1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:04,560 Thai restaurants: they’re as American as apple pie–which is to say that they’re 2 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:07,529 not actually from America at all but Americans seem to love them anyway. 3 00:00:07,529 --> 00:00:12,009 Of course, it’s not unusual that America has Thai restaurants—what’s unusual is 4 00:00:12,009 --> 00:00:13,740 how many of them there are. 5 00:00:13,740 --> 00:00:17,920 To put things into perspective, there are about 300,000 Ethiopians living permanently 6 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,300 in the US, and only about 500 Ethiopian restaurants. 7 00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:25,800 While the US’ Thai population is almost identical, there are more than 10 times as 8 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:27,279 many Thai restaurants. 9 00:00:27,279 --> 00:00:31,570 If you look at other population-to-restaurant ratios, like Indian or Mexican or Sad Divorced 10 00:00:31,570 --> 00:00:35,760 Men, you see the same pattern: there are way more Thai restaurants in the US than you should 11 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:36,760 expect. 12 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:37,760 So, how did this happen? 13 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:42,350 Well, it turns out, the Thai government has actually been planning it for decades. 14 00:00:42,350 --> 00:00:46,410 This story starts all the way back in 1939, before Thailand was even Thailand. 15 00:00:46,410 --> 00:00:50,590 You see, as World War II kicked off and everyone began picking sides, Thailand wanted to be 16 00:00:50,590 --> 00:00:52,329 the prettiest girl at the ball. 17 00:00:52,329 --> 00:00:55,421 And of course by “ball” I mean “international conflict” and by “prettiest girl” I 18 00:00:55,421 --> 00:00:57,269 mean “country allied with Hitler.” 19 00:00:57,269 --> 00:01:01,040 But World War II was as much about “hard power”—like planes, and bombs, and meth-addled 20 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,270 German teenagers—as it was about “soft power:” the battles fought over culture. 21 00:01:05,270 --> 00:01:09,660 After all, having a strong national identity was essential to keeping up your country’s 22 00:01:09,660 --> 00:01:14,020 morale, and everything from movies to grapefruit juice to Donald Duck got swept up in the war 23 00:01:14,020 --> 00:01:15,020 effort. 24 00:01:15,020 --> 00:01:19,010 Hoping to go toe-to-toe with this level of cartoon duck propaganda, Thailand’s government—under 25 00:01:19,010 --> 00:01:23,260 the order of this guy—decided to do a complete overhaul of their country’s culture. 26 00:01:23,260 --> 00:01:26,820 Some of these efforts were to make Thailand seem more modern and westernized, like encouraging 27 00:01:26,820 --> 00:01:30,530 the use of western-style attire and eating utensils, but others were meant to create 28 00:01:30,530 --> 00:01:33,940 a new, cohesive national identity under the name, “Thai.” 29 00:01:33,940 --> 00:01:39,170 What was once called Siam was now to be Thailand, defined by its Thai people, a single Thai 30 00:01:39,170 --> 00:01:41,860 language, and maybe most importantly, Thai food. 31 00:01:41,860 --> 00:01:46,030 After all, one of the best ways to develop a sense of national pride was to center it 32 00:01:46,030 --> 00:01:47,810 around a national cuisine. 33 00:01:47,810 --> 00:01:51,290 So the government said to the people, “hey, you’re Thai people now, and you love Thai 34 00:01:51,290 --> 00:01:52,290 food.” 35 00:01:52,290 --> 00:01:53,490 And the people said, “what’s Thai food?” 36 00:01:53,490 --> 00:01:56,160 And the government said, “It’s like… noodles and stuff.” 37 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:57,780 And the people said, “But we don’t eat noodles.” 38 00:01:57,780 --> 00:01:59,390 And the government said, “Yes you do.” 39 00:01:59,390 --> 00:02:01,540 And the people said, “Oh, I guess we do.” 40 00:02:01,540 --> 00:02:06,120 And thus modern Thai cuisine was born, including their new national dish: pad thai. 41 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,329 Now, this relationship between the Thai government and Thai cuisine stayed strong, and it began 42 00:02:10,329 --> 00:02:15,340 to be used as a sort of international diplomacy—strengthening Thailand’s influence abroad by turning foreigners’ 43 00:02:15,340 --> 00:02:17,340 stomachs into tiny Thai embassies. 