Food From Northern Laos

Photo: Ajinomoto Thailand Khao Pad American: The Original Thai-American Fusion It arrives like a diner plate that wandered into a Bangkok kitchen and decided to stay: a neat mound of orange-red fried rice studded with raisins, peas and diced carrot, a fried egg with a runny yolk, a sausage, slices of ham and a piece of golden fried chicken, all on one plate. That is khao pad American — American fried rice — and despite the name it was not invented in America at all. It was invented in Thailand, for American tastes, and it may be the original Thai-American fusion dish. Born in Bangkok, not in America The usual story places khao pad American in Bangkok in the years after the Second World War, when American ingredients — ketchup, canned peas, raisins, hot dogs and ham — became easy to find, and it grew further during the Vietnam War era, when American servicemen on leave filled Bangkok's hotels and restaurants. Thai cooks did what Thai cooks always do: they took the foreign in...