factory worker in Rayong has more material wealth and can at least enjoy an occasional Saturday night out for beers, karaoke, and a 149 baht barbecue buffet special with his/her friends and kids.
It also crossed my mind of the hypocrisy of the model, when you consider that the Crown Property Bureau has amassed untold wealth, and the Crown Prince has not one but two 737s at his personal disposal, provided at taxpayers’ expense.
Fantasizing about China’s ‘peaceful’ past relations with its neighbours is one of the more popular pastimes of revisionists in today’s PRC. Anyone with the mildest inclination to read up is promptly disavowed however, and the idea is filed away somewhere between ‘Hobbits’ and ‘Flying Pigs’. Chinese empires have been no different from any other in human history. They have been expansionist at times, and violently coercive often.
In relation to the more substantive issue of this article, it is not clear what the author is seeking to demonstrate. He is clearly trying to tear down a certain sense of Chinese hegemonic destiny. However he does not identify any author, or actor who he actually disputes.
Who is it exactly that has forseen Chinese “aggression abroad” and why is their theory incorrect? It is hard to get a handle on what this article has to contribute, for as far as can be seen it is entirely devoid of reference to anything except the author’s own imaginings.
[…] notable new entry on New Mandala points to the latest World Bank report on Thailand. In this announcement, the Bank upgrades Thailand’s economy from lower middle income to upper […]
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Unity is dead; long live coexistence
Stuart #5
Of course the Thai Government welcomes all kinds of criticism. How else could they identify and neutralize the critics?”
Thai food: Universally delicious?
A good meal, prepared from quality ingredients by a competent cook and served in pleasant surroundings with just the right wine to a hungry diner, is universally delicious. Whether it’s Thai, Chinese, French, Italian, or anything but Karen (the very outer limits of edibility) cuisine is irrelevant.
Thai food: Universally delicious?
From an Australian perspective ‘Thai food’ is essentially seven or eight dishes served in virtually all Thai restaurants (or Thai/Lao – Lao/Thai restaurants which I would say greatly outnumber the genuine article). These are: Kaeng kiao (Green curry – with chicken/beef, prawns, whatever), Kaeng massamun (Massamun curry – beef/chicken primarily), Kaeng panang (Panang curry – chicken/beef), Tom yum (spicy soup – prawns, seafood), Tom kha kai (A milder, richer tasting coconut based soup – almost always with chicken), Phat Thai (we all know this is a noodle dish), Krapao kai (Chicken ,chilli and basil), and Som Tum (or more specifically Tum Thai – rather than the Pla ra version – spicy green papaya salad) – perhaps you could also throw in Kai yang (BBQ chicken) and khi niao (sticky rice) just to get the full complement – ‘khrop chut’. Interestingly, this is all Central Thai food with the exception of Massamun from the Muslim south, and Som Tum from the NE/Lao. You could also throw in Khao phat (Fried rice) for good measure – one for the kiddies and those allergic to anything remotely spicy – and perhaps leave the Panang curry out.
These represent – since we’re talking about restaurants – the ‘signature’ dishes of Thai cuisine, well certainly in Australia. Together they form a very strong nucleus for a strong ‘brand’ in terms of a food based commercial enterprise. I’m sure that for most of the readers of NM – no translation for any of these dishes is required. And I’d say the same applies for very large numbers of people who patronise Thai restaurants. The Thai words have simply entered the lexicon – Phat Thai, Khao phat (or if you prefer Pad Thai or Khao pad – and further add to the mispronunciation of Thai words), Tom yum g…, Tom kha kai, etc. In a way they’ve become part of a broader ozzie multiculture. Naturally these dishes represent but a fraction of Thai food more generally – perhaps the most palatable section. If Thai restaurants in Australia (and no doubt most other western countries) simply served such popular Thai dishes as Nam-prik, pigs blood, jungle curry (kaeng pa), or the southern curries kaeng khi lek or kaeng sa-tor, foreswearing the tried and true favourites mentioned above – they would sink without a trace in no time at all. From my experience of running a Thai restaurant in Canberra for ten years – the vast majority of patrons are incredibly unadventurous when it comes to ordering Thai food. It is the rare soul indeed who dares to try ‘anything’ even slightly outside the basic parameters of Thai cuisine mentioned above.
I closing I would like to add while there a great deal of good food to be had in contemporary Thailand there is also a huge amount of absolutely terrible crud being served up – from road side hawkers, and small unpretentious restaurants to hideously expensive up market restaurants/eateries. As I’ve learned over the years it is not particularly difficult to make good Thai food (though the tamarind based sauce used in Phat Thai can be a little tricky to produce, as can be making a good curry paste from scratch) so it amazes me how so many execrable enterprises remain in business. I seem to recall a generally much higher standard of food in Thailand during the 70s and 80s, but then again memory is always a tricky thing.
