Meanwhile, other types of foreign and Chinese street vendors were banned from selling. The Public Welfare Department gave out recipes of the dish to restaurants and even gave free carts to people willing to sell Pad Thai in the streets. Pad Thai was promoted heavily up and down the country with the campaign slogan of the government “noodle is your lunch”. (Some resources say that there was actually a national competition to create a national dish, of which Pad Thai was the winner!). At the same time, ‘Phibun’ also wanted to improve the variety of the Thai diet, by encouraging people to eat noodles instead of rice, as well as promoting unity and a sense of national identity across the kingdom by creating a national dish that everyone would love. They told the general public that by eating Pad Thai, they were helping their country. The government of Thailand created the dish ‘Pad Thai’, in a bid to protect the rice resources of the country. Noodles used only 50% of the grain, so were more economical and cheaper to produce. In order to preserve the stocks of this precious grain, the Thai government (under Prime Minister and Military Dictator, Plaek Phibunsonghram) started to promote noodles instead amongst its people. World War II effortsĭuring World War II, Thailand suffered a shortage of rice due to less production in the rice fields, which coincided with bad flooding. Fried Thai? What’s that all about? Cheap Pad Thai being sold on the Khao San Road, Bangkok. The rest of the name offers even more clues… ‘Pad’ means ‘fried’ and ‘Thai’, of course, means Thai (as in Thai style). Some people believe that a similar creation to Pad Thai was brought to the Ayutthaya Kingdom by Chinese Traders in the 1700s. The original name of Pad Thai, is ‘Gway Teow Pad Thai.’ Gway Teow is a Chinese word for ‘rice noodles’, which hints at a Chinese influence. Yum! Anyone who’s ever been to Thailand, or even a Thai restaurant, will surely have tried this, the most famous of Thai dishes! Pad Thai: What’s in a name? Pad Thai is made from rice noodles, stir-fried with eggs, tofu, tamarind paste, fish sauce, dried shrimps, garlic, palm sugar and red chilli pepper and frequently served with lime wedges, bamboo shoots, spring onions, raw banana flowers, and topped with a sprinkling of peanuts. The Most Famous Pad Thai Restaurant in Thailand.

Making chicken pad thai