honestly the best kind

korea has kpop and kdrama abd japan had anime, videogames, food. Damn asia really good at this.

too bad we have a leader who is a mix between Trump and Kim and can't explain what soft power is

@@benzskyeshxc96 And don't forget ramen noodles, which really came from China.

Gas power

okay bjorn

I wonder if they just secretly hated people and were like "yeah we'll totally do that" so they could move to the most remote location possible.

There's a thai restaurant in Svalbard? Wtf

@@papajohnsuk5965 Is that like the Swedish version of "ok boomer"? Ok Bjorner.

Munch is a good name for this topic.

Most people just go for the hookers but, i guess the food is great too

Oh, but there will always be strings attached. All it takes is 1 little spark to make a huge fire, then you're set for life!

> I see no losers in this situation Would republicans consider this communism though (nevermind the fact that republicans don't mind government money going to big business, etc)?

@@lollycopter Way to get political dude. Plus corporations have both sides in their pockets, not just republicans:P

@@SlapStyleAnims this got political 30 seconds into the video

Awwwww

Wow, my local Thai eatery has a sweet grandma just like that, she always tells her guest that this business has, “allowed all her babies to achieve their goals”. Speaking of which going to place an order very soon.

Our government is not that clever. Don't thank them. They done nothing.

@@medusawitchful You're taking me far too literal. I'm just being grateful for a man (and his food) that is a welcomed addition to the American melting pot. I don't much care if it is due to a Thai PR campaign or just a organic immigration.

💖

However, traditional noodles seem to be “too Chinese” and not good for nationalist propaganda. So it is fried instead of boiled, and uses chicken and egg instead of pork.

Wow I never knew any of this. I feel my brain swelling.

It's brilliant, create a new national dish and then export it all over the world.

1 kg of rice makes 2 kg of noodles... Wait

Plaek Pibulsongkhram, the dictator, had an entire campaign built around it. So every time you eat a delicious bowl of pad thai, thank the Axis powers.

Me.

I mean....do you question why most chinese places have similar menus? Mexican joints? What about all the diners selling the same chicken noodle soup and greasy burgers? I 100% buy that Thailand has a tourism outreach program, but, it would be ludicrous to attribute all of this to some sort of government control. This is just how restaurants work.

This is like assaying burger joints have similar menu, therefore all burger joint is secret US run black sites

That is simply because people want what they expect, restaurants want to sell to people, so they sell what people expect them to sell. And what people expect is what they see in other restaurants. For that same reason every fast food restaurant looks like every other fast food restaurant, every Chinese restaurant looks like every other Chinese restaurant, and every ice cream stall sells icecream in those goddamn leaky unpractical tasteless cones instead of in a simple practical cup with spoon... because that's what people expect.

@@oakoakoak2219 you are onto something there

We’re literally beside you and know nothing about your food. - A random Filipino

There are three Indonesian restaurants I frequent in Perth WA, sadly my favourite which I've been going to for over twenty years recently closed.

I always say this! Indonesian food is so good but all the Indonesians in my town just open up Japanese restaurants bc i think since most Americans don't know anything about Indonesia they wouldn't really be able to market it here

to me most recently Indo is Obama's 2nd home

They should. Luckly I am Dutch so I am no stranger to your great dishes.

I love that food alone prompted you to change your life with a new language and culture, what an enriching experience! I just went to my first Korean supermarket a couple weeks back. Made me want to learn Korean, but I can’t find the time or willpower!!

@@mitzikolo That sounds like an amazing adventure! Enjoy! I haven't visited Australia yet, but have tried Thai food in London which was even more different. In the US, Americanized Thai food tends to be (generally): sweeter, less spicy, more meat, less fresh herbs, less sour, no dried shrimp. Certain dishes are way more popular in the US than in Thailand: Fried spring rolls, Pad Pra Ram (peanut-sauce over something), Pad Thai (which tends to be more brown here than orange in colour). In the US, some ingredients will generally be substituted out (due to cost or availability): Italian brocolli for kailan, carrots and peas for other colourful veges, Italian basil for both Thai basil and Holy basil. Some ingredients just don't exist here, like: winged beans, stinky beans, Thai limes (Our Mexican lime are less sour), and many Asian-tropical fruits. Also, many items are only available canned/tinned, that would be fresh in Thailand, like: Krachai (lesser ginger/rhizome), green peppercorns, bamboo shoots, and so on. When I cook Thai food at home, I have the same issues here, but luckily live near some good SE Asian markets.

