Quick: Name a Thai dish that almost everyone is familiar with. Got one? You probably were thinking of Pad Thai (of course, it’s the name of this post, so that was an easy guess.) Pad Thai is officially known as the national dish of Thailand. But it’s history is much more recent than you’d think.
After World War II, Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram of Thailand found himself running a country that was still recovering from the war, with a population that was constantly struggling to get enough food. He realized that the country was very dependent on Chinese imported foods, including egg noodles and wheat noodles which were very popular at the time, but also very expensive. The Prime Minister’s government worked to identify what ingredients were both inexpensive and plentiful in Thailand, such as rice noodles, tofu, and eggs, and then combined those ingredients to create Pad Thai. At the time, the country had just rebranded itself as Thailand (changing the name from Siam in 1949), so the new name of the country was included in the name of the dish to help promote the association. To help spread awareness of the dish and to get people interested, the government sent the recipe to households around the country, teaching people how to make it. The traditional recipe had dried shrimp in the sauce, but did not include meat other than that. Many chefs now add shrimp, chicken, pork, or other meats, depending on their target audience.
Pad Thai is well known and enjoyed the world over. It is popular with the general population in Thailand, partly out of a sense of national pride, and partly because it can be found for less than a dollar at street carts all over Bangkok, making it a cheap and easy meal to grab on the go. It’s also popular outside of Thailand with people of other cultures because it not only blends salty, sweet, and sour (which are important elements in all Thai dishes), but also because it’s not very spicy, so it can be eaten by anyone, regardless of their spice tolerance. It’s always served with a condiment tray on the side, so you can tweak it to suit your palate. After all, it was designed to be tasty to everyone, so you’ll probably want to adjust the flavors to make it your own.
