We don't need no gastronomic supremacy

We don't pile curries or 'som tam' on our plates because someone says they will keep cancer at bay, we do it because they just taste downright yummy!

Published on July 11, 2008

The publication of findings on the supposed medicinal value of Thai food by a graduate of Mahidol University's Institute of Nutrition has raised more than a few eyebrows. While there is nothing wrong with extolling the virtues of our cuisine, making a bold statement, such as Thai food helps fight cancer, based on rudimentary empirical study, might just be going a tiny bit overboard.

Thai food, which has in recent years taken the world by storm, doesn't need that kind of cheerleading. Thais will continue eating their curries, their tom yum kung, kaeng liang, som tam, fishcakes, stir-fried vegetables and the endless combinations of alternative ingredients and different cooking methods.

Knowing that many Thai dishes, when cooked the right way, can offer health-promoting values is a plus. But it won't change the way or the reason why we eat what we eat every day in any significant manner. Normal people eat healthy dishes paired with not-so-healthy or downright bad options simply because they enjoy the flavours.

Delectable dishes

Let's not be too jingoistic about the supremacy of Thai food. Other cuisines are just as unique, as delicious and as healthful as our own food.

In a globalised society, people tend to pick and choose whatever food they like, sometimes in their authentic form, sometimes in adapted form, to suit their preferences.

It just happens that the world has only recently discovered Thai food, with its interplay of sweet, sour, salty, hot and bitter tastes, and considers it as something special because it has for centuries been a veritable fusion before the term became fashionable. Let's admit it, the development of what is seen today as distinctively Thai, was over the centuries, influenced by Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and even European dishes.

It was the mastery of our ancestors and successive generations in mixing and matching those culinary influences to suit our palate that makes Thai food interesting and popular in many parts of the world.

Every once in a while some of us may stray from our staples and opt for foreign flavours, ranging from fast food to haute cuisine. But we all come back to our wonderful food. One thing is for sure, we don't eat Thai food because someone tells us that som tam and other such dishes can fight cancer, help us stay young or help us live for a hundred years.

The reason, pure and simple, we choose to eat what we eat because it tastes so damn good.