Red, Yellow, and Green Curry, and How Thai Restaurants Took Over the World

Red, Yellow, and Green Curry- the so-called "Stoplight" Curries at the center of overseas Thai menus- are, to fans around the world, presented as a single category. But the truth about these three dishes is far more complicated. Not only are they never found together, they were each created in different cities, in different kingdoms, centuries apart. They have their own histories and their own unique flavors, and telling their story means diving into not just the history of Thai curry, but the fascinating path it took to the global mainstream.
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0:00 - Introduction
1:07 - Global Thai
5:35 - A Tale of Two Green Curries
8:18 - Adaptation
10:16 - The History of Green Curry
11:48 - Thai Curry Feast
15:08 - Gaeng
17:39 - The First Thai Curry
18:58 - Jek Pui's Yellow Curry
22:11 - The Aftermath of Global Thai
24:48 - Red Curry
27:03 - The Foundational Paste of Thai Food
29:27 - From Paste to Curry
32:33 - Post-Credits
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[@OTRontheroad]

One note then locations. This is a more light-hearted video than we usually do- a quick story about overseas Thai food and then background features on red, yellow, and green curry. The reason this one's a bit "easier" and the next one or two may be as well as we're starting to adjust to more traveling/filming, and I had to plan a video I could do while losing a few days in the northern Thai jungles working on another one. Then this week we're off to Phuket, with our first trip abroad for filming coming up next month. It might be a few weeks before the new batch of videos we've been working on will be ready for posting, but take my word for it, there's some amazing stuff coming up and I cannot wait to share it with you. In the mean time, please forgive us a couple of light ones while I work my hardest on some epic stuff. EDIT- Also, just noticed chapters aren't working. This is quite annoying, but after speaking with KZbin service it might take up to 48 hours to resolve. Apologies. I know it's minor but still- drives me crazy. Here are this week's locations: 1- The Khao San Road spot (actually a pretty good place, definitely don't want it feel like we're down on them- would recommend if you're in the area and craving a good version of the more global stuff): maps.app.goo.gl/g6YGLMEcecPeqLMTA 2- Mae On's Khao Gaeng: maps.app.goo.gl/EU4CHFqCQFzN2Zsy8 3- Charmgang: maps.app.goo.gl/CFLMbEhecpcmJhHo6 4- Jek Pui: maps.app.goo.gl/GrnXDVTm9oynx8r59 5- Kiew Kai Ka: maps.app.goo.gl/5iCNHfSRx1HiWckG7 Cheers and have a good week

[@yoochoob1858]

So glad you're travelling out of Bangkok, regional cuisine in Thailand is insanely diverse and deserves attention.

[@OTRontheroad]

Much appreciated. Big thanks to our Patreon supporters, as well as everyone watching for helping the channel grow. Glad to finally be able to consider having the chance to start traveling a bit. Not cheap to do that kind of thing but really needed

[@RookieKiwi]

Thanks for this I have to try that red curry when I'm going through Bangkok next week

[@xuedalong]

Look younger without the 'stache

[@kingwenceslas4225]

I’m so glad that this channel exists. There’s soo many KZbinrs saying don’t go there, don’t eat that… it’s not authentic. But none of them explain why except you. Thank you

[@namizon]

stoplight curries is now my new favorite word

[@iice1915]

Waiting for someone to make rainbow curry on one day

[@TheLadyinblack1989]

หนอนรถด่วน (express worms), แกงรถหยุด (Stoplight curries), มันเบรคแตก(Broken brake yam chips). Lol

[@TheLadyinblack1989]

@@iice1915 There's orange curry (แกงส้ม) and black curry (แกงเปรอะ). I ate some northern curry which is pitch black, but I don't know its name. Taste great.

[@yamayago1641]

⁠@@TheLadyinblack1989แกงเปรอะ better be translate as Dirty curry to be honest

[@AdrianJarvis-zk7ld]

It is the equivalent of thinking all English food is Fish and Chips and Shepherds Pie...

[@fuyahanabi1304]

This is the first time I've ever watched a non-Thai explaining the conceptualized difference between "Tom" and "Gaeng" and I'm pleasantly surprised how well you did it.

[@jaykongsawat5435]

😁agree, they did study well about it! I am Thai and most of the time, I need to explain that it is different

[@paiwanhan]

Basically 湯 thng and 羹 kenn.

[@rrurangi]

@@paiwanhanนั่นมันจีน

[@sweetsourorange]

@@paiwanhanwhen you press translate they both become soup😭😭😭

[@paiwanhan]

@@sweetsourorange 湯 is watery soup, and 羹 is soup thickened with starch or paste.

