Thai cuisine 'under threat' from foreign influences

[Nereus]

Pesky foreigners cannot keep their long noses out of anything!
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Thai cuisine 'under threat' from foreign influences

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... influences

The Culture Ministry has pledged to investigate ways to preserve authentic Thai cuisine from the increasing influence of foreign dishes.

The move is a fresh attempt to work on a four-year master plan to "promote and preserve Thai food wisdom", which is to be implemented between 2020 and 2024, Culture Minster Vira Rojpojchanarat said Monday.

"Unique in its preparation with recipes handed down for generations, Thai culinary art needs better protection against foreign influences which are now changing the look and taste of certain local dishes," Mr Vira said.

"Though appealing to many gastronomes, fusion foods are a threat to authentic Thai cuisine if they lead to the gradual disappearance of some unique Thai foods," Mr Vira said.

The minister expressed his worries after attending a meeting to set up a panel to draft a plan to preserve Thai cuisine and the country's food culture.

This plan will also fall in line with the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

According to its website, the 2003 convention intends to protect the "uses, representations, expressions, knowledge and techniques that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals, recognise as an integral part of their cultural heritage".

Domestically, the plan will also correspond with the areas of Thailand's 20-year national strategy that cover cultural heritage, Mr Vira added.

[laphanphon]

Fusion is just that, and doesn't pretend to be 'Thai'.

Not a big fan of rice myself, eat some, but also do a lot of my meals with pasta, especially curries and local recipes of seafood, though unless Thai spiced ...LOL.... wouldn't exactly call it Thai food.

I avoid vendors catering to tourist, as their watered down version of Thai items is damn near offensive. Don't blame them, as that's what the tourist wants, so be it. Won't even enter a place that isn't 90 % full of Thais. Or all the reviews on internet are English script.

Wongnai, and Foursquare, FB, even G Maps for reviews and vendor info.

Also avoid tourist areas for same reason, and simply hard to find good Thai offerings.

[handdrummer]

Will the new fear for Thailand culture stop restaurants from serving "non-authentic" Thai food? Will there be a food police to inspect the restaurants? If people don't like what's being served they won't eat it and if they do like let them enjoy it. Who cares, aside from govt. employees, what other people eat? The world isn't getting smaller it's getting narrower.

[margaretcarnes]

I can see where they're coming from with this. Similar fears to those voiced in Britain when the EU wanted to tell us how to make chocolate, and the campaigns to stop things like Lincolnshire sausages being made in other counties and sold as Lincolnshire. But the 'watering down' of authentic recipes also happens the other way round - in many Thai restaurants (and Chinese, Indian, Greek etc) in the UK. Maybe what is needed is for all Thai eateries to be made to clearly state 'adapted for farang'. And while they are at it to warn farang tourists that the full English breakfast really means a Thai version of it.