Thai netizens were shocked when one of their favourite dishes, Kaeng Som, was ranked 12th in the "100 Worst Rated Dishes in the World" list for February 2023 by online food guide TasteAtlas.
The dish, described by TasteAtlas as a "sour, water-based Thai curry that is typically prepared with fish or shrimps and a thick paste" received a score of 2.3 on a scale of 1–5.
Thais questioned how TasteAtlas rated the food which, according to them, looks and tastes really good. Some said Kaeng Som was a household dish and even better than the highly popular Tom Yum Kung and Pad Thai.
Some foreigners who tasted Kaeng Som joined in the criticism and described the ranking as an insult.
Previously, TasteAtlas was criticised by both Thais and foreigners when it released the TasteAtlas Awards 2022 list of "Best Cuisines in the World" in which the United States was placed ahead of Thailand.
In the list, the US was placed 8th on the list with a score of 4.51 while Thailand came 30th on the list with a score of 4.16.
The UK was placed 29th with a score of 4.18.
"Wait! UK food was better than Thai? Better than Lebanese food?" one social media user remarked.
Thai food came after Japanese (4th), Indian (5th), Chinese (11th), Korean (19th), Vietnamese (20), Filipino (23) and Iranian (24).