[@meowmeowunknow]

As a Thai who was a Historian and now working as a chef in European country I just found your channel and very impressed. Subscribe!

[@notbotheredable]

Just to add, the Thai craze in Australia started around a decade earlier than in the USA or Europe. Thai had become a standard restaurant type in Sydney by the mid-90s at the latest.

[@snowstanden9921]

Yep, we must have been test subjects 😂

[@behemothsbaby]

We were but to be fair, we are at Asia's doorstep!

[@sunspot42]

It got a head start in San Francisco as well. When I moved here in ‘95 you already couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Thai restaurant and a Gap. The Gaps are long gone but Thai restaurants are still omnipresent. (And surprisingly, most of them are at least decent.)

[@real_MacrocosM]

Yeah I just came here to leave this exact comment and now I don't need to. 😂. The Thai restaurant boom started as a trickle in the late '80s and in the early '90s. It just went crazy and I remember specifically moving to Sydney as a young teenager in the late '90s and there was Thai food. Absolutely everywhere on every street corner and green curry, pad keep map, pad grapao.. All of the usual suspects were already well established on the menu and they tasted exactly the same as they do today, so I don't buy into the suggestion that it was a massive Thai government tourist campaign to get these dishes standardised worldwide.. unless There is the outside chance that they specifically wanted the flavour of Australian Thai to go around the world 😂

[@behemothsbaby]

@@real_MacrocosM , and David Thompson is extremely well respected in Thailand and he's a Sydney export!

[@awibs57]

This is absolutely fascinating. I am a Thai American and my aunt ran a restaurant in Evanston (Chicago area) in the 90s, before the big government press. The green curry I grew up with much more resembles what you showed in the curry shop than what you showed as being 'American', probably because she was before the government instructions. It only came with one option, fish. The vegetable was eggplant and it was very thin and it went over rice noodles. She didn't have a red or yellow curry, although she had one she called "chicken curry" (substituting proteins wasn't an option) with sweet potato that was basically a masaman. And that was it. It's so interesting. I know part of her choices were based on the limited imports of ingredients. Another friend of the family who I called 'Uncle' did all of the importing of Thai ingredients to the Chicago area, he had a grocery store on Argyle street near the Red Line stop, and he was the *only* source for whatever it was people needed. So there was a certain bottleneck of options. If it wasn't pre-made by Mae Ploy, it was difficult to track down individual flavour components to make it correctly oneself, so there were only certain things she could make. I remember the grapow (ground chicken only) being a big hit with non-Thai people, as well as the larb (which was much stickier, sweeter, clumpier, and more finely ground, with far more sugar and peanut, than a lot of other restaurants I've seen in America since then.) And yes, you are completely correct, it was fascinating to watch Thai food go from "What? You're from... Taiwan....?" to a whole thing that everyone knows about even in non-urban areas. To be exact my mother's side is Chinese via Thailand and my fathers is Iranian, so half of my family food is still under '... what?'

[@Trenz0]

God, to grow up with (actual) Chinese, Thai, and Persian/Iranian food? People have no clue what they're missing out on lol. I envy your home cooked meals!

[@aimkambhu5844]

so u r white inside I get it

[@jez76]

Larb/Laab with sugar and peanut!? Those ingredients does not belong there…

[@liamannegarner8083]

Chicagoan here who was weaned on Thai food in all its forms back in the nineties, y'all were doing the Lord's work. I still go to Argyle to shop for my queer sister's Vietnamese family recipes (and putting gold kili ginger crystals in my oatmeal).

[@deezeed2817]

Thai food today is like the Chinese food of the 80's, 90's and 00's. It's very westernised and suited towards the pallets of westerners. I preferred the variety of dishes you get in Thailand. Westernised Thai food can taste a bit too sweet and in reality authentic Thai has more spice and is more earthy. I think Thai food in the west should be seen as kind of a gateway to go visit there and eat the real stuff.

[@nanapoltjoj]

I am Thai, and I am presently surprice of this video indept knowledge of Thai cruise. From the title I thought it was gonna be just about that Thai curry just come from india and stuff, the normal Thai history fluff. But with an abillity to differenciate "Tom" and "Kang". Along with very uncommon dish use in his example. It really show his attention to detail. Also as the video says Thailand had formed from a many different tribes in the past thus had a very different traditions. The standard "Thai dish" in forign country usually mean middle thai dish. While in Thailand, we normally catagorize Thai dishs by regions. A standard Thai dish of middle regions, a seafood-heavy with firey taste of southen region, an aromatic and hearty crusine of northen region and a sour and savory meal of northeast (Ei'sarn). Each with extremely different palettes and ingredients.

