BANGKOK — Tanks rolled in the streets of Bangkok once again as Thailand’s military launched an overnight coup to overthrow the reigning leaders of Thai food, Michelin-star chefs David Thompson and Henrik Yde-Andersen.
Shortly after midnight, the Army’s First Battalion sent two armored divisions into downtown Bangkok to surround the Metropolitan Hotel on Sathorn Road, where Thompson’s seat of power lies at Nahm Restaurant, and to the Kempinski Hotel on Rama I Road where Anderson runs his regime from Sra Bua. Both master chefs were abroad at the time, which may have contributed to the timing of the coup.
Guests of both hotels were told to remain calm as heavily armed soldiers secured the restaurants’ exits and kitchens, detaining the remaining staff and seizing mortars, pestles, and other key Thai-food making equipment. Additionally, terrestrial and cable TV stations were cut at 12:35AM and replaced with traditional patriotic footage of former prime minister Luang Pibunsongkram making “pad thai” in his kitchen.
Around 2:30AM a uniformed spokesperson announced on terrestrial TV that the Thai restaurants of Bangkok were now under the control of the Council for National Cuisine, or CNC, and that there was no reason to worry because all restaurants would be opened very soon. Furthermore, the CNC announced that all Thai food was now to be nationalized for the sake of unity and protection of the sacred cooking institution.
International coverage of the coup was quickly initiated by the food press, with both the US Food Network and Britain’s BBC Food devoting live coverage of events by their foreign correspondents in Bangkok. BBC Food was able to reach David Thompson at his apartment in London, and secured an interview in which the Thai food specialist declared the coup “illegal” and “against all known international restaurant conventions.”
Henrik Yde-Andersen had not made any public comment as of press time, but the PR firm for Kiin Kiin, Anderson’s parent restaurant brand, released a statement this morning condemning the “unilateral violation of a Michelin-star mandate” and appealed directly to the Thai people to “recognize the tyranny of their self-appointed cultural custodians” before it was too late.
Reaction in Bangkok, however, was generally positive. Common citizens greeted soldiers with bouquets of fragrant holy basil. Food writer Suthon Sukphisit, who had been openly calling for the overthrow of Nahm and Sra Bua, hailed the coup as “necessary and timely” and declared that Thailand would never again recognize the sovereignty of a foreign-awarded Michelin star in judging Thai food.
“Thompson spoke Thai but he was not really Thai,” Suthon said. “He made false promises about a revolution in Thai food, but in fact he was just lining his pockets from the profits from 400 baht pad phet kob na.”
However, loyalists to the Thompson-Anderson regime have vowed to fight against the exiles of their heroes.
“They showed us the way forward, with a balance of traditional royal recipes and new cooking techniques,” said chef Pongtawat Chalermkittichai. “There’s no going back.”
Any return to Thailand appears out of the question in the short term as both Thompson’s and Anderson’s visas have been revoked. Additionally, new CNC laws forbid the operation of Thai restaurants in Thailand by non-Thais, and highly restricts foreigners from funding, reviewing, or even blogging about Thai food.
Under the new “lese cuisine” laws, non-Thais are limited to praising Thai food for its exotic flavors and expressing simple-minded surprise at its unique combinations of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter flavors. They may not criticize it except to say it’s too spicy for their Western palates.
Many pro-Thompson expats are now under scrutiny for their associations with the deposed chef. Dylan Jones, who studied under Thompson in London, is rumored to be in hiding after soldiers occupied Bolan, the restaurant he runs with his Thai wife, Bo. After extensive questioning and signing a document pledging loyalty to the Thai-ness of Thai food, Bo was released and will be permitted to operate Bolan by herself.
Meanwhile American Jarrett Wrisley, who runs Soul Food Mahanakorn and who has been cited in the press making pro-Thompson statements, has been arrested and charged with endangering national security by offering a dish called “nam prik two ways”, when, according to a statement by the CNC, “everyone knows that it should be offered only one way: by a real Thai, not some food geek from Pennsylvania.”
