As said earlier I highly respect Thai culture.
Just not such a big fan of Thai food - but Thai food has inspired me in my own cooking at home to make some of my favourite easy one-pot dishes ever - like Pad Thai/Chow Mein (Chinese), Papay salad (without prawns) and fried rice.
If you do things sloppily for long enough it becomes part of the culture.
I should know as this also happens in Denmark and in danish culture.
You are really not open to other cultures (not only food wise) - you should try to not only look on everything from a western perspective
The problem is obviously not only too many western people going to asian and just having western expectations but also vice versa. And I have many Chinese friends who are quite open that in Asia especially Chinese people have often a quite narrow mindset of how western food should look and taste. The is a reason why so many Chinese tourists coming to Europe or US so often just eat in Chinese restaurants
That is not correct - I know a few western people who have now the Thai citizenship. There a few rules (not different than many other countries), like you have to live their for at least five years etc. but it is definitely possible to become Thai as a foreigner.
I think most cultures have this issue to some degree. My Italian godfather likes Italian food, some French food and steak. 
My response is that your over-cooked seafood-tainted ribeye IN A MICHELIN STARRED RESTAURANT should have been immediately sent back to the kitchen, as it should in any country or culture. Street food anywhere is “buyer beware”, while we have always found our choices to have been safe and delicious. But you pay in a Michelin starred restaurant for RELIABLE food. When it is not, it should not be excused or accepted as appropriate. If you were certain that your steak was prepared in a sullied pan, you might have written Michelin so they could re-examine their star designation.
Being open to other cultures still don’t have a hoot to do with sloppy behaviour in a professional kitchen setting.
You can talk all day long about other cultures and how western people don’t embrace other cultures, but sloppy unintentional mixing of flavours in different dishes have nothing to do with openness to other cultures.
I live in an area of Copenhagen with many different cultures mixed together.
I eat Turkish food one day, Chinese another day, Italian a third day - unintentionally mixing of food flavours from using the same pan/wok for all dishes has zero to do with openness to other cultures and all to do with amateurish sloppy behaviour in a professional kitchen
I like that 2015 French food map, UK just didn’t exist! LOL!
BTW, I think to complain is the national sport for the French. Their beloved food for many years, is couscous.
I was invited to the restaurant by local Thais.
Out of respect, I chose to not make a scene about it.
That’s cultural understanding for you right there 
For any cast iron or carbon steel cookware or even porous clay cookware, the best can be done is rinsing. Thoroughly washing with detergent is impossible. The other way to deal with this is to have one set of cookware for X and one set of cookware for Y. However, this can only go so far. For example, a wok that never see pork , and a wok that can be used for everything – this will gear to be friendly to Muslim patrons. Or a cast iron skillet only for vegetables, and a cast iron skillet for everything – this will be for vegetarian patrons…
However, the challenge is that it become impossible to have one cast iron skillet only for fish, and a second cast iron skillet only for pork, and a third cast iron skillet only for green veggie, and a fourth cast iron skillet only for fish…etc.
Yeah. I would also say any type of street foods in general though. For example, if I am at a Farmer market (in any US places I know) asking for a chicken sandwich from a Philly cheese steak stand, it is almost certainly to have trace of beef on my chicken sandwich on that large griddle.
Wow.
Keep it up, you’re really looking good and winning this argument /sarcasm/
Hi Claus. Definitely, not ganging up on you. I think you make a lot of good points. I am trying to say that sometime there are no easy solution. You are correct. If a street food stand is conscienctious about seafood allergy, then they should have one wok for everything, and another wok that never see/touch seafood, and it can be done as you have said. The challenge is that this is not the only permutation. It can also be a wok for everything, and another specialized wok that never touch pork (to make it friendly for Muslims customers). Or specialized wok that never touch meat (to make it vegetarian friendly). Or it can be a specialized wok that never see wheat or flour because of gluten friendly. From a street vendor perspective, I think two woks is the most they can do.
Now, if I am a Thai street vendor, then my guess is that I probably want the one wok for everything and one wok only see vegetables since Thai has a high population of Buddhism practitioners.
I think sloppy is not a good description. It is a matter of different expectation. I know plenty of Indians who complained about America foods are not clearly labeling vegetarian vs non-vegetarian option. Just yesterday, I was talking to my Indian coworker, and she said that she went to a restaurant where they accidently mixed up a piece of chicken in the burrito or something (it could have been taco) in a non-meat dish. The manager apologized, but then also explained to her and her friend that vegetable option is not really vegetarian option because the sauce is cooked with meat and lard.
In short, asking for vegetable topping/ingredients is not equal to true vegetarian option for that restaurant.
I love these maps. They are so funny.
You’re doubling down on your myopic view. Repeatedly asserting that everyone but you is “lazy” or “amateurish” says volumes more about your arrogance than it does about them.
Speaking only for myself some restaurants, particularly in Bangkok, will accommodate most dietary restrictions with a day notice. And their menus will say their cooking uses dairy, seafood, and eggs therefore they do not accommodate vegetarian or vegan request.
Mod note: Understood people have different POV in this discussion. Let’s not beat a dead horse, and if needed, let’s agree to disagree.
This thread was never made for me to win or lose an argument.
I posted my opinion, and no chef in the world with respect for his or her profession will argue against my point, which simply is that you always try your best to cook different types of dishes in different pans to avoid mixing all tastes together in one big messy confusion.