[@earinsound]

he used wikipedia 😂

[@chaiya1236]

The speech that you did around 22 minutes is actually so good and bittersweet, to be realizing just one small dish you eat everyday impact people around the globe, especially the immigrants that are so far away, it's basically what reminded them of "home", and just thinking about how they'd feel eating a simple dish from their own home is just so sweet. You always do amazing works, keep going OTR!

[@kaylamountain8253]

I agree. When traveling through Asia, I was so so humbled by the privilege of being American/speaking English. I was so inspired to go to Korea because of the food, and who knows if I would have gone if not for it. When locals asked why I came to Korea, I told them “I came here because I wanted to eat black bean noodles” and I could see how much pride came from their culture and food, and also see how they take something American like fried chicken and made it their own, which made me feel at home.

[@DavidWeinehall]

@@kaylamountain8253 Similar for me, except I went to Korea to eat kimchi. Similar reaction when I told the locals.

[@a-ramenartist9734]

@@kaylamountain8253 when I go to japan I need to make a note to explicitly state my reason as wanting to eat a lot of natto lol

[@AhmedEtman79]

Honestly, this relatively new channel has almost instantly risen to the top of the food documentary channels online. Keep up the great work.

[@nakhonsisean]

I lived in Thailand for a total of 25 years, Gaeng Phed Ped Yang has always been my favourite gaeng!

[@its_clean]

I have nothing to add to this conversation, other than to say that the depth of your research, the objectivity of your presentation, your acknowledgment of popular misconception and exploration of the reasoning behind it, your ability to translate highly culturally-specific details into universally understandable concepts, and to combine your personal lived experience with objective fact...this is hands-down the best series about food history/culture not just on KZbin, but in any media including legacy TV and film. Better than Bourdain and Zimmern, better than David Gelb, better even than my ride-or-die Max Miller. I know I'm just glazing at this point, but this is truly how much I admire your work. Guess it's time for me to finally join the Patreon!

[@OTRontheroad]

What a wonderfully kind comment. Means a lot and much appreciated- the kind of words I need to keep in mind when I’m in my weekly “why did I do this” all-nighters trying to figure out why the 10th draft still isn’t working

[@wisarut.nualkaew]

We(Thais) also have Gaeng Som which direct to orange curry, but Som for this curry is actually mean sour.

[@KhunAdam]

Yes, there is often confusion between Gang Som and Yellow curry. Not the same at all!

[@unclebobl]

In late 1973 my wife and I opened Australia's first Thai restaurant in Melbourne. We were inspired to do so from sellout Thai functions put on by the 100 or so Thai Students living in Melbourne at that time, It was immediately successful, but it presented a supply function getting the ingredients. We did a deal with the local Thai International manager and we would import large plastic bins of the 3 curry pastes every Monday, Since then as more commercial products have become available we have noticed the change in quality as you say. Now Australia is saturated with both good and bad restaurants, it all seems a lot sweeter. We are in Bangkok presently and I agree with you, the simplest curries seem to be found in the small places, recently we ate in 2 places in Cha am, in one the curries were 80bht per bowl, the other 120. Both were excellent Over the next few weeks we will be trying more.

[@redbirddeerjazz]

This is very cool! Is your restaurant still going?

[@unclebobl]

@@redbirddeerjazz No, after 15 years or so working 7 days a week, we sold up to concentrate on raising our family, by that time their were quite a few others around, now they on every street corner, usually with a massage place on every other

[@THEMIGHTYRULERDANIEL]

Is there any Thai restaurants in Melbourne that you would recommend as still somewhat traditional? From a curious melbournian 😅

[@TonyFootballHiran]

Honestly, as a Thai American i haven't been able to learn that much about my father's country. But Ive been able to learn so much about Thailand's food and history through this channel. So thank you so much!

[@Iceyfire12]

How come? There’s plenty of Thai vlogs etc. Variety of documentaries that talk about Thailand! Coming from another Thai American!

[@jungchoothian2039]

⁠they never talk about food culture and history this deep tho. I grew up in Thailand half of my life and I don’t even know half of his content.

[@billChatswood]

As a thai I can confirm this channel done a deep research

[@RSWDev]

I agree this channel is pretty good also as a Thai American. My Thai also isn't great as I grew up speaking English only at home so I can't really understand the Thai vlogs especially if they use deeper vocabulary. OTR does a pretty good job.

