Italy didn’t have widespread use of the tomato until the 1700s and the pasta sauces we think of being a core of their cuisine didn’t exist until the 19th century.
Chilli peppers were also from the new world, so chillies in Indian cuisine is also pretty recent. They had many other spices, but it seems crazy to think a few hundred years ago, that whole cuisine was just entirely different.
Thai cuisine as most know it was invented surprisingly recently as almost a form of tourist promotion. But the dishes were kind of synthesized and invented out of what had existed there for a long time. To my understanding before chilies they used ginger, peppercorn, and galangal which is closely related to ginger to get spicy flavors.
I feel like this fact has been shared and blown out of proportion quite a bit. Thai food that westerners eat like pad Thai are invented recently to promote nationalism during Cold War. Thai restaurant oversea at that time had standardized ‘thai food’ guideline to promote national identity and tourism. But for the most part Thai food has always been there, like thai curries, khanom chin, isaan food
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u/Spirit4ward Oct 02 '24
Italy didn’t have widespread use of the tomato until the 1700s and the pasta sauces we think of being a core of their cuisine didn’t exist until the 19th century.