Today I learned that bakmi and kwetiau is from Thailand.

I'm from RI, what restaurant was this? Siam Square in Providence?

@@Ned88Man I doubt that it's still there. This was in the late 80s in Warwick, just east of TF Green Airport. If I remember correctly, it was near Sandy Lane and Warwick Ave.

That's an awesome story! I wish I had a restaurant like that.

It sounds like he appreciated your business!

@@Jenny-tm3cm Thai as a rule are very polite folk who do appreciate loyalty, it's a teaching.

Interesting because my home towns Thai is my favorite beyond measure and I love and have tried Thai all over the states. Q the twilight zone music?

Interesting, I thought of trying a similar strategy of just asking what was good around the U of Maryland when visiting my best friend from college early this year. It sounds like my idea would have worked. Sadly Staffing shortage mended was closed and we tried another place but hopefully when my friend gets married next summer it will be open and I can try it at one point.

Maybe they scored under 80

Same happened to me. I think this is a genuine international incident.

It's definitely because of military junta there. I strongly recommend you to ask your own government to liberate Thailand and happy democratic government will be really grateful and reopen restaurant :)

@@ErikHare This requires UN intervention.

@@happyelephant5384 you're referring to myanmar bud, but maybe the damn restaurants would open now that their own country is now open

true, we don’t consider Pad thai as our national dih

You probably think that because of the cost difference

@@gangstagummybear3432 That’s one of the reason but the main reason is that the taste is not accurate enough (except the restaurant owner is Thai)

@@gangstagummybear3432 Thai government will give "Thai Select" logo recommendation for Thai restaurant worldwide according to their level: Unique, Classic & Authentic.

Pad Thai was promoted by the government after WWII. These days Thais enjoy it occasionally.

That's interesting, Americans do that with the word "Chinese." Though I don't know if that's predominantly because of racist people that think all Asians are Chinese, or predominantly because many restaurants here that bill themselves as "Chinese" serve any dish that could be remotely considered East or Southeast Asian... plus the inevitable pizza and chicken fingers.

I thought Chinese restaurants have conquered every corner of the world 🌎. I can't believe they are called Thai restaurants in your neck of woods.

Swedes can be pretty ignorant despite how most of the world perceives them.

In Australia Thai restaurants are everywhere, in every suburb. I have 2 within a 5 minute drive. There are a few Chinese restaurants but they seem to be disappearing. The most common here are Thai, but there are plenty of Vietnamese, Malaysian, Japanese and Indian. You cant find any Asian cuisine here,

@@one_smol_duck Little lady, it is not racism. Racism is the belief that one's race is superior, not misidentifying a restaurant.

😂

I lived in a place years ago where there was one called Thai One On. :p

great name

I’ve been to 3 countries and eaten in a Thai restaurant called Thai Tanic…. And also Thai Foon (Typhoon)

also one in Belfast... double pun!

Tastiest kind of propaganda

I have faith that it can happen! I used to work in a tiny village in Ontario, Canada with an excellent Thai Restaurant. This is the town where the grocery store closes at 6pm and the k-8 school needs to pull from 45 mins away to get to it's 300 students. I will cross my fingers for you in New Mexico!

"Though propaganda isn’t inherently bad." - I'm imagining you saying this between mouths of Thai food 😂

"Please like us, we have delicious food" is a pretty compelling argument.

That's how you know the propaganda is working: when you think propaganda is good.

Right, there are heaps.

That's because it's cheaper to go to Australai than it is to America. Given that Thai food is the best, ofc it would spread like a wild fire in Australia where many Thai immigrants live.

