Thread by @bansisharma

1. On Thai Restaurants In the U.S. (Why So many?)
There's a Thai restaurant for every 6 Thai Americans in the U.S.
There are only 300,000 Thai Americans in the U.S. and there are around 5,000 Thai restaurants. Nothing sinister. This is just very interesting.

2. Most seemingly informed and lay analysts have suggested that it’s simply because Thai food tastes good, or happens to hit the American palate in just the right way.

3. But as it turns out, there is a much simpler answer: The Thai government paid for it.

4. Using a tactic now known as gastrodiplomacy or culinary diplomacy, the govt of Thailand has intentionally bolstered the presence of Thai cuisine outside of Thailand to increase its export and tourism revenues, as well as its prominence on the cultural and diplomatic stages.

5. In 2001, the Thai govt established the Global Thai Restaurant Company, Ltd., in an effort to establish at least 3,000 Thai restaurants worldwide.

6. At the time, Thai deputy commerce minister Goanpot Asvinvichit told the Wall Street Journal that the government hoped the chain would be “like the McDonald’s of Thai food.”

7. Apparently, the government had been training chefs at its culinary training facilities to send abroad for the previous decade, but this project formalized and enhanced these efforts significantly.

8. The McDonald’s of Thai food never quite materialized as a government-operated megachain, but the broader goal of a government-supported increase in the number of Thai restaurants abroad has.

9. At the time of the Global Thai program’s launch, there were about 5,500 Thai restaurants beyond Thailand’s borders; today there are over 15,000. The number in the US increased from around 2,000 to over 5,000.

10. Now the Thai government is concerned with maintaining their quality and their value as export channels. As of August 2017, 413 Thai restaurants in the US have been awarded “Thai Select” certificates by the Thai Ministry of Commerce to denote quality and authenticity.

11. The strategy has clearly worked. Bangkok scored last year's most popular international tourist destination.

12. As an aside, even the North Korean govt has recognized food’s diplomatic power, and has maintained an international chain of over 100 restaurants called Pyongyang, featuring North Korean staples as well as musical performances by a purportedly captive North Korean staff.

13. However, the phenomenon of escaping and defecting waitresses may have put a damper on the North Koreans’ enthusiasm for this project. The strategy seems to work better for countries that are freer at home.

14. U.S. has also had quite an impact on the world through its culinary innovations. Topic for another day, but in my travels to various countries over several decades, I have been amazed by interesting cultural impacts of chains like McDonald's in very unexpected ways.

The End