On 24/01/2015 2:22 PM, Sqwertz wrote:
> On Sat, 24 Jan 2015 13:53:36 +1100, Xeno wrote:
>
>> On 24/01/2015 1:29 PM, Sqwertz wrote:
>>
>>> Vietnamese is consistently some of the tastiest food on the planet due
>>> to the great use of the "Hot, pungent, sour, salty sweet" theory of
>>> food design.
>>
>> That's how Thai food is described.
>
> That applies to Southeast Asia in general. Not just Thailand and
> Vietnam. But take Vietnam's main condiment, for example - nuoc cham.
> I think there's even a couple-few books about the theme - they're not
> about Thailand, but SE Asia as a whole.
>
>> I have never heard Vietnamese food
>> described quite like that. Vietnamese food tends to be boring by
>> comparison with Thai food.
>
> You're not eating at the right places, then. Thailand puts more
> emphasis on heavy foods (more coconut milk) and heat, while Vietnamese
> is considered lighter fare.
>
>> My wife and her niece went to Vietnam a
>> couple of years ago and found the food there tasteless according to
>> their palates.
>
> I'm not really interested in your wife's secondhand experiences. I

No, they were their firsthand experiences and, being Thai, I expect they
are reasonably expert on the topic of Thai food. The niece, in
particular, is an expert on Thai food as she owns and runs a restaurant
in Ayuttaya, the old Thai capital.

> grew up (and out!) with Vietnamese people in some of the top
> Vietnamese neighborhoods in the U.S. and rarely did I find anything
> bland.

It wouldn't be bland to your palate but it would be to other Asians.
Chinese food tends to be more so...

> If it was bland it was by design. Every cuisine has foods
> like that, but only England has universally bland food <ducking> (but
> it's all relative - they're used to it!).
>
> I don't know what's served in Australia or how it's modified for the
> Australian tastes. But I know what I've experienced has not been
> dumbed down or up.
>
> -sw
>
It's interesting. 30 years and more ago in Australia, and in particular
Melbourne and Sydney, Vietnamese food was popular. This was because, due
to the refugee situation, the Vietnamese community grew to be the
largest single Asian community there. As Thai food became more popular,
the Vietnamese restaurants, The Malaysian restaurants and the Chinese
restaurants all morphed into Thai restaurants. Some even had signs
alerting one to their duality; Vietnamese and Thai Restaurant or
Malaysian and Thai Restaurant. The sad thing was that all they produced
was a sad representation of Thai food. That's why, out of the literally
hundreds of Thai restaurants in Melbourne, there are very few that Thais
themselves will frequent. Why do you think that is?

--

Xeno.