China’s achilles’ heels
Thanks for the clarification Vikas,
Sometimes it can be hard to identify where a commentary sits in a debate, if there isn’t reference to those whom they are debating. Certainly, alarmist predictions of China’s rise abound. As do more dove-ish ones.
It wasn’t clear from your article whether you consider that China actually harbours grand hegemonic ambitions, or whether you view it is a confected fear.
In essence, I agree with you that there are a range of contstraints on China’s rising influence. I think we need to be careful also, before assuming all kinds of ambitions on the part of Chinese leaders.
Thai food: Universally delicious?
“Anon(ymous)”:
Regarding labor intensive – you are quite wrong. The grand western kitchens are far more labor and time intensive. For the amateur chopping, grinding, etc. may take much time, but for the professional this goes very quickly (i am married to a professional cook whose expertise is Thai and Cantonese kitchen, and who has a not too bad understanding of western home style kitchen). The actual cooking process of Thai food is mostly very quick as well. Many western kitchens have dishes that are very complex, measurements and timing has to be absolutely exact, partly require long hours in ovens or steaming away, with many meat dishes having to spend before that many days in vinaigrette, for example.
I do like Thai kitchen a lot, especially because of having adapted many dishes from other kitchens to its own particular taste, such as Chinese, Malay, Indian, etc.
But I would not label Thai kitchen as one of the world’s great kitchens (i love German kitchen as well, but i would also not rank it as a great kitchen).
Great kitchens in my opinions are Italian, French and Chinese. Which does not mean that other kitchen’s have not great dishes – almost every kitchen, when well prepared, has outstanding dishes. Great kitchen, and great food experience are often quite separate issues.
Some of my most memorable food experiences have actually been in kitchens that are mostly known for its absolute boredom. One in particular was in Tibet, during a religious festival, and the food consisted of nothing but in large drums steamed chunks of Qinghai Lamb together with chunks of simple bread.
Yet if i would be given the choice of a 3 Star cook prepared meal, and one more time the chunks of lamb – without hesitation i would chose the lamb.
Thai food: Universally delicious?
Nik,
You’re an anthropologist, right?
Then why are you trying to postulate a cultural universal here?
Aren’t tastes in foods culturally and socially (and, may I add, economically) constructed? Just as in music, the taste of the food does not matter for answering your question.
Example: I am sure we have all encountered Thai people who claim that they do not like or cannot eat Indian food. Meanwhile, so many Thai dishes are nearly indistinguishable from Indian ones, the claim is preposterous on the face of it. Unless, that is, the question is not really about the food.
Review of Ruth
Here are songs I heard from the ‘Luk Tung’ local radio on the way back to Bangkok from the long weekend recently (I believe I was in Samut Songkhram then) :
“A call from the Thai man” by Suraphon Sombatjaroen :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OQ49F3hJ2w
and “A reply from Vietnam” by La-Ongdao Bunsothon :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeQDHAP2STM&feature=related
I read this review and it reminds me of them.
Thai food: Universally delicious?
c.) In terms of labour, it generally requires more time than most western food. If you have to do chopping, grinding and stirring manually, it can be a very time-consuming cuisine. However, I believe that it is still less labour-intensive than the Japanese cuisine.
This is why you need Thai restaurants. If it was so simple, everyone would be able to make it at home or the cuisine would be served at mainstream restaurants.
Thai food: Universally delicious?
Yes, I agree that “Thai cuisine” is one of the best in the world.
However, I think it is best because it is not really Thai. Recipes are actually derived from many different origins e.g. India (curry), China (fried dish/non-spicy dish) or even Europe (see Maria Guyomar de Pinha).
There are other two factors that contribute to the success of Thai cuisine worldwide.
a.) Thailand is at a strategic location to secure best quality ingredients. Most of the ingredients can be produced locally or imported from neighboring countries.
b.) “Thainess” is deeply rooted among the populace. This is unique for the country. Unlike many multicultural societies, Thais are ready to claim that any good local foods are their. (and, of course, if it is not good, it belongs to others.)
Yingluck’s cabinet
Only a few days after ‘they’ took over the reins of power and NM is already having to do threads on Thai cuisine to avoid having to face the inconvenient truth that the sales-drive promises of this government had faded even before they got the office keys.
NM’s political fashion fops have flopped a real whopper over the last 5 years. You will improve the quality of your political punditry immensely by calling things as they really are, regardless of which bunch of color-coded successionist clowns (and their payroll) they originate from.
China’s achilles’ heels
@Huw Slater: I’ll try to answer the questions you have raised in your comment – who am I contradicting and why I think they are wrong.
