Thailand serves spicy recipe for Unesco Cultural Heritage 2021 list
Tom Yam Kung will compete for a place on the Unesco world cultural heritage menu after the Cabinet decided to serve up the spicy soup as Thailand’s candidate this year.
The shrimp soup – flavoured with galangal, lemongrass, chilli, lime leaves, fish sauce and sugar – was proposed for recognition by the Culture Ministry at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.
Tom Yam Kung will now compete to join Khon and traditional Thai massage as Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Khon dance form based on the Ramakien epic was included as world heritage in 2018 while Thai massage made the list in 2019. Unesco is currently considering Nora, the traditional southern dance form, and the Songkran water festival for inclusion as intangible heritage of humanity.
Culture Minister Itthiphol Kunplome explained Tom Yam Kung was a national dish famous around the globe, but it also reflected the simple lifestyle of agricultural communities living along central Thailand’s richly fertile rivers and canals.
Proposing Tom Yam Kung as global heritage will be a proud moment for Thais while also boosting awareness among foreigners of the abundant variety of Thai food, he added.
It will also create opportunities for the Thai food business, creating jobs and income for producers including shrimp farmers and herb growers, as well as exporters and Thai restaurant operators both here and abroad, Itthiphol said.
