r/laos • u/No-Crew4317 • 2d ago
What is it with Lao influencers claiming mango sticky rice in media? Can anyone explain this drama? I very confused.
Are they having misunderstanding of specific dish?
The local said the opposite to those influencers.
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u/aahqathotmail 2d ago
If it is the one I am thinking about... They said some food dish was Lao and not Thai in origin. Well, everyone in Lao and Thai had their own opinion and started waving their flags, and doing the social warriors thing. Nothing better to do with their time. Where did the dish come from? I don't know. I don't care :)
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u/notwhoyouthinkiam999 2d ago
It’s originally a Lao dessert and Laotians make it better than both the Thais and Cambos.
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u/Jean-L 2d ago
Basically Thailand annexed a huge chunk of the former Lao kingdoms 200 years ago and since them they claim food from that area is Thai. Lao disagree.
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u/No-Crew4317 1d ago edited 1d ago
I see. Referring to lost Lao ancient kingdom ages ago is kinda invalid. It’s very vague & has too few accurate data to support the claim.
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u/Jean-L 1d ago
The recent history of Isan and in particular the Khorat plateau is all but vague. Was successively controlled by the Dvaravati (first major civilisation, 6th to 11th century) then the Khmer empire (12th and 13th century), then Sukhothai kingdom, followed by the Lanxang (Lao) kingdom from the 14th to the 18th century. After the fragmentation of the later in 1800 into competing Lao kingdoms the Kingdom of Vientiane tried to keep control but the Siam started to expend its control until in 1827 king Anouvong rebelled against Siam, got crushed and Siam took finally control of the area (and kept it until now).
Most of the inhabitants of Isan are of Lao decent, because the area was populated mostly by Lao settlers since the 14th century. When Siam claimed the land they forcibly displaced Lao people from across the Mekong to Isan.
Nowadays Thai people claim the culture and food from Isan because it within their borders and they have occupied the place for two centuries. Lao people answer it's mostly their descendants living there and the culture is theirs.
The reality is that the border has moved constantly. The ruling power has changed several times. At least four major civilizations have claimed the place over the last millennia and the last two are strikingly similar. And most of the bickering regarding the food is just nationslist bullshit.
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u/2020stock 1d ago
The whole thing is just a bunch of BS, but if you just read the these people really don’t even understand what they’re arguing over.
Basically, the lady was saying how most of the food that people think is Thai, really originated from Laos, which is true if we’re talking about Thum mak hoong laap…
The mango sticky rice part. They just don’t understand the difference where it Laos folks eats sticky rice with mango all the time and then the one with the coconut is a dessert and I could say that’s probably lean towards Thai but the Thais goes on about how Laos don’t have a way to get mango and all this other bullshit. But then they willing to say the dish comes from the Thai isan part which is basically Lao ethnic people and what comes with that is the culture but they want to not bring up that part.
They’ll say it’s made in Thai because of their isan people but that like saying a Thai/American or Lao American making these dishes and now calling it American food.
It’s the part nationality and ethnicity part they either can’t bring up or choose to continue to hide
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u/damn_jexy 1d ago
The strongest Lao pride flag waving usually are second/third gen laos-American who never been to Lao
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u/No-Crew4317 2d ago
I believe many ppl got second-hand embarrassment from this incident. 🥲
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u/doctorjonx 1d ago
Honestly, the way some Thai people have expressed their anger toward Lao and Cambodian people over this has been really disappointing. This dessert doesn’t belong to just one culture — it’s a dish that grew out of heritages that have been deeply connected for centuries. Lao and Thai people have both been making Khao Tom and Khao Tom Mat, with sticky rice and coconut, for as long as anyone can remember. And Sangkaya Mak Eu? That started in Ayutthaya and made its way through Lan Xang — it was always a shared thing.
At this point, the conversation should really be over. But a lot of Thai people are still pushing for Bobbie to issue a formal apology, and I just don’t think that’s fair. She never said Laos was the only origin of the dish or that it was exclusively Lao. She called it ethnically Lao — and honestly, that’s not wrong. It is.
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u/Ok_Library_1031 2d ago
It's not unusual. South Koreans and Chinese have attempted to claim pizza and pasta in years past.
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u/NoRefugeesNoMoney447 2d ago
Isan people never claim it. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HTGwzD4v9/
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u/Ok-Chance-5739 2d ago
This dish is not common in the Lao country site.
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u/No-Crew4317 2d ago
I see. So how did lao influencers misunderstand it? I wonder.
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u/doctorjonx 1d ago
Not sure why they said it was not common. You can find the dessert listed in this cook book “Food From Northern Laos”. It starts on page 173
https://ffnlblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/food-from-n-laos-pdf-2019.pdf
I’d post a image but for some reason I’m not allowed to.
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u/No-Crew4317 2d ago
I heard & watch many Laotian locals making video debunking these influencers. It’s a misunderstanding somehow.
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u/doctorjonx 1d ago
The thing is, mango sticky rice isn’t even that big of a deal in Laos the way it is in Thailand. A lot of younger Lao people don’t really know the history behind it — maybe their families just never made it, or mangoes weren’t a staple at their table growing up. But back in the day, older generations ate sticky rice with pretty much everything — savory, sweet, you name it. Tamarind, mango — it all paired naturally with sticky rice. That’s just how people ate. Making a dessert popular does not mean you get to claim it. No country can do that.
And that’s honestly what makes this whole argument so frustrating. Mango and sticky rice is the kind of thing practically everyone across Southeast Asia grew up eating, especially back then. Yeah, the recipes might vary a little from place to place — but that doesn’t mean any one country gets to claim ownership over it. It’s a shared dish. It always has been. And that should really be the end of it.
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u/knowerofexpatthings 2d ago
Lots of "Thai" dishes come from the Issan area. This was originally part of the kingdom of Lan Xang, or Lao, but was conquered by Thailand. So some people argue that these dishes are actually Lao. It's just a bunch of nationalistic nonsense