[@fioamateeglin1871]

Don’t worry. I’m Thai and there are things I just learned from this video today. Lol

[@Ajhmee]

The other Thai food category that is also interresting is Yum (ยำ). There are so many Thai dishes in this category which didn't have the word Yum in the names such as Somtum, Larb, Pla (พล่า) but they are kinds of Yum if you sorce them by how they are cooked.

[@RomanVarl]

Great video, thank you! I can attest that in Moscow, Russia for example, local good-quality Thai restaurants put a lot of full cream coconut milk in Thai dishes, because this is what local customers like. I was very surprised first time I visited Thailand, when I had a TomYum soup without any coconut milk at all.

[@feiryfella]

Tom Kha has coconut milk, why it's not just sold as that is odd.

[@RomanVarl]

@@feiryfella TomKha not many people know, TomYum everyone knows, it's a sales thing

[@chyffon5454]

@@RomanVarl In Thailand you can order both coconut creamed and uncreamed, but the default is often uncreamed.

[@RomanVarl]

@@chyffon5454 I'm aware of that, recently came back from winter-over in Chiang Mai ))

[@timppatimo6287]

If they sell you Tom yum with a lot of coconut milk it is basically near Tom kha gai soup ​@@RomanVarl

[@RabbitEarsCh]

Thank you for this. It is the best explanation I have seen of all of this, and what "curry" really means in the Thai context. The speech around 22 minutes really hits me as someone from Venezuela. Our cuisine, when I was growing up, didn't exist abroad. My second cousin established the first arepa restaurant in NYC, Caracas Arepa Bar, around 2002, and back then it was an absolute revolution. I was in NYC the other day and I saw a street stall selling arepas and tequeños and I felt like I could cry, because my tiny nation of ~25 million people, a global pariah used as a boogeyman to scare people away from socialism in deep crisis, is not only known enough to have this chain of stalls but is actively beloved. I am glad the Thai people got to feel this, and I hope that other cuisines that are currently lesser known, like Nigerian or the various cuisines of the West Indies, get their time in the spotlight too.

[@Nick-ko1jx]

I gotta hand it to you all, your choice of imagery, script writing, pacing of the video, all incredible and add to the story being told. Great stuff.

[@ixfalia]

I am a child of two Thai first generation parents, brought over from Thailand to the US. They grew up in a US where they might as well be aliens. I grew up yelling at my parents to give me sandwiches for school lunches instead of sticky rice and neua daed diew, even though I loved the food, because the kids told me my food was disgusting and weird. When my dad's job had him move us to Thailand. When I returned to the US, my birthplace, after a nearly a decade in Thailand, it was an honest shock to have people know where I lived and know something of Thai food. As much as food diplomacy can be seen with the lens of propaganda, it's still something that I lived to see the food I love become treasured by so many. And it's fun that it's different than Thailand, I can share the food I miss from Thailand to show them why I always say "I lived in Thailand for a decade and not once did I get bored of Thai food" it also is an excuse to drag them to Thailand with me to show them what I mean by that.

[@endangeredmarmot4518]

One of the standouts for me when I was in Thailand was that Thai food was so much more, and therefore also far more interesting, than I had thought based on North American Thai restaurants.

[@woolfel]

I don't mind the globalization of Thai cuisine. It's made it easier to get lemon grass and kafir lime leaf. Galangal is still kind of hard to find in grocery stores in MA.

[@ThainaYu]

Galangal is pitiful. Many people falsely believe it replaceable with ginger, which is totally not

[@sazji]

@@ThainaYuAny city with an Asian population should have a store where you can get galangal. I live in Seattle, I can get it one and a half blocks away. :-)

[@ThainaYu]

​@@sazji I am living in Thailand. But my point is there are many non-Thai chef think like that, "Galangal is needed ingredient, we can't find it, ginger can be used instead" and sometimes even taught this to other people when cooking Thai dish Similar to Pad Krapow replace Holy basil with Thai basil

[@kellyrios8179]

@woolfel sometimes you can get the galangal frozen in all Asian supermarkets.

[@jez76]

@@ThainaYuPad krapow or as some “thai” restaurants call it “Thai Basil” and just thinks that any basil will do. I even ordered one in a “Thai” restaurant run by other asians a while back and was surprised to get a typical asian wok of beef and vegetables with thai favourites like paprika onion and broccoli. However it lacked ANY kind of basil. When I asked if I had received the correct plate I was put in place; “Theres no basil in Pad Krapow”. I laughed when I left without paying a dime.

[@horsingaround5353]

This is the best documentary food channel. Love your work. I now want to go to Thailand to live.

