Penny Van Esterik
Department of Anthropology, York University
This paper explores how national Thai identity is contested, constituted and reconstituted through food, and how this process is both replicated and contradicted in the construction of diasporic Thai identity abroad. Contrasting culinary tourism with tourist food raises questions about authenticity and creativity in local food traditions. This paper places research on Thai cuisine within the broader theoretical context of food studies and the regional context of mainland Southeast Asia. Using both ethnographic and historical evidence, as well as recent social science literature in food studies, this paper explores what accounts for the popularity of Thai food abroad and what factors make Thai cuisine unique.
(Presented in the International Conference – Thai Food Heritage: Local to Global, 4-6 August 2009, Tawana Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by The Project of Empowering Network for International Thai Studies (ENITS), Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from the Thailand Research Fund (TRF))