Why do people actually think that Thai Food in the Western countries is really Thai food.?

Question

Thai foods are much more healthy, spicy, tasteful, and not that oily or fatty. I wonder why those sellers claim they sre selling Thai foods if thay don't know how to cook Thai cuisine.

Answer 1

People who have been to Thailand can tell the difference ofcourse- and after they went to a Thai restaurant in a foreign country- they'll say--its not the same taste as i had in Thailand..

But they can't really make the food too spicy- they have to cater for all walks of life..not just the Thai locals.

Answer 2

If they have never been exposed to the real thing, how would they know the difference?

Answer 3

The restaurants need to cater for their clients and what the clients expect. Traditional Thai food is usually too spicy to serve to most 'Westerners'.

I tend to cook at home if I want authentic tastes using a "Real Thai Cookbook"! As I struggle to get most of the Thai ingredients at my supermarket, I tend to get my ingredients online at http://www.thai-food-online.co.uk

Answer 4

I don't know, the same holds true to "Chinese food" which in resturants in the US is really Polynesian food, I hate when people say "I dont like chinese food"  when they have really never even had it, what they dont like is Polynesian food which in the USA is passed of as chinese

Answer 5

Has it never occured to you that Thai people live and run restaurants in Western countries???

Here in Australia, being a multi-cultural country and all, we all know the difference between the authentic stuff and the c**p stuff and the people who don't make the authentic stuff ain't in business for long due to the competition.

We also have an abundance of asian supermarkets that sell only asian foods imported from asia, not western foods imported from asia. People can call themselves "authentic foreign cuisine" all they like but it doesn't mean we are gullible enough to believe them and if we are, its not long before our tastebuds realise!

Some hints for those people who can't work it out:

* Authentic restaurants have the menu in 2 languages - english and either korean/cantonese/mandarin etc...

* "Asian" foods where the packaging is all english is not "asian" after all. They will always be in another language with a sticker over the ingredient list, listing the local importer and the ingredients in english.

Answer 6

This depends on where you go. I am half Thai, born in Bangkok, raised in the states. My mother also owned a thai restaurant here in the states.

Your not going to find good Thai food at PF changs, or somewhere that isnt authentic.

The authentic restaurants have Thai people cooking in them. They may "americanize" some dishes for the Western palette, but many offer plenty of other menu choices in Thai and in English. Just tell them how spicy you want it!

Answer 7

Or think California Rolls are really sushi?  

You can get real Thai food in Califonia if you look.....And Chinese, Filipino and Korean too.

Answer 8

it depends on where the Thai food is sold...

and they will cater to the taste buds of that country ..basically people need to earn money .. it is a business after all..

even in Thailand .. the food serve to tourist is different from the food that normal people eats..

Example: TOM-YAM .... tourist only knows the chili paste version(with oil) .... the local prefer the clear soup that is hotter, sourer and less fattening,,

Answer 9

It all has to do with profit the authentic recipes demand ingredients that are too expensive for most people so they serve up watered down versions with cheaper ingredients and lots of sodium glutamate as flavour enhancer. At least the chinese.

Someone that knows what the original dish is like will be horrified.

Answer 10

kinda like why do people call a pizza with pineapples and canadian bacon a hawaiian pizza?  with canadian bacon?  right...if they had put pulled pork(easy way of making kalua pig) instead it would have been more real.  goshness...

Answer 11

I worked at a Thai restaurant, and the food our cooks from Thailand would make themselves was WAY better than the food we served at the restaurant (which was pretty good.)....Except when they would cook some type of river fish.  That was possibly one of the worst smells I have ever smelled.  Could never bring myself to try it.

What we served was fairly authentic, though.  The recipes they would use for our specials were from cookbooks from Thailand, and our phat thai sauce was an authentic bangkok-style recipe.

Answer 12

Well, I know some Thai people and they cook some Fantastic food!!!  I think that people in the US don't understand the difference.  Mexican food at restaurants is also different in comparison to traditional Hispanic food.  There is a large difference in the US versions of foreign foods...I agree.