[@RadenWA]

That michelin starred authentic curry chef has such a chill attitude towards food adaptation. He acknowledges that if he were to open the restaurant in another country he will make changes based on local taste and ingredients. You don’t see that kind of attitude from people of his caliber from other cuisine cultures…

[@OTRontheroad]

Massively disagree. I've worked with many Michelin-starred chefs including a 3-star and one thing they have in common is the idea of putting ingredients first- use what's fresh and local, always, with tradition something to respect instead of something to be tied to like an anchor.

[@RadenWA]

@@OTRontheroad like an Italian chef would put cream in their carbonara if it’s more suited to the local palate and locally available?

[@OTRontheroad]

@@RadenWA Well I mean the basics of these curries are the same- you can't completely reinvent the wheel, it's still made from lemongrass/galangal/kaffir lime/chilis/shrimp paste, etc. If you can't get the foundational ingredients, you don't make the dish. But the meats or vegetables added can and should make use of what is local, instead of something shipped in frozen. And if something is especially high-quality in a certain place, the fun in cooking is to take advantage of that resource. That's what the chef was talking about by referencing cold-water fish as a protein if cooking in England. To me, that's the right way to cook, I don't personally have a problem with it at all.

[@RadenWA]

@@OTRontheroad I understand, I know many great, even michelin starred restaurants that also experiment with their recipes. However when the word “authentic” is involved it seems many culinary cultures are very insistent that certain dishes has to be done with specific ingredients, even if it has to be imported from the origin country. Thai curries seem to be more flexible at least when it comes to the protein, and I think it’s a refreshing mindset among this stifling obsession with “authenticity”.

[@OTRontheroad]

I really, really hate the obsession with authenticity. Had a good conversation about this in our video with Sid (the Big Forkers episode a long time ago) but to me, "authentic" is kind of a euphamism for "what poor people eat". It drives me crazy. If we want to talk about authentic Thai food, if we mean "what Thai people eat in Thailand", then that would be, what, Moo Kratha? Tourists don't consider upscale meals as "authentic" as street food, but- why? It's like this obsession with "authentic" tuk tuks even though most local people in Bangkok drive, you know, cars. It's a deep rabbit hole but yeah, f*** this idea of "authenticity"- to me, it's about learning the history, understanding the techniques and flavors, following the rules of a dish, and then doing what local people ACTUALLY do and cooking with whatever's fresh, available, and suited to their palate.

[@EarthCamper]

Absolutely Amazing...I have been to Thailand 3 times and tested all 3 curries ...this video is making me to Book flight tickets......to Thailand

[@markshepperson3603]

Try Khow Soi next time.

[@maybenot909]

Thank you for the authenticity talk! Sometimes I think I'm crazy when I want to tell other people "authentic cuisine" is not always better.

[@LiveLifeAsYourself]

I thought i recognized your voice and then realized I first came across you a while back in the hide and seek chicken video on Chinese Cooking Demystified! Great to see this channel taking off! The content, research and cinematography is really top-tier, this is Netflix-tier production right here! Keep up the awesome work!

[@ChineseKiwi]

Those slow-mo foodgasm shots 😂

[@ExtremeStreetEats]

Wish We know about Global Thai ten years ago. We bootstrapped our Thai restaurant ten years ago on about 10k in savings in our small town in the USA. Always enjoy your videos, they are so well researched!

[@briandumont7272]

Not going to be living in Thailand until July, but watching this convinced me to head to my favorite local Thai place and get green curry for lunch.

[@tarrinpun3798]

Welcome anyway I hope you will have a great stay there.

[@moladiver6817]

I am privileged to have spent many years in Thailand as a westerner. Red curry roasted duck is in fact one of my favorites and I will be eating it again later this year as I go back for a couple months. I only know Thai food with authentic ingredients. I've had Thai food outside Thailand a handful times and only liked it once because it simply didn't meet my expectations. If you want to eat Michelin quality duck curry let me know and if KZbin allows me I will write down the information of a local family restaurant on the island of Koh Chang. The chef is amazing and I call her and her family part of my own.

[@uniferunifies]

This was an amazing video - I learned so much! Thanks so much for all the time and effort you must have put in to put it together!

[@velvetchiharu]

Love how the delivery is reminiscent of Alton Brown 🥰 very relaxing and easily engaging.

[@dtester61]

We are lucky in Sydney Australia, to have a huge selection of international cuisine. That’s because about 40% of Sydney people were born overseas. As for Thai food we have regional Thai restaurants specializing in southern Thai, Northern Thai and of course Isaan food. But Isaan food is pretty commonly well represented in most Thai restaurants. Fortunately it’s not too hard to find my favorite gaeng which is gaeng om. The most underrated gaeng of all.