Yes, it's spelled out clearly in the video at 3:28.

chop suey, name of the omnipresent Chinese dish in the US means what you describe, miscellaneous leftover thrown together, albeit the Chinese version. But I have not seen it in the San Francisco bay area which is a good thing. Chinese restaurants started in the US after Chinese railroad workers after the cross continental railroad was completed. I guess they were not chefs and couldn't cook. Chop suey was all they could whip together initially.

Germany did the same on Mallorca, long live the Bratwurst, Schnitzel, and beer 🍻

Who in their right mind would want to bring British 🤮🤮🤮"food" to a country with perfectly good food?? Hopefully Spain deported them

@@d3th2m3rikkka Amen!!!

@@d3th2m3rikkka look we give them our good seafood(a lot of what is caught in the uk is shipped to other countries) and they get our nightlife/pub tourists. A "fair" deal.

I heard of Polish tourists complaining there was no kiełbasa and vodka ... in Egypt.

Then everyone ends up with egg on their face.

Agreed

If that happened, India would become a global superpower overnight! 😋

@@ObamaoZedong You know, if that means keeping people feed with good food, I don't think I'd mind that!

@@ObamaoZedong na Indian food is nasty Mexican or Italian is way better

You must be outside Albuquerque, because there are tons of Thai restaurants there.

Shoot them a message, you’ll be a multimillionaire Thai puppet by the end of the week

Not sure where you are, but Thai Cuisine 2 is my go to when I'm in Albuquerque

@@kknupp101 Yep, Lordsburg down in the southwestern corner. I've been to Thai restaurants in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe metro area as well as the Clovis/Portales and Las Cruces/El Paso areas; but not down here. We've had multiple Chinese restaurants set up shop here in the last 20 years, but they've all closed within 3 years of opening. For anything other than pizza, burgers, tacos, enchiladas, or subs, you have to drive an hour either to Deming or Silver City.

Breaking Bad State

Me too😅 my theory is that. Expat thai just want money.and thai food is delicious and sell well.

That's quite understandable. Most of the time, government projects went unnoticed because they target specific group for a specific purpose. Just like taxes, you won't know about deductibles unless you pay income taxes. If you're not a senior citizens, you'd likely wouldn't know about special discounts and services for them that's the government provide. Same with this program, which probably fall either under the Tourism Ministry or Foreign Ministry.

Fellow Thai here, This definitely is a thing, though not exactly the way this video describes. What’s happening is basically a form of government assistance subsidy that support and encourage Thai expat to open restaurants

@@oakoakoak2219 that is exactly what the video describes.

Yeah, this is 100% real. It’s pretty simplified in the video but soft power is important to a country. Thailand has a clever and relatively lower cost way of doing it. Look at how much cultural power Japan has bought with the anime industry.

it’ tamarind sauce 😂

I wouldn’t be surprised if they added Walter White’s 99.9% pure stuff in my Pad Thai and Tom Yum soup, because that shit is fire

Giant U.S. city on the west coast has Asian food restaurant *surprised pikachu*

@@hiimjustin8826, in the '80s, there was one Thai restaurant in Seattle for every 10 Thai immigrants. That's very much unlike the Vietnamese community, which was much larger at that time.

@@hiimjustin8826 Meh, Seattle isn't really giant, it's smaller than Detroit

@@primalreversion7034 I'm glad you don't think major U.S. cities are giant. Thank you for informing me

@@hiimjustin8826 725k population isn't "GIANT" in my opinion either there bud

Another crazy monarch? "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

He is a fascist. Back then the only faction were monarchist and republican. His split with his socialist buddy Pridi came later in his political life.

@@thastayapongsak4422 what,!,!

@@sm3675 thai sided with Japan but when it seemed that the allies was about to win the war they switched side. This is how they escaped colonialism unlike their SEA neighbours.

oof Ordinary politician's background

This is exactly what the Thai government wants you to do, hahaha.

Only if you are a robot.

@@nitehawk86 So you have to fail a captcha to apply?

Let's apply for Thai food taste tester tester?

