The story goes that Thailand had a serious scarcity of rice during World War II. Most ingredients were expensive and then Prime Minister Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram propagated the idea of a dish symbolising nationalism. Pad thai was created during the war as a recipe for survival. Rice noodles were borrowed from China and stir-fried with local ingredients. ‘Gway Teow Pad Thai’ was the original name given to pad thai. A Chinese word, ‘gway teow’ translates to rice noodles. ‘Pad’ refers to ‘fried’ and ‘Thai’ refers to ‘Thai -style’. The dish was mainly created to preserve rice resources in Thailand. Noodles were more economical to produce and had a longer shelf life. The amount of rice used in the production of noodles was half of what it would be if unprocessed rice was eaten. This doubled rice reserves in Thailand. The sauce used to make pad thai must have three essential taste components: saltiness, sweetness and sourness.