[@OTRontheroad]

Found one perfect version so far in Bangkok. We filmed it in an old video on the princess’s poem from 1800. Absolutely the most underrated gaeng

[@neskrittanai3020]

Wonderful video. You describe Thai curries thoroughly. Thank you for sharing this incredible knowledge. Keep up the good work!

[@user-xh3zo4ts6h]

This was ALOT of interesting FUN my friend! I am a massive fan, of ALL food, from EVERYWHERE on Earth, learning to cook all types of food has been my new passion, along with every peoples local, native history. Im in love with foooooodddd

[@szilviatalpai4900]

I respect how well this video was done and how you credited all the video sources you used! Great vid ^ ^

[@williampang7811]

Well done! I enjoyed your video and appreciate your insights on this Thai culinary culture. Thank you! 🙏😊

[@timppatimo6287]

OTR is getting better and better. Awesome episode!

[@jonfranklin4583]

As always, great video! My first trip to Thailand in 1997 brought me to a soi just 3 down from Jim Thompson house, near the Klong Saen Saep. Our first meal in Bangkok was at a street vendor halfway down the Soi, A fiery green chicken curry the likes of which I had never tasted before. The flavor of that curry stays with me, maybe because it was my first meal in Thailand but perhaps because it was the environment I was in, sitting with the locals, barely able to say Kap Koon Kap but getting big smiles from the folks around me as I sweated my way through every last drop of that wonderful meal. Great one on "Curry" I love learning about the back stories of the cuisine, Thanks again!

[@bicivelo]

Been to Thailand and LOVED It all! People, jungles, beached, cities, history and FOOD!! 😊😊😊

[@PikaPaw-tx5zz]

Thank you! 💙

[@thanakritkhembubpha8110]

OTR still do great job. Another topic i suggest to show is "ต้มผัดแกงทอด" it a common phase for Thai to be alternative choise about food to eat or make. And you can start with 'ต้มยำ(ทำ)แกง' too.

[@StuffandThings_]

As a young child (just a few years old) my favorite place to go out to eat was this Thai restaurant called Tiny Thai in Vermont of all places. After my family moved, I still clung on to memories of eating out at Thai and we eventually found some good new local stuff, cause of course its so ubiquitous. Its been one of my favorite foods pretty much my entire life, even if its not exactly authentic. There's also a local Vietnamese place that my family has gone to from when I was a toddler up until today, we even got to know the owners, and a nice bowl of pho is still quite the comfort food for me. Its kind of crazy how important foreign cuisine can be even so far from its homeland and altered to different tastes and available ingredients.

[@samwienska1703]

15:40 Wow! This is very much similar to the South Indian cuisine. Thailand having very long historical connection with Tamil Chola kingdom, this is a no wonder thing. Even today, during the Thailand king's coronation ceremony, the Tamil hindu religious song called "Thiruppaavai" is used to be sung. (Note: ORIGIN OF CURRY IS FROM TAMIL CUISINE & THE WORD CURRY IS FROM the TAMIL LANGUAGE) In Tamil cuisine meals it has an order similar to the Thailand cuisine. 1. Rice 2. Kuzhambu (which means a gravy having thick consistency) : one or more types of gravies. 3. Rasam or Saaru (which means a watery or running consistency soup) 4. Poriyal, Koottu, Aviyal, etc (Side dish vegetables that are stir fried, steamed, smashed, etc). 5. Appalam (crackers) & Vadai (deep fried savoury lentil doughnut like dish). 6. Curd & pickle 7. Buttermilk 8. Sweet Thai cuisine's *Gaeng* seems to be similar to the Tamil cuisine's *Kuzhambu or Kulambu* .

[@kieran7409]

This was a really interesting and informative video, thanks

[@var309]

By far the best Thai food video on KZbin !

[@suchonvong]

I really enjoy your channel. Difference perspective but insight and useful. Thank you so much for your effort.

[@warrentang7459]

One of the most fascinating and informative videos about food history I've watched in about ever. Incredible work.

[@user-hj7uc4mu7r]

This episode is so well written and presented. I wish I could give you thump up twice or even thrice!

[@thunderconcerto9807]

make it trice please😅

[@DavidPhinijdamm]

Thanks for the show. I enjoy watching it very much.

[@themorethemerrier281]

I had my first Thai curry around 40 years ago in Germany. It was already stoplight colored. And it was already pretty fantastic.