Nah, they already autonomised it

Lots of differences. In the restaurant business it would sole control of a chain vs a franchisee model.

Pyongyang restaurant. Sounds like a place where you are required to leave hungry.

I remembered that same video while I was watching this one... though obviously the purpose and scope of both are very different.

I think it's just you, but that doesn't mean you are wrong. 👍

You need to be hired.

The puns are actually also part of Thailand's cultural diplomacy program. It's subliminal messaging; every thai-me you think of those words it'll be thai-ed back to the thought of Thailand.

About thaime someone noticed. 😁

Lol

I hope they do. Cheap noodle stands and red light districts.

What? So they can face off against Russia? They are better off subtly promoting tourism. Let the fools spend billions on weapons.

@@mikes4163 it’s a joke

@@birdstudios978 I know. In fact I'm not sure the whole video isn't a joke 😀

Half = 50%, seems a little low, how about we give it a bit girthier 52%

Yes, actually. I've tried a ton of Thai restaurants in Philadelphia over the last few years. I found a handful of mediocre shops and a few that were just plain bad. In fairness, I tried them all during the pandemic, so it's possible the quality was reduced due to supply chain issues or something. I was also getting everything delivered for that reason, so that could play into it. All of that being said, if you're ever in Philly and looking for a good Thai spot, stop by Turbo Thai. 100/10 best food I've had in my life.

You saying it is delicious is not really saying much. Considering a machine agrees with you. Just saying.

@@danielduncan6806 I haven't ate there too many times, plus I got the Pad Thai and these Spring Rolls so kind of basic as far as Thai dishes go.

@@danielduncan6806 Are you mad about Thai food or something? You think using computers to gauge quality and consistency, a common practice, is somehow damning? Can you not handle a 2 star dish or something?

@@chompythebeast Homie's a Yelp reviewer.

I don't have food allergies, so I never put a lot of thought into the issue, but it is awesome that good tasting food is a solid alternative to people who do have such allergies.

I'm very lactose and gluten intolerant, and I also can't stomach eating meat, so my dietary options are quite limited. A lot of Asian foods are like a godsend for me. But for instance German food would be really problematic

Thai restaurants almost all of them is family owned. They only got support from thailand in the form of quality controls because if the food taste bad, it might effected the opinion to all thais as a whole.

Actually, it already happened in the Pochentong incident. (2003 Phnom Penh riots , if you search in Wikipedia). Every Thai business in Cambodia is shut down and the Thai government issues an emergency evacuation. Almost every Thai people flee back to Thailand for their safety.

I live in OC, CA. There are a ton of vietnamese restaurants here. Most made by immigrants. Very authentic due to the bunches of vietnamese markets lol.

A lot of people fled south Vietnam to the US following the Vietnam war, and vietnamese immigration has continued to some extent, often to reunite with family members.

That's probably due to the large influx of Vietnamese immigrants into the US. As far as I've known, our gov doesn't have such promotion for restaurants.

Again, Vietnamese restaurants have increased proportionately to Vietnamese immigrants. Thai restaurants, on the other hand, are very unique. The food is good that they don't need Thai immigrants to run the restaurants. Many non Thai people do actually run Thai restaurants.

I think there is actually more nuanced than this program. I bet a lot of “Thai” restaurants actually have Chinese owners because Chinese restaurants became saturated, and the Chinese know people want to try different food.

@@gj1234567899999 Not just Thai, Thai food is just the most delicious food out there lol

Chin. Ind. Spec. Rest :D

Plus every town as at least one, and some villages even have one. Besides the normal Cafetaria it's the biggest type of restaurant.

We also have government Thai restaurants in the Netherlands. Our Thai restaurant opened in 2004 and their website says they got the "thai select logo" from the department of export promotions.

I felt like Chinese is the case in most countries, not because there was a systemized effort by the Chinese government or there actually might be, but that effort predates the fact that Chinese people were already everywhere.

@@DecoAoreste what does that mean?

Is it Thai Basil in Cocoa Beach Florida?

@@carultch haha the fact that it's not really proves the point!

