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What’s most fascinating about pad Thai, however, is that it probably isn’t even Thai. Noodles, stir-fry, and, especially, noodle stir-fries are quintessentially Chinese. In fact, just about every ingredient found in pad Thai isn’t native to the people after whom the dish is named. “The only really Thai ingredient is the pounded dried chillies,” the Bangkok Post admitted in February. Even the dish’s full name, kway teow pad Thai nods to its Chinese origins (kway teow is Chinese for rice noodles). “Its name literally means ‘Thai-style stir-fried noodles,’ and for a dish to be so named in its own country clearly suggests an origin that isn’t Thai,” local chef Kasma Loha-unchit notes in her own recipe. Indeed, the Thai seem to agree—in Thailand, it’s explicitly referred to as a Chinese noodle dish.
Just in case people don't realize how the whole western world keeps calling the dish "Pad Thai" when in fact there's nothing Thai origins about the dish at all.
That's why it is not known in the Asian countries at all. Just like many Asian named dishes in America have no origins outside of America.
Chop Suey, Egg Foo Young, Po-po platter, and even egg roll. It's all Americanized or improperly named.
Ingredients in many dishes that are emblematic of certain countries trace many/most of the ingredients to other areas of the world. Tomatoes, potatoes, pasta, garlic, etc. If you put a bunch ingredients together a certain way, imported or not, and locals call it something, why wouldn't people from other countries call it that? I guess I'm missing the point here.
You've figured out that the English word "egg roll" isn't the proper Chinese name of it? Congrats The funny thing about egg rolls is that you can find American style eggs rolls in so many Chinese restaurants around the world.
I'm just trying to bring attention that so many dishes in America just ran it's own course and strayed away from it's roots or became something else.
I once talked to this Chinese old lady who owns this take out and I asked her what does some of the dish name mean and she says no clue. It's not even correct chinese words.
So the origins are unknown but somebody scribbed on their walls and made it to the menus!
Just in case people don't realize how the whole western world keeps calling the dish "Pad Thai" when in fact there's nothing Thai origins about the dish at all.
That's why it is not known in the Asian countries at all. Just like many Asian named dishes in America have no origins outside of America.
Chop Suey, Egg Foo Young, Po-po platter, and even egg roll. It's all Americanized or improperly named.
? Even if it is not originally Thai, it is a popular street food in Thailand. I ate it a lot when I was in Thailand.
Yes, the Japanese names of ramen and somen are obviously Chinese loanwords (the "men" element means "noodles" and is the same as "mein" in lo mein, chow mein).
That doesn't matter. The Japanese made these their own and do their own thing with them.
No different from Americans adapting dishes from other countries to their own taste. If people are going to get all upset that Thai restaurants in the US aren't perfectly faithful to the original recipes in Thailand, then they might as well go around the world and criticize every country that imported ethnic dishes and changed them a little bit. The pizza in the US is not quite like Italian pizza, but let me tell you, the pizza in Japan is even more different than that.
We frequent a local Thai restaurant that is owned by a little old Thai lady and her extended family members. They're really Thai, from Thailand. But the food is not exactly what you would get in Thailand, partly because it's hard/expensive to source some of the authentic ingredients, and partly because they want to serve foods that Americans will like. Why wouldn't they?
I'm just trying to bring attention that so many dishes in America just ran it's own course and strayed away from it's roots or became something else.
I once talked to this Chinese old lady who owns this take out and I asked her what does some of the dish name mean and she says no clue. It's not even correct chinese words.
So the origins are unknown but somebody scribbed on their walls and made it to the menus!
I'm pretty sure most people know by now that American Chinese food has been Americanized. We just don't think that makes it a mistake or inferior.
Yes, the Japanese names of ramen and somen are obviously Chinese loanwords (the "men" element means "noodles" and is the same as "mein" in lo mein, chow mein).
That doesn't matter. The Japanese made these their own and do their own thing with them.
No different from Americans adapting dishes from other countries to their own taste. If people are going to get all upset that Thai restaurants in the US aren't perfectly faithful to the original recipes in Thailand, then they might as well go around the world and criticize every country that imported ethnic dishes and changed them a little bit. The pizza in the US is not quite like Italian pizza, but let me tell you, the pizza in Japan is even more different than that.
We frequent a local Thai restaurant that is owned by a little old Thai lady and her extended family members. They're really Thai, from Thailand. But the food is not exactly what you would get in Thailand, partly because it's hard/expensive to source some of the authentic ingredients, and partly because they want to serve foods that Americans will like. Why wouldn't they?
Real Thai dishes are not really palatable for most Americans. Pad Thai is one of those that got Americanized based on how the locals here that made it to cater the palates locally.
Real Thai dishes are not really palatable for most Americans. Pad Thai is one of those that got Americanized based on how the locals here that made it to cater the palates locally.
What is real and what is not is a personal opinion. Or on the balance sheet of an eatery.
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The funny thing about egg rolls is that you can find American style eggs rolls in so many Chinese restaurants around the world.
