Modern Thai chefs forge a fresh way forward

BANGKOK -- Anyone who thinks Thailand's menus are limited to pad Thai, the famous fried noodle dish, or to tom yum goong, the piquant prawn and lemongrass soup -- two of a dozen basic dishes fostered by a former government keen to standardize the cuisine as a tourist lure -- may be missing a brilliant redefinition of "modern" Thai cuisine.

This new culinary movement, spearheaded by both foreign and home-grown chefs, is especially noteworthy because it is going beyond the appetite for novelty among Bangkok's free-spending urban professionals. The city and country are fast becoming Asia's leading staging ground for earth-saving principles sweeping the culinary world -- espousing the embrace of a "kilometer zero" terroir to create a more deeply rooted food identity while helping to reduce climate-changing "carbon footprints."