We set out to tell the story of Thailand’s weirdest local dish, American Fried Rice, and ended up spiral down a rabbit hole that brought us from the gates of the military bases in Okinawa to Hong Kong’s teahouses to almost every corner of Asia, entering a world filled with ketchup, Spam, and enough high-caloric “Western” dishes to leave us nearly comatose- and facing a painful journey of introspection into how the outside world views American food.
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0:00 – American Fried Rice
2:29 – Down the Rabbit Hole
4:00 – Hong Kong’s Teahouses
7:35 – War
9:33 – Taco Rice
13:18 – Ketchup Spaghetti
16:17 – Exports
19:00 – General Tso and Chop Suey
21:12 – Sureepan Maneewat
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List of Venues Shown in the Video:
American Fried Rice Li
Hia Tai Kee
Kinjo Okinawa Izakaya
Shirokumaya Cafe
Lucky Panda (Delivery)
Queen Bee (to eat the Chinese Delivery)
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Video credits:
A bucolic scene
A friendly game of baseball, 1861 style
Let’s Make A Sandwich (1950) A Classic Educational Film
“Western” Fried Rice (西炒饭)
Hong Kong, the British colony in 1961
The Filipino-American War 1899-1902
U-Tapao 1969
U-Tapao (Utapao) Air Base Thailand, 1967-1972
Okinawa 1950’s to 1960’s
Korean War in Colour (Documentary)
Soho Hong Kong to Central Hong Kong Walking Tour (2019) – 蘇豪區到中環香港 (2019)
BEST EXPLOSION caught on tape Collection
USO Christmas Show-Cu Chi, Vietnam 1966
U.S. Military – Advanced Shooting Techniques
Dogs Welcoming Soldiers Home Compilation Video HD
California 1950s, Driving Wilshire Blvd in color [60fps, Remastered] w-sound design added
15 Comments
maan you so happy here Dasha newer coock for you right?)))))
Started the video. I have the flu, and couldn't finish it. Saving for later.
having worked in a Thai restaurant in america, this was staff meal a few times and i love it, my boss i think said it was kind of a childhood nostalgia/collage dorm meal for her. The whole category of western food as re-imagined by Asian cooks is a goldmine of interesting things
This is great. Funny, too. When I lived in France, my host family kept offering my ketchup for my food. I never used it, but the French dad put it on everything. Now I use ketchup a lot–but I mix it with sriracha sauce.
FYI, Thailand has something similar to Cha Chaan Teng too. We call it "Cook Shop". It's originated from Hainanese who worked as chef's assistance in foreigner house. Not long ago, it was about to extinct from the restaurant scene but make a little bit of comeback recently.
Also, IMO, I think Thai's ketchup and hotdog is actually very different than in the State.
Deep fried peanut butter french toast sounds incredible to be honest.
Why are you so "offended" by this dish? It's a rather annoying take to have. America is the birthplace of cheese whip and chef boyardee, get off your high horse. I feel the same way about Italians who act too high and mighty for shitty American pizza (which I love), or Americans who deride Persian pizza (which has ketchup, often hotdog, and corn on it). Food is meant to be enjoyed. If anything you should feel honored that people around the globe look to your country for inspiration to cook food that THEY find palatable.
So what does American Fried Rice taste like??
How is this absurdist? It's Asians using American ingredients, likely a result of military aid or globalisation, to enhance local cuisine.
Calling this absurdist is like calling New York-style pizza absurdist.
in Malaysia & Singapore it is called Kopi Tiam. Ketchup or tomato sauce is actually used a lot in southeast asian home-cooked food , NOT as a condiment , but as a cooking ingredient. e.g a fried noodle dish in Malaysia is very common to add ketchup as part of the sauces , while stir-frying. and you will usually see ketchup is stored in the kitchen together with the soy sauce , fish sauce , vinegar. But it is not the same ketchup like Heinz , it is more sweeter and less tomato'y , usually local brand tomato sauce. and I've never seen ketchup as a condiment in their homes.
I hate food snobs.
As a lover of HK Chacanting specials such as "French" toast and Sing Kopi Tiem specials, this is a subject close to my heart. Maybe it is the raisins and remembrance of good Indian Biryani, but the American Fried Rice looks pretty damned good. The one thing about Ketchup/catsup is its possible origin from southern/southeastern Chinese dialects – from Wiki which has much more on it "A popular folk etymology is that the word came to English from the Cantonese "keh jup" (茄汁 ke2 zap1, literally meaning "tomato sauce" in Cantonese)." Fascinating and interesting. Keep up the great work!
Pretty good video, although I can see why some people would get taken aback by some of your reactions to local cuisine.
On the origins of raisins and carrots in American fried rice, the dish bears a lot of resemblance to Pilaf/Pilau/Polo that is found across Eastern Europe and Asia. It often has raisins, carrots, and some sort of meat but adding in ketchup as a cheap flavoring/substitute to more traditional spices wouldn't be the greatest leap to make. So my guess would be it has it's origins in Pilaf.
You replaced home fries with rice… not toast
Very interesting, well-researched and informative.