[@noreenneu837]

What a great video. I love your channel! I so want a curry right now! Can’t wait to get back to Bangkok and check out some of the restaurants you visited. Great history and language lesson. Thanks so much for what you do.

[@dondobbs9302]

YAAAY! Finally know what "Gang" really means and understand what I've been eating. Thanks!! I love that store with all the different pastes! Every Thai market has a row of pastes some where. Most Thais don't make the paste from scratch, it's too time consuming and difficult. I haven't seen such a wide variety, though!

[@JM22017]

I‘ve never thought about „stoplight“ term for curry. Love it.

[@arnaudfontaine7882]

man i love your channel. foodgasms, history and Mozart!

[@markbock3027]

Fascinating video, and nice to see the Saap callout at the beginning. We’re lucky to have a couple of Thai restaurants here in Vermont breaking out of the stoplight curry thing and serving some very authentic dishes. Truly delicious food.

[@eswillie]

Thanks, as usual, Adam. This is pretty much how I cook. When I first tried to approximate Thai dishes, I only could get green chili paste, which reminded me of my time in Thailand. As Asian markets came into play, I was able to get more ingredients and condiments from Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia, and changed up my game. These days I have all the stoplight pastes, plus some others, and plus some fresh Thai ingredients that I separate and freeze; not perfect, but it work. I also add whatever fresh ingredients I feel like using, particularly whatever's in season. Seems to me as I learn more that that's closer to what Thai folks eat than the global style (which I've tried, but am not a fan of). All I can say is that we eat very well, we enjoy most every dish I come up with, and until I can back there for the slowly disappearing street food, it'll have to do.

[@Maxy18181]

As a Thai, I still gain knowledge watching this video. Thanks for representing our culture and food so perfectly.

[@fearlessclanyt]

What a wonderful and informative video. I’ve learned so much!

[@paul-martintandetzki731]

Great content video and great education video too. Make me love Thailand even more

[@WordAte]

Fantastic video. Very informative and entertaining.

[@VaveeDances]

What a perfectly wonderful channel. Thank you . What a gift. 😊

[@WattanaRatchatamongkolchol]

Thank you for your excellent video explaining about Thai gaeng. It is so great ❤

[@Yai1950]

Thank you for sharing this video with the beautiful Thai food 😃😊

[@na3rial]

I haven't seen anyone go into this much detail about the origins of foods, its evolution, and its connection to the people who made it. I learned so much!

[@mmhuq3]

Thank you so much for the video

[@lalida6432]

Excellent video and so well researched!

[@curious1264]

Thank you for giving credits to all the other people you used clips from. Very courteous and so many KZbinrs neglect to give others a thanks. Interesting video, I like

[@viriya24]

This episode is a real gem chef. A khao gaeng meal for me tmr then!

[@TheCaribbean04]

Traffic Lights Curry huh? Love that 😂

[@jaykongsawat5435]

Their curries are the best! I guarantee!! It is so fun and enjoy local lives too

[@BGKO6074]

thx for a cool vid and knowledge my guy!

[@zachabbott6633]

I lived in a small village outside of chiang mai for a couple of months and the locals didnt eat any of the thai dishes i was accustomed to. They pretty much all ate pork or fish noodle soup, chicken rice for lunch. Couldn't find a curry, pad thai or pad see ew at any of the restaurants

[@CugnoBrasso]

The thing you said about some local cuisines not being represented abroad really came to my attention last week when I visited the Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia specifically). The last thing I would have expected was to eat well, and yet I had some of the best food in my entire life. Their cuisine is not only delicious, but also incredibly complex and variegated (and I say this as a vegetarian). They make all sorts of sauces mixing chopped walnuts with vegetables, they put pomegranate over eggplants, they have all sorts of breads, and I wondered "how come these guys are not world famous for their cuisine?". Phenomenal dishes, you should all try it (unless you really hate cylantro). Also, as a side note, I was grown on Italian food, and "pasta and pizza" is somewhat of a disservice to the vastness of this food tradition.

[@kirby7379]

Really beautiful work. Reminds me why I am obsessed with food. ❤

[@viche1]

This was so interesting - thank-you.

[@TantoAndSquanto]

Wow. I immediately recognised Lime Leaf as the Charlottesville location but did nt beleive it until you named Charlottesville. Its my hometown but I live in Scandinavia now. Funny to stumble across this.

[@nadanalia3000]

This is awesome, thanks so much.

