|
|
| |
|
Talking about world-class cuisine, most people
will think of those of Italy, France and China.
And how about Thai food? According to the survey
conducted by the North Western Univesity, U.S.A.,
in cooperation with Thailand's Chulalongkorn
University, Thai food ranks fourth, next only
to the above mentioned well-known cuisines.
|
| |
|
|
|
Tom Yam Kung
|
| |
Nowadays, Thai
food has become popular internationally. This
is because more and more tourists come to travel
in Thailand and tasted Thai dishes such as the
popular tom yam kung (clear hot and spicy
prawn soup), kaeng khiao wan kai (chicken
green curry), phat thai (stir-fried noodle
in Thai style), and phat kaphrao (meat
fried with sweet basils). Certainly, most of them
can't help loving the delicious tastes of these
dishes.
Another good reason why Thai food is so popular
is that Thai food contains a lot of herbs. An
increasing number of people are interested in
Thai food because herbs are now part of a global
trend in health and cooking. And most of Thai
dishes are healthy herbal foods. |
| |
|
|
| |
| To draw the world's
attention to Thailand's great culinary tradition,
the Thai government, at the creative initiative
of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Deputy
Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, has launched
the Kitchen of the World project, in order
to promote Thai cuisine, making it a world cuisine
by the year 2007. |
| |
|
|
|
A typical Thai side dish,
Nam Prik,
beautifully decorated
|
| |
| According to
the project, the Thai Restaurant Alliance Co.,
Ltd. (TRA), which is registered with an investment
of 1,000 millions baht (or approximately US$ 25,200,000),
has been set up to take charge of exporting luxurious
Thai restaurants' brands to the target cities
such as London, Paris, Berlin, New York, and Tokyo.
Currently, there are about 6,537 Thai restaurants
in foreign countries, mostly in the U.S.A. However,
the figure is expected to rise to 10,000 in the
next three years. |
| |
|
|
|
Phat Thai or fried
noodle of Thai style,
one of well-known Thai dishes.
|
| |
| And to guarantee
the authentic Thai-style tastes of the exported
Thai cuisine, a subproject named Thai Select has
been organised to take care of this matter. The
Thai restaurants in foreign countries that meet
the standard of the project will be awarded a
Q-Mark certificate for their genuine Thai food.
It is also the mark of qualification of Thai restaurants
that reach international standards. So far, there
are about 15 Thai restaurants (from more than
500) in London, and 45 (from about 3,000) in the
United States that have been selected to get the
certificate. |
| |
|
|
|
Mu Sa-te or roast pork
coated with
turmeric is one of the mouth-watering
Thai dishes most popular among foreigners.
|
| |
| The company (TRA)
is also responsible for distributing Thai culinary
materials to international markets. The exported
items are various, ranging from chillies to curry
pastes, from basil leaves to fish sauce and from
OTOP* products to qualified Thai chefs. |
| |
|
|
|
A dish of Kaeng Khiao Wan
Kai or green
chicken curry which has bright colours
|
| |
| This will be
an advantage for Thai restaurants in other countries
as they will be able to easily obtain the original
ingredients of Thai food from Thailand. |
| |
| Top |
|
And
in this way, of course, the tastes of Thai food
will be the same as the original.
To support this matter, an expo named "OTOP
City" was organized at Impact Arena,
Muang Thong Thani Complex, Nonthaburi Province,
at the end of the year 2003 to promote Thai products
and provide an opportunity for business talks
between the manufacturers and the dealers. |
| |
|
|
| |
| There,
a large quantity of culinary products and foods,
as well as other OTOP products, from the 76 provinces
of Thailand were on display. The expo also included
the Thai Chef Contest which is a way to promote
the Thai chef export. |
| |
|
|
|
The
atmosphere of OTOP City Expo
|
| |
| To
export Thai chefs, the government also has initiated
a project to train people who want to be sent
to work as chefs in Thai restaurants in foreign
countries. |
| |
|
|
|
Fruit and herbal wines are
now
popular beverage products of Thailand.
|
| |
| The
curriculum was planned by the Department of Skill
Development, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare,
while the visas were arranged by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs to enable the trainees to travel
abroad. |
| |
|
|
| |
| Besides
these mentioned responsibilities, another task
of the TRA is to franchise Thai restaurants to
foreign countries. |
| |
|
|
|
Various kinds of Nam Prik
or chilli
dip are becoming export food.
|
| |
| In
the foreseeable future, we may see Thai food shops
mushroom in main cities of the world like franchises
of American fast food such as McDonald, Burger
King and KFC. Recently, Blue Elephant, a Thai
restaurant chain which has branches in many European
countries and also in Bangkok, has already entered
the Kitchen of the World project to display and
sell OTOP products in the restaurants. |
| |
|
|
|
Thai chefs demonstrating the
making of
Luk Chup, a kind of Thai desserts,
to the visitors to the OTOP City Expo
|
| |
| So
far, Kitchen of the World project is making a
good progress as it has received good cooperation
from both the government and private agencies.
|
| |
|
|
|
Yam Nua or spicy beef
salad, one of the
Thai dishes much loved by foreigners
|
| |
| Soon,
the project may help Thai food to achieve the
status of one of the top world-class cuisines.
And we will hear about that together |
| |
|
OTOP is an acronym for One Tambon One Product.
The tambon is an administrative division under
amphoe. The former is commonly translated as "district"
and the latter "county". The OTOP project
is organised to promote hand-made goods and folk
handicrafts of each district and distribute them
to both domestic and international markets. |
| |
| |
Know
More About Thai Food |
|
•
|
Most
Thai dishes are rich in nutrients because the
cooking process takes just a short time. That's
why the nutrients in the food's ingredients are
not destroyed by the heat. |
|
•
|
Having
a meal of Thai food which is usually served in
a set of several dishes, you will get all five
main nutrients; Protein, Carbohydrate, Fat, Vitamins
and Minerals. |
|
•
|
Thai
food is appropriate for those who are going on
a diet. Except the dishes made from coconut cream,
most Thai foods are low-fat. |
|
•
|
Thai
food is easy to eat by using only a spoon and
fork but not a knife. This is because the ingredients
used in each dish are cut into morsels before
being cooked. |
| |
|
|
 |
|
