{"id":288,"date":"2020-12-23T17:14:07","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T17:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.cookingenie.com\/content\/?p=288"},"modified":"2025-07-17T18:44:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:14:18","slug":"pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Pad Thai: The Noodle Dish that Helped Build a Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For many people, pad <\/span>T<\/span>hai\u2014<\/span>the<\/span> delectable<\/span> sweet, sour, and spicy<\/span> stir fry of rice noodles, tofu, eggs, veggies, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and an umami-rich sauce<\/span> that can be found on <\/span>the menu of virtually every<\/span> <\/span>Thai restaurant in the US<\/span>\u2014is their first taste of Thai cooking<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So,\u00a0it\u2019s interesting to\u00a0learn\u00a0that the dish that most\u00a0Americans\u00a0think of\u00a0as the quintessential\u00a0<\/span>Thai food<\/span><\/a>\u00a0didn\u2019t even exist\u00a0until the\u00a0mid-20th\u00a0century.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her book <\/span><\/span>Materializing Thailand<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>nutritional <\/span><\/span>anthropologist Penny Van <\/span><\/span>Esterik<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>says<\/span><\/span> that the dish was <\/span><\/span>born out <\/span><\/span>of p<\/span><\/span>rime minister <\/span><\/span>Plaek<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>Phibunsongkhram<\/span><\/span>\u2019s<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>campaign <\/span><\/span>throughout the 1930s<\/span><\/span> and 40s<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>to<\/span><\/span> build <\/span><\/span>a national identity for Thailand.<\/span><\/span> Hoping to create a sense of <\/span><\/span>pride in <\/span><\/span>\u201cThai-ness\u201d<\/span><\/span> by uniting his country through culture,<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>he <\/span><\/span>changed the <\/span><\/span>nation\u2019s <\/span><\/span>name from Siam to <\/span><\/span>Thailand<\/span><\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span> commissioned<\/span><\/span><\/span> a new national anthem, <\/span><\/span>banned local languages and dialects from schools, and <\/span><\/span>set out to create<\/span><\/span> a national dish<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Also Read<\/strong> – Tracing Tacos \u2013 A Journey Through Time<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiously, the <\/span>main <\/span>ingredient in the dish that <\/span>Phibunsongkhram<\/span>\u2014<\/span>who was known as <\/span>Phibun<\/span>\u2014<\/span>promoted <\/span>isn<\/span>\u2019t even native to Thailand. Stir-fried rice noodles<\/span> originated in China and were introduced to the kingdom of Siam by Chinese traders in the 1700s.<\/span> <\/span>But <\/span>promoting a<\/span> <\/span>stir-fried <\/span>noodle<\/span> dish<\/span> helped solve <\/span>a<\/span> serious<\/span> problem that <\/span>Phibun\u2019s<\/span> nation was facing: <\/span>flooding and war had caused <\/span>a <\/span>severe <\/span>rice shortage<\/span>, and e<\/span>ncouraging people to eat noodles helped preserve the country\u2019s precious rice supply.<\/span>2<\/span> <\/span>Phibu<\/span>n\u2019s<\/span> administration took the basic recipe for stir fried rice noodles and loaded it up with nutritious <\/span>bean sprouts, onions, peanuts, eggs<\/a><\/span>,<\/span> meats<\/span>,<\/span> and a tamarind-based sauce,<\/span> then encouraged vendors to sell the dish from <\/span>street <\/span>carts <\/span>all over the country<\/span>. It was, <\/span>Phibun\u2019s<\/span> son later pointed out, the first fast food in Thailand.<\/span>3<\/span>  <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phibun\u2019s<\/span> efforts to make pad Thai <\/span>a <\/span>part of his country\u2019s heritage succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Today, <\/span>it<\/span> <\/span>is <\/span>a staple of the Thai diet<\/a><\/span>. <\/span>Beyond Thailand, it has <\/span>become a beloved dish worldwide: In 2011, <\/span>pad <\/span>T<\/span>hai ranked number <\/span>5 in<\/span> CNN Go<\/span>\u2019s reader poll<\/span> <\/span>of <\/span>the \u201cW<\/span>orld’s 50 <\/span>M<\/span>ost <\/span>D<\/span>elicious <\/span>F<\/span>oods<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>4<\/span> <\/span>Wondering how this simple noodle dish became <\/span>an international culinary superstar<\/span>? <\/span>Mark <\/span>Padoongpatt<\/span>, <\/span>a professor of Asian and Asian American studies at <\/span>the <\/span>University of Nevada Las Vegas<\/span> and the author of a history of Thai food<\/a>, says this, too, was driven by the Thai government<\/span> as an act of culinary diplomacy<\/span>: in an effort to stimulate<\/span> exports and encourage<\/span> tourism, <\/span>it <\/span>established <\/span>the Global Thai Restaurant Company, Ltd.<\/span> to train <\/span>chefs <\/span>and <\/span>send <\/span>them <\/span>around the world to open Thai rest<\/span>a<\/span>urants<\/span>5<\/span>.    <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, <\/span>CookinGenie<\/a> brings this beloved classic noodle dish t<\/span>o <\/span>your house. We offer three varieties of classic pad Thai\u2014Chicken, Shrimp, and Vegetarian\u2014cooked from scratch with <\/span>wholesome, authentic ingredients like rice noodles, <\/span>sweet-and-sour <\/span>tamarind paste, <\/span>spicy <\/span>chile-garlic paste, and Thai preserved radish<\/span>. Book your Genie<\/span> to bring a true taste of Thailand to your very own kitchen.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many people, pad Thai\u2014the delectable sweet, sour, and spicy stir fry of rice noodles, tofu, eggs, veggies, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and an umami-rich sauce that can be found on the menu of virtually every Thai restaurant in the US\u2014is their first taste of Thai cooking.   So,\u00a0it\u2019s interesting to\u00a0learn\u00a0that the dish that most\u00a0Americans\u00a0think of\u00a0as the quintessential\u00a0Thai food\u00a0didn\u2019t even exist\u00a0until the\u00a0mid-20th\u00a0century.