In Home Of Original Sriracha Sauce, Thais Say Rooster Brand Is Nothing To Crow About
The Rooster brand, ubiquitous in the U.S., is now being exported to Thailand, where Sriracha was born. But many Thais who taste the U.S. version are not impressed. "I wanted to gag," says one.
Sriracha sauce. It's everywhere. Even beer and donuts. The fiery chili paste concocted by Vietnamese-American immigrant David Tran has conquered the American market and imagination in the past decade.
But the original Sriracha is actually Thai — and comes from the seaside city of Si Racha, where most residents haven't even heard of the U.S. brand, which is now being exported to Thailand.
I decided to go to the source to get the dirt on the sauce, and sat down with 71-year-old Saowanit Trikityanukul. Her grandmother was making Sriracha sauce when David Tran was still a baby, in what was then South Vietnam.
"If my grandmother was still alive today, she'd be 127 years old," Saowanit says, sitting in her garden
