There are a couple of curious things about this article. First, all her invocations of things "Thai" notwithstanding, it will be clear to any reader familiar with Thailand that Ms Pim's surname marks her as a Thai Chinese. On the one hand, this makes her manifest essentialism about "Thainess" more than a bit ironic. (Scholars in Thailand have noted that social insecurity leads many Thai Chinese to overcompensate by means of extravagant displays of "Thainess", royalism and social pretensions. So, while ironic, the line for which Ms Rao has fallen is not surprising.) On the other, yes, it is true that the concept of the restaurant and what has come to be known as "Thai" food were largely the creations of Chinese who served the burgeoning class of urban civil servants from the early twentieth century onward. (Recipes that apparently originated in the palace are a noteworthy exception to this.) Second, this article deviates from the standard NYT house style in reporting on Thailand, which adheres to Thai conventions in referring to people by their given names rather than their surnames. Curious.
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Khun Pim. Can we hope for a branch in Chiang Mai? We could use your talents here.
Way too much oil in some of these dishes
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Delighted that Suraja Ruangnukulkit remains with Nahm. She and David Thompson led one of the truly great restaurants of the world. Hoping Nahm maintains its excellence.
David Thompson is a hard act to follow, so I wish Ms Techamuanvivit the best of luck. Not unlike Italy, the mothers and grandmothers are the best home cooks, but the sons and daughters are the best restaurant cooks. Let's see what happens.
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Did you read the article? A lot of her dishes are things she’s been eating since the beginning of her memory. Would you not agree that someone who has tasted this food literally their entire lives has a better idea of what it should be like than someone who backpacked through it in their 20’s? No one is arguing Thompson’s talents as a chef, I’m just more inclined to believe Ms. Techamuanvivit has a better nose for it.
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Nahm under David Thompson was one of the world's best restaurants. How he acquired his knowledge and his ethnicity are not relevant to anything except prejudice. I hope Pim can do as well or better but it is unlikely. Her website was cute but not all that insightful.
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This sounds just like the creeping, self-righteous reverse-prejudice that infiltrates the Times and gives fuel to the fires of so many culture wars. Have you dined at Mr. Thompson's restaurant? No. I thought not. There's just as much argument for the hybrid vigor of an outside chef to an In-country restaurant, and I doubt you'd be making the same comments were it a local man replacing a foreign Michelin-starred woman.
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I remember her beautiful blog with the wonderful pictures. She used something called "Flickr" which introduced me to that once unknown world. Such a talented, articulate, creative, and passionate woman!
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How nice that Nahm will finally have a chef of the "proper" ethnicity. I say this because when Pim was active on the food chat site eGullet, 15 years ago or so, she used to maintain, quite vehemently and sometimes angrily, that only Asian chefs should cook Asian food; no one else could do it right, according to her.
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She’s right. Too many Thai restaurants in the US are filled with chefs who’ve never even set foot in Thailand. They don’t know pad thai from pad pak. Thai food isn’t like hamburgers and fries.
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T. Rivers: "Too many Thai restaurants in the US are filled with chefs who’ve never even set foot in Thailand. They don't know pad thai from pad pak." What's the relative count? Do you know? And should that statement be extended to apply to anyone cooking the food of another country not of his/her nativity? I think not.
But following your "logic," it's better to have Pim (a Thai) running the restaurant because David Thompson (a Caucasian from Australia) didn't know what he was doing? I suspect all but the most ardently nationalistic Thai might disagree.
I understand national pride. And the desire for the integrity of the cuisine one knows and grew up on. But selective discrimination is discrimination nonetheless.
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Well said, Ms. Fass.