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Cold War-present - Thai cooks responding to American military-era ingredients
Thai-style ketchup fried rice served with American-coded sides such as egg, sausage, ham, raisins, and fried chicken.
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Difficulty
Moderate
Prep time
20 minutes
Cook time
20 minutes
Total time
40 minutes
Servings
4
Region
Thailand and Thai-American tables
Era introduced
Cold War-present
Introduced by
Thai cooks responding to American military-era ingredients
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American fried rice is not a Chinese-American takeout dish despite the name in this archive seed. It is a Thai dish, often explained as a Thai cook's playful arrangement of American-associated ingredients: ketchup rice, raisins, hot dogs or ham, fried egg, and sometimes fried chicken. Its origin stories vary, with several tied to midcentury encounters with American military culture in Thailand and Southeast Asia. For The Melting Pot, it belongs as a fascinating mirror: American food imagined, localized, and sent back through Thai restaurants and immigrant kitchens.
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