What are some ways foreign food is changed from what its like in its native country?
Thai food in Thailand is typically cooked in less than a minute and if it’s done in a wok – which is most of it – it’s dripping in palm oil. All those Thai curries and Thai soups that have become popular in the States over the last 10-15 years are a lot thicker and richer, and with a lot more subtle flavors in the States: in Thailand they’re thin as dishwater and are overwhelmingly spiced – if you can taste anything but the pepper, chili, or super-salty fish sauce, it’s probably lemongrass – that too in excess. In America, they typically substitute local vegetables and herbs – the Thai mini-eggplants, “basil”, “parsley”, “celery,” and peppercorns are very different from what you get in the States, and peas are actually completely foreign to Thai cuisine, and very hard to come by in Thailand. In the States many Thai restaurants use a lot of Amok seasoning in several dishes, but Amok isn’t Thai: it’s Cambodian, and you won’t find it in Thailand. By contrast, Thai attempts to imitate West
