CSUSB – ANTH 365 (Prof. Hareem Khan)
Article: Too hot to handle (Tanachai) – Personal view on Thai food in the context of original
In the article ‘Too hot to handle’ by Tanachai, Thai food in America is claimed as an original
version and food is a way to racialize Thai American in the U.S. What does it mean to be original?
Perhaps it is such a word without definition.
From the article, I define the origin of Thai cuisine is ‘the adopting and adapting…then
defining a new flavor’. The history of Thai food is the trading and ‘exchange with Chinese (noodles),
South Asian Indians (curry), and the Portuguese (chilies)’. Then, Thai cuisine first appeared in the
U.S with Thai immigrants. Due to the lack of ingredients, spices, the soul of Thai dishes, has been
replaced by Chinese and Mexican spices to create a new version of ‘original’. The world ‘original’ has
been placed wrongly in the context of Thai food.
With the expansion of globalization and the so-called ‘multicultural’, the world ‘original’ has
been extracted in order to be fitted in certain purposes, especially Thai culinary. Tanachai argues
‘multiculturalization asks the original to be visible’ without seeing from other historical and social
factors of a country such as colonialism, imperialism, racialism, neocolonialism, etc. Thai food in
order to be accepted in the U.S has to negotiate its taste and smell in certain ways like switching
white rice to brown rice; substituting tofu stead of beef and tofu; using imported Chinese or
Mexican spices. However, the food is claimed as ‘original’. At the time being, social media and
citizen participation have brought Thai culinary to every corner through celebs, food festival,
cooking books, etc. Thai in multicultural era is so popular and different but also be questioned about
its origin.
In the context of Asian American, Thai food plays an important role to distinguish between
Thai people and other Asian groups. Food, a daily need, has been used non/intentionally to racialize
ethnic differences. ‘This culinary difference in flavor meant that Thai people were different from
Chinese people’. The role of being different blurs the fact that Thai food, a culture symbol, is
negotiating and changing itself in order to be accepted in American society. In relate to social value,
Thai people have to negotiate themselves to be accepted, or American has a place for this ‘exotic’
culture certain barriers. So, what is it mean to be original? Is Thai different in the U.S or Thai simply
is put in another spot named ‘exotic’?
In addition, looking through the history of food formation, it is a confliction when using
Thai food to distinguish the origin or difference of Thai people as the food itself has experienced
and changed through historical events or social construction like imperialism, colonialism, racialism,
neo-colonialism, etc. Chenyu Wang, an anthropologist of education, argues that it is the fundamental
values of American society. As long as the structural values of free, democracy, and justify would not
be re-defined, Asian American citizens still be in struggle and anthropologists have to study more
types of ethnic foods beside Thais (:
