Siam Kind of APPETITE

Thai food has immense reach throughout the world, partly thanks to government backing, but an ongoing renaissance has seen it reach even greater heights both domestically and overseas

By Gavin Yeung

DINING Thailand is often cited as the next big thing in Asian pop culture—and for good reason. Inspired directly by South Korea’s so-called Hallyu wave, the Thai government has made the export of Thai cultural products one of the top items in its soft power agenda, with the Thai ministry of culture championing the “5 Fs” strategy—film, fashion, fighting, festivals and, of course, food—with the explicit goal of attracting more tourists and foreign investment to the Southeast Asian kingdom. Of these five realms, food is undoubtedly the most established: it’s an oft-cited piece of trivia that the ubiquitous pad thai, so emblematic of Thai cuisine, was only invented in the 1930s by the Thai government as a culinary flag for a young state to rally around. In 2001, the state…

You're reading a preview of

Tatler Hong Kong (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2024

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.