Hi-tech sniffer, tongue to debut at ‘Street Food 4.0 Fair’

The technology – predicted to make Thai street fare even more world-famous – will be on display next month at a National Food Institute “Street Food 4.0 Fair”.
Yongwut Saowapruek, director of the institute under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, said the fair would be held in a public park by the King Rama VIII Bridge on dates in January still to be decided.
He noted that Thailand’s global reputation for appealing kerbside cuisine was most recently mentioned on CNN, which declared it the world’s best street food.
The fair will let the institute show off instruments bolstering the Thailand 4.0 effort to modernise the nation with the latest technology.
An electronic nose and tongue are able to certify dishes as genuinely Thai by their smell and taste.
“The institute has so far established standards for 13 dishes that can be certified as Thai food,” Yongwut said.
They are somtam (papaya salad), phad thai (noodles), kaprao moo (rice with pork), tom yam kung nam khon (spicy shrimp soup with coconut milk), tom yam kung nam sai (shrimp soup without coconut milk), mussaman kai (chicken curry), sateh kai (barbecued chicken on a skewer), laarb moo (northeastern spicy minced pork), tom kha kai (chicken soup with coconut and galangal), panaeg nua (curried beef), kaek khiew wan kai (spicy green chicken soup), tup tim krob (water chestnuts in coconut syrup) and khao niew mamuang nam dokmai (sweet sticky rice with barracuda mango).