Can foreign chefs conquer Thai cuisine?

[westerby]

Sauce: BBC

Rachel Harvey

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11572994

Interesting feature on an Australian chef with a Thai restaurant in Bangkok.

[konstabel els]

I can just imagine one of these top chefs 'Thai ' meals in one of there upmarket restaurants -

' Special ' Tom Yam - served in a bowl the size of an egg cup
Chefs 'new styleThai ' noodles - 3 x strands of glass noodles- served on a square plate and some sauce in a squiggly zig zag
and ' EuroThai sorbet ' - teaspoon of lemon ice cream served in a miniture champagne glass

All for a meagre £145 + service charge

[UdornLA]

have to agree with the subject of the article / Thompson, as i find most thai food is inconsistent and crap. though.........what is thai cruisine..........obviously, bkk cruisine, since like usa, influence by other/surrounding nations and immigration, though around a lot longer than usa, not really one nation until vietnam war and yanks built up the infrastructure. all parts having their distinct flavors, isan is unique as is north and south.

in comparison, the only thing unique/original, and that's questionable about usa cuisine would be corn/maze and deer/venison as guessing a stable of american indian, along with buffalo meat as they were gatherers and hunters. everything else as here, is influenced by other nations and regions. as usa, anything not originating, we/they borrowed from immigrants and couple generations later, improved or not, and you now have a 'cruisine'.

as usually, the locals get quite offended at any criticism..........which i find is hypocritical at best, to arrogant. but TIT

[Aardvark]

I read some years ago that Thai food came from a combination of Chinese and Indian influences. Don't know if true or not, but makes sense to me if you look at the different Styles of Noodle, Soup and Curry dishes they have. I love Thai food no matter who Cooks it

[jingjai]

I first ate Thai food in 1980 at a Thai restaurant in Honolulu and developed a fondness for it. Ten years later, I made my first visit to Thailand. After a couple of visits here, watching Thai cooks work, I decided to try and cook some Thai food back in Hawaii (mainly to save $$$).

Hawaii has a large Thai community and many Thai/Asian grocery stores. Plus all the different herbs and spices are available in Hawaii. The people who owned the stores were only to happy to help me in my quest, as were the Thai people I worked with at the hotels.

If I do say so myself, I was successful. This was validated by the Thai people I knew in Hawaii who tasted my food and also by my friends who had visited here and then tasted my food.

Would I say I "conquered" it? No. Is my Thai food as good as much of the Thai food I've eaten at Thai restaurants in Thailand and Hawaii? Yes. Would I dine at a high-end fancy-schmanzy farang owned Thai restaurant in Bangkok? No, unless someone else is picking up the tab .

To answer the question "Can foreign chefs conquer Thai cuisine?" Of course they can. It would be arrogant to think they couldn't. It would be the same arrogant mindset that thinks a non-Mexican can't conquer Mexican food, or a non-Italian can't conquer Italian food, etc., etc.

As always, Wikipedia provides a good summary of Thai food:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_food

[Nobbles]

Yes they can.....plus not all Thai chefs conqeur their own cuisine.....would i rather a Thai chef Cooked My Food or a Farang in a Restaurant...?...sorry but something is telling me Thai everytime.

Gorden Ramseys best returants did Thai a couple weeks back....one was a fancy Joint In London with a English(and other non Thai staff) Chef..the other a Joint In Scotland with Thai chefs/staff....the place in Scotland won.

[pomps]

Yes

[Niggly]

Gordon Ramsey can’t.

[Niggly]

I remember posting this but it wasn’t today. Last line, how do you bump a post?