<story><title>The Political History of Pad Thai</title><url>https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3007657/history-pad-thai-how-stir-fried-noodle-dish-was-invented-thai</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mc32</author><text>What’s interesting is that Thai food in some east Asian countries is considered fancy and the price reflects that while in North America most of them (but not all) are the affordable kind —that is on par with other non-fancy food joints.</text></item><item><author>zxexz</author><text>Thailand has successfully put a lot of effort in exporting cuisine.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s no wonder that Pad Thai and other Thai cuisine is ubiquitous in many countries, with the Thai government putting so much effort into &amp;#x27;gastrodiplomacy&amp;#x27; [0][1].  I&amp;#x27;m certainly not complaining!&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20130926085448&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;thailand.prd.go.th&amp;#x2F;view_news.php?id=5585&amp;amp;a=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20130926085448&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;thailand.p...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vice.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;paxadz&amp;#x2F;the-surprising-reason-that-there-are-so-many-thai-restaurants-in-america&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vice.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;paxadz&amp;#x2F;the-surprising-rea...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Thorentis</author><text>Interesting observation!&lt;p&gt;In Australia it is similar. Roughly speaking, the following cuisines have these types of price ranges:&lt;p&gt;Indian: $-$$
Chinese: $-$$$
Thai: $$
Japanese: $$-$$$
Italian: $-$$$$
French: $$$-$$$$
Local: $$-$$$$&lt;p&gt;It seems that Asian is fairly set on low-mid, while European can go higher and still do well. Same with Japense and Chinese. Italian has been so integrated into the local cuisine that you have very cheap to very fancy. French is rare so more expensive. Japense also rare, though sushi train type places are becoming more popular (though still on the pricer side).</text></comment>
<story><title>The Political History of Pad Thai</title><url>https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3007657/history-pad-thai-how-stir-fried-noodle-dish-was-invented-thai</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mc32</author><text>What’s interesting is that Thai food in some east Asian countries is considered fancy and the price reflects that while in North America most of them (but not all) are the affordable kind —that is on par with other non-fancy food joints.</text></item><item><author>zxexz</author><text>Thailand has successfully put a lot of effort in exporting cuisine.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s no wonder that Pad Thai and other Thai cuisine is ubiquitous in many countries, with the Thai government putting so much effort into &amp;#x27;gastrodiplomacy&amp;#x27; [0][1].  I&amp;#x27;m certainly not complaining!&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20130926085448&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;thailand.prd.go.th&amp;#x2F;view_news.php?id=5585&amp;amp;a=2&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20130926085448&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;thailand.p...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vice.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;paxadz&amp;#x2F;the-surprising-reason-that-there-are-so-many-thai-restaurants-in-america&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vice.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;paxadz&amp;#x2F;the-surprising-rea...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>n4r9</author><text>In the UK a Thai restaurant is typically at least semi-fancy, but you&amp;#x27;ll often be able to find a pad thai or thai red&amp;#x2F;green curry as an inexpensive option on a pub or cheap restaurant menu.&lt;p&gt;I went to Thailand a couple of a years ago and visited a restaurant in Bangkok that was supposed to have the best pad thai in the country. It was decent, but I&amp;#x27;ve had better in the UK. The best thing about the restaurant was that every table had a pot of peanut dust that you could add as liberally as you liked to your meal.</text></comment>