[@mikekelly3932]

He’s amazing as always he on the real Thai food experience .😊

[@ChineseKiwi]

Yep, what you say about a cuisine, even if slightly unauthentic, planting that thought about a country is so true. I, like you OTR team, am privileged to be in a global food city where you can get cuisines from everywhere as there are immigrants from everywhere. I’m a fan of say the Somali food here, Senegalese, Palestinian and how that is different variations of the same dish from say Iraqi. Or the variations of pilaf from Iran or Afghanistan… And you are right, they are often opened to serve mainly their small communities but then over time the greater mass populace of the place find out…. I am an immigrant myself from a smaller city of around 300,000 (I immigrated to 5.1 million), and the Afghan restaurant there started as that but now has a cult following by the greater populace and people of all walks of life in that town know about the place.

[@NonEuclideanTacoCannon]

I've heard this story before, but I had no idea it was so recent. I figured it was an early 20th century thing. There are a few examples of more authentic Thai restaurants with no affiliation with the government of Thailand. I worked at one owned by a crazy Brazilian hippy. She'd fly to Thailand several times a year for "menu research". Some of the menu was westernized fusion, but much of it was things she tried in rural Thailand. Still my favorite is the basic pad kra pao.

[@boncharusorn6173]

excellent video and perhaps the best in this topic on youtube! everything is on point but not too much which kept me watching all the way through. Thai people can learn a lot from this video, 4 realz! i tip my curry bowl to you. respects 😊

[@CML3327]

This blew my mind. I live in Thailand now. I hope some of the other dishes make it abroad because there is a variety of excellent dishes.

[@markshepperson3603]

If you want authentic at home look for Blue Elephant sauces. The massaman is amazing with a more than mild mulligatawny twang. Also don’t confuse yellow curry with Geang Pad Pang Gowlee sometimes unappetizingly called ‘yellow curry paste’ on menu but it’s lovely. Khow Soi is another must try.

[@user-qk6qn5sk6y]

What a wonderful documentary! My introduction to Thai food was many years ago in the next larger city to my own. The owner would make me a dish with baby green beans (when available) that was fantastic!. Authentic? Dunno - don't care but her other Thai dishes were also wonderful. It gave me a ton of respect for a cuisine that I had not experienced before.

[@NaikaVideo]

Lovely work OTR. Lovely work.

[@tangente00]

holy....it seems youtube isnt completely lost. some quality content right here.

[@Chromeman]

Thanks for another great and educational and hunger inducing video! 😉 Could you make a video looking at what Thai food was before the introduction of chili, and where you can find it today?

[@farewell_youtube]

As Thai, I'm really impressed with your dedication to researching around Thai foods and their history. Superb video!

[@muftiharits]

KZbin algorithm doing its mystical wonder again. After viewing this scrumptious episode, I think I’m gonna be hooked with your other vids, Adam.

[@KittitachPrasertkul]

Saw you ate that curry paste raw….. i appreciate your devotion to the cause!

[@jmwbt1609]

Excellent content!

[@Akito12345]

This was a great video. Was very surprised I had eaten that that restaurant in Charlottesville. Bizarre!

[@dtvoptions3454]

As a Thai person, I'm impressed by your presentation. Subscribed!

[@Get-A-Life]

Awesome research Adam, this was a bloody goodn'. Fantastic detail on all the dishes. Love the local watery green gaeng, compared to the western bastardised version. Lovin the vids mate, can't wait for the sate vid. We're in Sumatra in a few mths as well!👌👌 Cheers Simon

[@alexanderlim4728]

you deserve 1 million subscribers at least. enjoyed your video very much, thank you

[@DroolRockworm]

Grew up loving Thai food as a kid in the US, recently went to Thailand and was terrified of the options I was given haha

[@viravit]

I like how you shaved your mustache for this episode 😂 great content as always.

[@remyjune4518]

so cool thanks for sharing this. i live and love thai food daily living in the north. crazy!!!!

[@Givingvoicedoco]

in New Zealand North Island West Coast i had a subtropical garden because thier were no frost .A Thai friend used to exchange home made sweet chilli sauce for banana flowers

[@rosieweaselby]

Interesting! My dad used to take me to his favorite Thai restaurant in the 90s, but he’s a foodie and it was a good half hour away from our city. I was little so never really thought about that as I got older and found Thai food all around me.

[@ChineseKiwi]

Hey, I literally live next to a Thai takeout and they have Moo Krob and the traffic light curries 😝 Tempted to get some Moo Krob tomorrow from there as everything is better with Moo Krob 🤗

[@TarTw45]

There's saying among Thai people "Moo krob will heal everything" Didn't get a promotion, favorite team lose, failed the exam, client meeting went haywire etc. Moo Krob will be there to heal your soul. LOL

[@jaykongsawat5435]

Jealous!!!!!