That's because the real de facto national dish is "Thai Basil with Jasmine Rice topped with Sunny-Side Up Egg". You can ask any Thai and they would say it's true. It's our everyday food.

oof

who? :)

Ironic that the channel is named half as interesting.

@@RandomDude10000 It's actually pronounced 'half-ass' interesting.

I think you are mistaken, this is Sam from Half as Interesting, not Sam from Wendover Productions, its a very easy mistake don’t worry

That actually a myth the King of Siam did indeed offer to give outgoing president James Buchanan Beast of Burden

We could have had elephant cavalry in the civil war, people! Instead we got metal boats that couldn't do enough damage to sink each other.

@@highcouncil1302 oh cool that’s makes more interesting

@@nitehawk86 they’re called by the totally original name of “Elephantry”

Government supported or not, if a restaurant provides good food, it will strives. Otherwise, close down.

Taking, or changing? Which one? They are different.

Changing country's identity like McDonalds , KFC , BurgerKing?

Pyongyang restaurant chain owned by North Korea kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jax1hs-jztW3aac.html

Canada already discovered and exploited this loophole - we got in with maple syrup, then sneak attacked with Nickelback.

Could you explain a bit more? Does she get government help from Thailand?

I know several Thai restaurants and none of them are owned by Thai people, and none of them have any connection to the Thai government.

Plaek Phibulsongkhram. That's so easy to say. Why, Sam!?

@@tuipaopao Because he wasted his energy on learning French instead of Thai.

@@tuipaopao Yeah, it's so easy to say Phibunsongkhram. Wait, no, I mean Pibulsonggram.

Lord Vorde- I mean Phibun

Just like the sorta "authentic" Japanese/sushi restaurants in my area are actually run by Koreans.

Laos is just Northern Thailand, taken from them by the French.

@@si91 -*- Laos is Lanchang acctually under control by Siam befor colonize came, the nothern thie have own state called Lanna, Northeast aka Isan is buffer state of Siam and Lanchang since state eara it was up to what is the king on that's state oing to under control with it's such like a mafia state something in that's period acctually their have some Tai state in the pass 1. Lanchang(Lao nowadays their have they own seperate state into Lungprabang (chaing thong), Viengchan aka Viantian, and Champasak) 2.Chaingrung aka Jinghong(Xibxongbanna) in China 3. Chaingtung aka kengtung (Shan state in Myanmar their have many city as well) 4. Lanna aka Chaingmai (the northern of Thailand in clude freedom state of Phere and Nan state that's not under Lanna in thats time) 5. Ayudthaya aka Siam or Thailand (Ayuthaya acctually united of MON Khom and Tai... Since Siam era , Siam is fully control by Tai Dynasty [in the term of people and culture are mixed]) this is the reason why Siam empire try hard to merge all of Tai state into Siam before colonize came till Japanese came to Siam on WW II [included SAPA in northern Vietnam of Taidum aka Lao soung group since Japan was came]) OK. back to the food! Issan and Laos nowadays very get close, mostly of Laos refugee are dont' accepted the comunist and going to 3rd country like as the US, ans many of them still living in Issan (the northeast of Thailand) and their menu very samilar, even before the comunist war the dynas of Laos and Thais very get close and we are the same root, I didn't surprise that's Laos can be done of Thais menu. especailly In Thailand Issan aka Laos food get famous in Thailand as well

You just said it, the food is amongst the best you've had. Thta's why they know there will always get customers to dine in or take out. Any restaurants that server delicious food and they know it ... dont kiss asses. They make their own rules lol

I think I have but still

There are hundreds of Thai people living in Minnesota. There is a Thai food festival every year.. and some kind of food markets at the Thai temple during summer.

Hard to believe our government (not military junta for sure) to be this smart . I’m dead 🤣🤣

lol

Also I can't believe a word he said. I mean seriously, did they do this? And yes, thai restaurants are everywhere, even more than chinese restaurants. But did china just copy their thing or what is going on?

Lol hat would be funny one day you show up and all of a sudden a guy orders a passport to go.