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9 Major Differences between Thailand Thai Food and American Thai Food
Written by: Mark Wiens 60 Comments Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
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Thailand Thai Food vs. American Thai Food
Thailand Thai Food vs. American Thai Food
I was in Thailand for nearly 3 years before ever coming back to the United States.
I eat loads of Thai food in Thailand. And I LOVE it.
Upon returning the US for a quick few weeks visit, I noticed that Thai food is quite popular in America now. Nearly all neighborhoods have their very own “Thai Basil” or “Siam” restaurant at the nearest strip mall.
Many Thai restaurants in America are even owned and operated by real authentic Thais…
… but Thailand Thai food is different from American Thai food.
Not only are there differences in the ingredients or what’s available, Thai restaurants (despite attempting to remain authentic sometimes) simply have to adapt and then abide by to American style and taste.
Unfortunately, a lot of the strategies for predicting an outstanding Thai restaurant (before ever eating there) are useless in America – largely due to regulations.
Here are 9 major differences I noticed while sampling American Thai food:
Of course, I could break down the differences between each and every dish (like pad thai in Thailand and in America), but for the sake of this article, I’ll stick with the food in general.
gra-pao-america
Mountainous American portions!
1. Portion Size
There’s a radical difference between American sized food portions and Thai sized food portions… and I had completely forgotten about it after staying in Bangkok for so long.
America loves HUGE.
It’s not that I eat less in Thailand, it’s just that the the portions are smaller so I order multiple plates of rice per meal. In Hawaii I ordered a plate of pad gra pao (lad khao – on top of rice) in Chinatown and it was a massive plate – double or even triple the size of a normal Bangkok street food portion.