44 00:02:17,340 --> 00:02:21,330 For many years, the government had been training chefs in special facilities to invade countries 45 00:02:21,330 --> 00:02:24,400 around the world, armed to the teeth with work visas and coconut milk. 46 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:28,969 But in 2002, they decided to kick their unique brand of delicious diplomacy into high gear 47 00:02:28,969 --> 00:02:32,740 and launched their “Global Thai” program, which aimed to establish thousands of Thai 48 00:02:32,740 --> 00:02:34,049 restaurants around the world. 49 00:02:34,049 --> 00:02:37,459 Now, they couldn’t do this entirely on their own, because no one wanted to bring their 50 00:02:37,459 --> 00:02:41,439 date to a chain restaurant called “McGovernment-Sanctioned Thai Restaurant,” so they came up with a 51 00:02:41,439 --> 00:02:45,670 clever solution: the Department of Export Promotion designed broad prototypes for three 52 00:02:45,670 --> 00:02:47,569 different styles of Thai restaurant. 53 00:02:47,569 --> 00:02:51,799 The first was “Elephant Jump,” a fairly cheap, adaptable, and not-super-authentic 54 00:02:51,799 --> 00:02:54,459 restaurant where people would spend 5-10 dollars. 55 00:02:54,459 --> 00:02:59,080 The next was “Cool Basil,” a casual sit-down joint where meals were a little more expensive, 56 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,400 somewhere between 15-25 dollars. 57 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,090 The last was called “Golden Leaf,” which was meant to be more upscale and authentic, 58 00:03:05,090 --> 00:03:08,599 with specific parameters for the types of art and fabrics that should be used in its 59 00:03:08,599 --> 00:03:09,599 decor. 60 00:03:09,599 --> 00:03:12,390 Thai restaurateurs from around the world could then purchase for one of these prototypes 61 00:03:12,390 --> 00:03:16,209 from the government, who would provide the entire restaurant, set up any business meetings, 62 00:03:16,209 --> 00:03:20,469 and even conduct research on local tastes—how much spice the locals could handle, what Thai 63 00:03:20,469 --> 00:03:23,510 ingredients appealed to their palettes, and whether they should just give up and open 64 00:03:23,510 --> 00:03:24,629 a Cracker Barrel. 65 00:03:24,629 --> 00:03:27,790 With the support of this program—and a little extra grease from Thailand’s banks—the 66 00:03:27,790 --> 00:03:31,400 number of foreign Thai restaurants tripled, with one of the biggest jumps happening in 67 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:32,400 the United States. 68 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:36,359 If your local Thai restaurant opened sometime in the last 20 years, there’s a good chance 69 00:03:36,359 --> 00:03:38,889 that it’s secretly one of these three government prototypes. 70 00:03:38,889 --> 00:03:43,029 A good way to check is by busting down their door and loudly demanding to know who sent 71 00:03:43,029 --> 00:03:44,470 them and why they’re here. 72 00:03:44,470 --> 00:03:49,040 Given the program’s success—with Thailand seeing over 200% more tourism since it started—their 73 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,260 government is more invested than ever in making sure their food is diplomatically delectable. 74 00:03:53,260 --> 00:03:56,889 In addition to making sure no one is planning on turning Thailand into the world’s largest 75 00:03:56,889 --> 00:04:01,430 saltwater pool, Thai diplomats are tasked with the unique job of taste-testing—monitoring 76 00:04:01,430 --> 00:04:04,719 the quality and authenticity of Thai restaurants across the globe. 77 00:04:04,719 --> 00:04:09,079 And if you thought the job of state-sponsored Thai-food tasting guy was safe from automation, 78 00:04:09,079 --> 00:04:10,909 guess what buddy: you’re wrong. 79 00:04:10,909 --> 00:04:14,859 The Thai government also funded the development of a taste-testing robot to deploy abroad 80 00:04:14,859 --> 00:04:19,480 named e-Delicious—which can detect the authenticity of a dish’s flavor, smell, and presentation, 81 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:23,470 and then deliver a score, with any dish under 80 being deemed below the government’s standards. 82 00:04:23,470 --> 00:04:28,300 So, the next time you’re served an underwhelming plate of pad thai, don’t just ask for the 83 00:04:28,300 --> 00:04:30,110 manager—ask for the prime minister. 84 00:04:30,110 --> 00:04:35,150 So, as you might know, people typically prefer spending less money rather than more. 85 00:04:35,150 --> 00:04:38,910 That’s why, if you’ve ever even considered signing up for Nebula, if you’ve ever stayed 86 00:04:38,910 --> 00:04:42,780 just a little longer watching these ads than you could have because it piqued your interest, 87 00:04:42,780 --> 00:04:46,140 now is the time to sign up. 88 00:04:46,140 --> 00:04:50,380 CuriosityStream is having a massive sale through 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