The press in China’s neighbourhood abounds in alarmist claims about prospective Chinese aggression. Even in countries that are relatively secure from a prospective Chinese aggression like India (due to the Himalayas and a rag tag nuclear arsenal) and Australia (due to distance and lack of any historical/territorial conflict) doomsday prophets are not difficult to find.
So, who is predicting Chinese aggression? I will draw examples from India and Australia since I am relatively familiar with the debates in these countries. See opinion pieces by Dibb for an assessment of Australian doomsday prophecies:
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/02/21/is-china-a-military-threat-to-australia-the-babbage-fallacies/
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/08/09/china-not-about-to-attack-australia/
For analyses of alarmist frenzy in India see slightly dated pieces by Vembu and Swamy and a more recent one by Rajan:
http://www.dnaindia.com/blogs/post.php?postid=217
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/blogs/southasiamasala/2009/09/09/is-the-indian-media-reading-china-right/
http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article21762.ece
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers44/paper4390.html
I did not cite anyone because alarmist predictions have presumably become common knowledge. In any case, the above links will provide you with “Who is it exactly that has forseen Chinese “aggression abroad””. The answer to your question “why is their theory incorrect?” is there in the article above. Briefly, the alarmists ignore the geographical, historical, technological, etc factors that are likely to restrain any Chinese tendency to sustain aggression abroad. Now how does my position differ from those contained in the links provided above? Instead of going into who said what, etc I simply look at the setting in which China operates and suggest that irrespective of posturing there are inherent limits to the extent to which China can sustain any aggression abroad.
(In passing note that the China has its own share of alarmists who predict that India is going to attack China. In http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/04/07/is-a-sino-indian-war-really-possible/ I argue that alarmists on both sides of the Himalayas have misunderstood the structure of the game between China and India.)
I hope to have answered both your questions. Pl feel free to raise additional issues.
Thai food: Universally delicious?
In Australia the ability to set up a small business is relatively easy for not only Thais married to Australians, but Thai investors which also include students.
Thai people know Australians are adventurous when trying new foods. They understand their market and can easily modify their simple yet complex dishes to the westerners tastes. They are also often cheaper and more healthier in comparison to what you would get for the same price in a western take away.
Thai food: Universally delicious?
Take one pound of very hot red chili peppers, add one pound of very hot green chili peppers, add one pound of even hotter chili peppers (any colour), add another pound of chili peppers, then slice, dice and pound. Cook for 15 minutes so the fumes cause everyone to start sneezing, wheezing and coughing then serve with rice.
Viola, the Thai national dish.
Now try eating something with real fresh flavours. You can’t taste anything you say? Nor can you taste anything for the rest of the week. Oh well, no problem, your taste buds have been destroyed, so stick with the chili.
In all my years in Thailand, except in decent hotels and restaurants, I have rarely found chili not killing a dish.
Spicy I don’t mind, chili in copious quantities I do.
Thailand: an upper-middle income economy
Regarding the article in post #1.
“First, we are in the “middle income trap”. Korea, Taiwan and Singapore once were in a similar position…”
By this definition, are there any country that has not been in the “middle income trap”? In any case, how can you go from a GDP of $1,000 to $12,000 per capita (World Banks’s definition of middle income countries) without being stuck there for a while.
“Malaysia, once ranked in the mid-30s, similar to Thailand, now ranks 10th in competitiveness. Indonesia, once in the 50s, is now ranked in the 30s.”
In 2010-2011, Malaysia was ranked at 26, Thailand at 38 and Indonesia at 44.
http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-competitiveness
“Also consider that Thailand’s share of global trade has moved from 1% in 2004 to 1.1% in 2009. Over the same period, China moved from 0.1% to 10%.”
I assume China’s numbers is a typo. Thailand’s current export per capita is almost $3,000 annually. China’s is $1,100. I don’t think Thailand is doing too badly compared to China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports
“With populist policies, we are using future money today to what end? One day, we may be in a similar position to Greece, where people don’t want to work.”
Thailand’s debt to GDP ratio is down from 60% to 40% in the last 10 years. Its foreign reserve stands at $200 billion. That doesn’t sound like Greece to me.
“Even now, we see our young people not wanting to work because they know the state will support them. It’s become ingrained.”
Thailand is a welfare state where people can live comfortably on unemployment benefits?
“It is the middle class that pays taxes, but it is the lower class that benefits from populist policies. Resentment about the perceived injustice will build…”
Right, but the high standard of living the middle class in Bangkok enjoy is to a large degree due to the services they buy cheaply from rural people.
Imagine if 1 million rural Australians came to work in Sydney for $100 a week. Sydney natives would suddenly be able afford to eat out daily, hire services to cook, babysit, clean, mow the lawn, etc…
A great bargain for the middle class in Sydney you would think. But wait, the middle class is paying most of the tax, and the rurals almost none. Such injustice! On top of that rurals are demanding higher minimum wages and increased investments in their areas. The government may cave in. How populist!
