BANGKOK – The nine judges of Thailand’s Constitutional Court have agreed to try former Prime Minister Samak Sundarevej’s gaeng keo wan in order to determine if his green curry betrays the national cuisine.
“I have ordered Samak’s gaeng keo wan for lunch in the court chambers on October 20,” said the court’s secretary-general Paiboon Varahpaitoon. “I will invite the other eight judges to the trial and, if we agree it is mai aroi, we will ban Samak from cooking.”
There are only two verdicts possible in Thailand: aroi or mai aroi.
Analysts predict that even though Samak will have a whole month to prepare the curry, the judges will unanimously dislike it and declare it mai aroi.
“The tide is clearly against Samak now,” said legal expert Thanit Changthavorn. “Even if his recipe is authentic and the gaeng keo wan is actually ‘aroi mak mak jing jing’, the judges will find fault. They can argue it is too salty or too sweet.”
PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang, who claims to have tried Samak’s recipe, said it is “a total corruption of Thai traditional recipes.”
Chulalongkorn political analyst Thitinan Phongsudhirak said that Samak may choose to flee the kitchen if he believes the court will be biased against his curry, but that the action would have its own risk. “If the green curry does not appear in court on October 20, the judges will be very hungry,” he said.
