Thai food robocop ready for action overseas
Attempt to make a robot to standardise Thai food abroad threatens to take the art and culture out of cooking
2/11/2014
Adapted from article by Suthon Sukphisit
Thai food has spread around the world. But now this food has come under scrutiny by a Thai government agency that has created a device to define strict standards for recipes that will apply everywhere in the world.
No matter whether you are preparing your tom yam for sale in New York, in Alaska, or in Papua New Guinea, they should all be identical in flavour and aroma. No differences can be tolerated. In other words, dishes that could previously be interpreted in various ways must now conform.
The reason this project came about has to do with a trip abroad made by the previous prime minister, during which she tasted the Thai food there and complained to those travelling with her that it wasn't very good. This pronouncement sounded the alarm for ministers and others to offer their thoughts on the issue of finding a way to have Thai dishes everywhere taste the same.
This meeting of minds came to the conclusion that the cause of the problem had to do with the fact that the Thai restaurants overseas weren't owned by Thais but by Vietnamese, Chinese and Laos, who did not have a good understanding of Thai cuisine, and that as a result the food they cooked was not up to standard. The way to remedy this deficiency, they decided, was to define standards for the flavour of Thai food, making it uniform by means of a single recipe.
Although the last government was kicked out and the minister who proposed this idea is gone, the project survived. The National Innovation Agency (NIA) in the Ministry of Science and Technology has responsibility for it, and has programmed the qualities of the standard, project-approved version of each dish into a tool called "Thai Delicious".
These devices will be produced and distributed to various Thai embassies.
Embassy officials equipped with the machines are to function as tasters and sample the food at Thai restaurants and evaluate how closely it conforms to the standard.
Food that passes the test will be given a certificate and sticker.
The National Innovation Agency (NIA) explained the development of the device which was complex. First, to define standard recipes for Thai dishes, samples of especially delicious versions were tasted by judges who had deep expertise in the field of Thai food. Chefs, academics and government officials all tasted them, offered their views, and gave it a rating. When they found a dish they thought to be outstanding, it was put into a device that analysed it scientifically.
Thai food robocop ready for action overseas
Attempt to make a robot to standardise Thai food abroad threatens to take the art and culture out of cooking
2/11/2014
Adapted from article by Suthon Sukphisit
Thai food has spread around the world. But now this food has come under scrutiny by a Thai government agency that has created a device to define strict standards for recipes that will apply everywhere in the world.
No matter whether you are preparing your tom yam for sale in New York, in Alaska, or in Papua New Guinea, they should all be identical in flavour and aroma. No differences can be tolerated. In other words, dishes that could previously be interpreted in various ways must now conform.
The reason this project came about has to do with a trip abroad made by the previous prime minister, during which she tasted the Thai food there and complained to those travelling with her that it wasn't very good. This pronouncement sounded the alarm for ministers and others to offer their thoughts on the issue of finding a way to have Thai dishes everywhere taste the same.
This meeting of minds came to the conclusion that the cause of the problem had to do with the fact that the Thai restaurants overseas weren't owned by Thais but by Vietnamese, Chinese and Laos, who did not have a good understanding of Thai cuisine, and that as a result the food they cooked was not up to standard. The way to remedy this deficiency, they decided, was to define standards for the flavour of Thai food, making it uniform by means of a single recipe.
Although the last government was kicked out and the minister who proposed this idea is gone, the project survived. The National Innovation Agency (NIA) in the Ministry of Science and Technology has responsibility for it, and has programmed the qualities of the standard, project-approved version of each dish into a tool called "Thai Delicious".
These devices will be produced and distributed to various Thai embassies.
Embassy officials equipped with the machines are to function as tasters and sample the food at Thai restaurants and evaluate how closely it conforms to the standard.
Food that passes the test will be given a certificate and sticker.
The National Innovation Agency (NIA) explained the development of the device which was complex. First, to define standard recipes for Thai dishes, samples of especially delicious versions were tasted by judges who had deep expertise in the field of Thai food. Chefs, academics and government officials all tasted them, offered their views, and gave it a rating. When they found a dish they thought to be outstanding, it was put into a device that analysed it scientifically.
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