Pad Thai, kiwis and the chef Ken Hom

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

This week, we look at the disputed history of pad Thai with food writer Chawadee Nualkhair.

We also hear from former fruit exporter Don Turner on why his family changed the name of the Chinese gooseberry to the kiwi fruit.

Our expert guest is food historian, Prof Katarzyna Cwiertka, who highlights other moments in history when food and politics combined.

We also have an interview with Thomas Chatenier, the president of Nutella, about the origins of the chocolate hazelnut spread.

Plus, we talk about the Flavr Savr tomato - the world's first genetically-engineered food.

And finally we hear from Ken Hom, the chef who introduced Chinese cookery to TV audiences.

Contributors: Chawadee Nualkhair – Thai food writer. Don Turner – former chief executive of kiwi exporter, Turners and Growers. Katarzyna Cwiertka - food historian and Professor of Modern Japan Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Thomas Chatenier - the president of Nutella. Roger Salquist – former CEO of the biotech company which was responsible for the Flavr Savr tomato. Ken Hom – Chinese-American chef and author.

(Photo: Pad Thai. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bring the world closer with podcasts from the BBC World Service.
0:05.0	Unmissible stories from around the globe.
0:08.0	Wow.
0:09.0	Search for the documentary, Lives Less Ordinary,
0:12.0	and Amazing Sport Stories, wherever you get your BBC
0:15.2	podcasts. You better be ready because we're going to bring it to you.
0:28.7	Hello and welcome to the History Hour Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson the past brought to life by those who were there.
0:31.6	This week we're focusing on food history.
0:34.4	That's not entirely unreasonable, given that this time of year much of the world has been enjoying feasts associated with Christmas as well as New Year.
0:42.4	We have, for example example the story behind Nutteller.
0:45.4	You have this great flavor of Azamuts which is filling your mouth right away and
0:50.9	you have this hint of cocoa which is also coming and you have this you know this smooth and creamy texture.
0:57.6	Thus the world's first genetically engineered food,
1:01.2	how the Chinese Guzbury became the Kiwi fruit, and Ken Hom, the chef who introduced
1:06.6	Chinese cookery to TV audiences.
1:08.8	I did not dumb down Chinese cooking.
1:12.1	I did not stereotype it but I made it authentically accessible.
1:18.0	But first, Pad Thai, one of the most popular dishes in Southeast Asian cookery, and now for many regarded as Thailand's national dish.
1:27.0	However, the origins of Pad Thai are disputed.
1:30.0	Some believe it was created and brought over to the country centuries ago by Chinese immigrants.
1:35.0	Others say it was invented during a period of military dictatorship in the 1940s.
1:40.0	The Thai food writer, Chawadei Nolkeer, has been slicing and dicing the theories with mat pinters.
	...

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