The one-man-one vote may not work anymore. The lower class from rural areas need to be be kept away from power. And they need to be taught sufficiency economy so they understand the benefits of living at subsistence level.
Bangkok Pundit also offer some comments on the article here:
http://asiancorrespondent.com/62619/time-for-reform-in-thailand-by-getting-rid-of-one-man-one-vote/
Thai food: Universally delicious?
Well of course you know that Thai food in the USA isn’t really what Thais would recognize as their own cuisine, just like Mexican food in the States is heavy loaded on the meats, fats and cheese and less on the corn and beans. Likewise, the popular Thai dishes are heavy on the sugar and coconut milk and lacking in the spicy hot chilli peppers and fish sauce, like Musaman Curry and Pad Thai. The fish and seafood dishes are noticeably lacking, and most restaurants have only one seafood dish–usually Seafood Spicy Lemongrass Soup–and the Tod Mun Pla or Tod Mun Goong appetizer.
Also, there is a supply problem because Thai eggplant is impossible to obtain for the green keeowan curry, as is fresh green papaya for the som tum, due to US Department of Agriculture restrictions on the importation of fresh vegetables and herbs from Southeast Asia. I think that most Isan and Lanna dishes, such as Larb Ped or Larb Pla and Kaou Soi, are unknown to foreign palates, and I am not sure how many westerners would find frogs, water beetles, and crickets delicacies.
Another interesting observation I made on my last trip to the USA is that many so-called “Thai” restaurants aren’t being run by Thais. In one shop in the Seattle area they were actually Hong Kong Chinese proprietors with no Thais on the staff, and in my hometown the “Thai House” restaurant was actually being run and staffed by Laotian Americans transplanted in the late 1970s and staffed by their completely Americanized son and daughters. At least they still served sticky rice, not because they had it on the menu but because they ate it for lunch themselves!
It’s also difficult to find Thai wait staff. This is because it is difficult for Thais to get work visas to America. In Concord, New Hampshire they had more Japanese college students working there as waitresses than Thais. In State College, PA they had only American college students (no Asians at all) at one restaurant, which was owned and operated by a Bangkok hi-so family; whereas the second restaurant was really Vietnamese run and their Vietnamese dishes (like “Phu”) were superior to their “Thai cuisine.”
Unity is dead; long live coexistence
Thanks Andrew for sharing a very very great feedback in this blog. Yes, it was a very good opportunity to frankly talk and discuss about various parts of the Thai studies. I look forward to joining again next time.
Thailand: an upper-middle income economy
Re: Srithanonchai #9 and HRK #10
I have been to a real village based on the sufficiency economy model, and let me tell you, I wouldn’t want to live there. They have basic, one room concrete houses with a single electrical line and double wall socket into each home, and bicycles and low priced 100 cc motorbikes for getting around. Yes, they spend a lot of time gardening in a mostly pleasant rural environment, and there is the typical government school for the children, but I left really wondering if most folks could be satisfied with this bucolic, humdrum existence. Especially when nowadays the typical factory worker in Rayong has more material wealth and can at least enjoy an occasional Saturday night out for beers, karaoke, and a 149 baht barbecue buffet special with his/her friends and kids.
It also crossed my mind of the hypocrisy of the model, when you consider that the Crown Property Bureau has amassed untold wealth, and the Crown Prince has not one but two 737s at his personal disposal, provided at taxpayers’ expense.
Unity is dead; long live coexistence
“Thai government welcomes all kinds of criticism.”
Is the Thai ambassador living on the moon?
China’s achilles’ heels
@ Neptunian
Fantasizing about China’s ‘peaceful’ past relations with its neighbours is one of the more popular pastimes of revisionists in today’s PRC. Anyone with the mildest inclination to read up is promptly disavowed however, and the idea is filed away somewhere between ‘Hobbits’ and ‘Flying Pigs’. Chinese empires have been no different from any other in human history. They have been expansionist at times, and violently coercive often.
In relation to the more substantive issue of this article, it is not clear what the author is seeking to demonstrate. He is clearly trying to tear down a certain sense of Chinese hegemonic destiny. However he does not identify any author, or actor who he actually disputes.
Who is it exactly that has forseen Chinese “aggression abroad” and why is their theory incorrect? It is hard to get a handle on what this article has to contribute, for as far as can be seen it is entirely devoid of reference to anything except the author’s own imaginings.
Thailand: an upper-middle income economy
[…] notable new entry on New Mandala points to the latest World Bank report on Thailand. In this announcement, the Bank upgrades Thailand’s economy from lower middle income to upper […]