\u00a0\u00a0 In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25,26,27],"class_list":["post-288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-cusine","tag-pad-thai","tag-thai"],"yoast_head":"\nPad Thai: The Noodle Dish that Helped Build a Nation - CookinGenie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For many people, pad\u00a0Thai\u2014the\u00a0delectable\u00a0sweet, sour, and spicy\u00a0stir fry of rice noodles, tofu, eggs, veggies, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and an umami-rich sauce\u00a0that can be found on\u00a0the menu of virtually every\u00a0Thai restaurant in the US\u2014is their first taste of Thai cooking.\u00a0\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pad Thai: The Noodle Dish that Helped Build a Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For many people, pad\u00a0Thai\u2014the\u00a0delectable\u00a0sweet, sour, and spicy\u00a0stir fry of rice noodles, tofu, eggs, veggies, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and an umami-rich sauce\u00a0that can be found on\u00a0the menu of virtually every\u00a0Thai restaurant in the US\u2014is their first taste of Thai cooking.\u00a0\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CookinGenie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cookingenie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-23T17:14:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-17T13:14:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pad-Thai.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"772\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"444\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sabah Drabu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sabah Drabu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pad Thai: The Noodle Dish that Helped Build a Nation - CookinGenie","description":"For many people, pad\u00a0Thai\u2014the\u00a0delectable\u00a0sweet, sour, and spicy\u00a0stir fry of rice noodles, tofu, eggs, veggies, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and an umami-rich sauce\u00a0that can be found on\u00a0the menu of virtually every\u00a0Thai restaurant in the US\u2014is their first taste of Thai cooking.\u00a0\u00a0","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pad Thai: The Noodle Dish that Helped Build a Nation","og_description":"For many people, pad\u00a0Thai\u2014the\u00a0delectable\u00a0sweet, sour, and spicy\u00a0stir fry of rice noodles, tofu, eggs, veggies, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and an umami-rich sauce\u00a0that can be found on\u00a0the menu of virtually every\u00a0Thai restaurant in the US\u2014is their first taste of Thai cooking.\u00a0\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","og_site_name":"CookinGenie","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cookingenie\/","article_published_time":"2020-12-23T17:14:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-17T13:14:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":772,"height":444,"url":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pad-Thai.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sabah Drabu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sabah Drabu","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/"},"author":{"name":"Sabah Drabu","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#\/schema\/person\/901f2b06d6813e0b6d980904dc237249"},"headline":"Pad Thai: The Noodle Dish that Helped Build a Nation","datePublished":"2020-12-23T17:14:07+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-17T13:14:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/"},"wordCount":647,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pad-Thai.jpg","keywords":["Cusine","Pad Thai","Thai"],"articleSection":["blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/","url":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/","name":"Pad Thai: The Noodle Dish that Helped Build a Nation - CookinGenie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pad-Thai.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-23T17:14:07+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-17T13:14:18+00:00","description":"For many people, pad\u00a0Thai\u2014the\u00a0delectable\u00a0sweet, sour, and spicy\u00a0stir fry of rice noodles, tofu, eggs, veggies, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and an umami-rich sauce\u00a0that can be found on\u00a0the menu of virtually every\u00a0Thai restaurant in the US\u2014is their first taste of Thai cooking.\u00a0\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pad-Thai.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pad-Thai.jpg","width":772,"height":444,"caption":"Pad Thai"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/pad-thai-the-noodle-dish-that-helped-build-a-nation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pad Thai: The Noodle Dish that Helped Build a Nation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#website","url":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/","name":"CookinGenie","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#organization","name":"CookinGenie","url":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Logo-1.png","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"CookinGenie"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cookingenie\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cookin.genie\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/CookinGenie\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCINSEJlW5i4nnaVHzhIowUA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#\/schema\/person\/901f2b06d6813e0b6d980904dc237249","name":"Sabah Drabu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f8b047545535b37b90274ec84ed5d49e87313113b1f9075605b751e176ac4d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f8b047545535b37b90274ec84ed5d49e87313113b1f9075605b751e176ac4d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sabah Drabu"},"description":"Sabah Drabu is a foodie, engineer, and the Co-founder & CEO of CookinGenie. She created the platform in 2019 to connect local chefs with at-home diners, making hiring private chefs more accessible. Sabah's idea has evolved into a service people use for parties, vacation rentals, and family gatherings."}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56222,"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions\/56222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qa.cookingenie.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}