3 ms·
> regarded his home country as backward and was determined to remake it There's a fine tradition of Thai leadership doing this, another notable one being Rama
by peteretep 8y ago
> regarded his home country as backward and was determined to remake it
There's a fine tradition of Thai leadership doing this, another notable one being Rama V, who introduced forks and spoons to replace chopsticks (which is what you should be eating your Pad Thai with if you're trying to get the authentic experience :-P)
- pjc50 8y agoTurkey has been through this a number of times. I suppose both Singapore and to a lesser extent Korea count too.
- ryannevius 8y ago> which is what you should be eating your Pad Thai with if you're trying to get the authentic experience Really? Up here in Chiang Mai, chopsticks are the primary eating tool available at most pad thai shops.
- wdutch 8y agoI can't find a reliable online source to back this up (I think I read it in Welty's "The Thai & I") but I seem to recall that Thai culture predominantly dined in the Indian style using their hand before adopting fork and spoon.
- barry-cotter 8y agoSeems plausible. Thailand borders the Confucian Sinocentric cultural complex but it was never part of it. The writing system was always based off of an Indian, Sanskrit base and the religion is the kind of heavily Hindu influenced Buddhism that prevailed across the North of the subcontinent up until the Muslim invasions.