Thai food: Winning hearts and minds

泰国美食:征服心灵与味蕾

The Food Chain

2025-06-19

30 分钟
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Love Thai food? It might be thanks to a two-decade long policy on the part of the government of Thailand to promote its food culture abroad, with the express aim of increasing trade and tourism. Ruth Alexander explores how food can be used as a foreign policy tool, influencing not just world leaders but seeking to win the hearts and minds of the public. Academic Sam Chapple-Sokol at George Washington University in the US explains why gastro-diplomacy is such an effective tool for soft power. Jan Wisansing, tourism policy consultant in Bangkok, explains the impact of the Global Thai scheme on international tourism to the country. Ruth speaks to the owners of LumLum Thai restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark, who have recently received a Thai SELECT award, an official endorsement from the government of Thailand. And writer and historian Ali Domrongchai in the US talks about the impact of this approach on her own family’s Thai restaurant in Florida. Producer: Beatrice Pickup. Reporter: Gideon Long in Bangkok (Image: A plate of pad thai, said to be Thailand’s national dish, with Thailand’s flag in the background. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)
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  • It's not our first time to Thailand, so our fourth or fifth time.

  • But yes, we go to Thai restaurants in Munich and we also cook Thai food at home.

  • We love it, yes.

  • If you've tried Thai food and felt inspired to book a trip to the country,

  • did you know that might be because of a carefully crafted government strategy?

  • This is The Food Chain from the BBC World Service with me, Ruth Alexander.

  • And this week,

  • we're telling the story of how one country set out to win hearts and minds by filling stomachs.

  • Thailand is a leading global destination, and that is almost engineered.

  • That's almost by design.

  • A campaign to attract visitors, boost the economy and better its place on the world stage.

  • You think of Thailand, you absolutely think of food now.

  • But at what cost to restaurant owners?

  • They are no longer the experts of their own cuisine,

  • and the experts instead are the consumers and customers that eat it.

  • One of the people who's going to help tell this story is Ali Domrongshai,

  • a food writer and Thailand historian based in New York.

  • Her family also runs a Thai restaurant in Florida.

  • So my family came to the United States in 1971.

  • My grandfather actually came on a student visa.