Exploring Thai Cuisine Through Language: Ingredients and Global Perceptions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1512.07Keywords:
frequent words, linguistic, social media, TasteAtlas, Thai foodAbstract
The study aims to identify types of food ingredients, frequent words, and key terms, as well as to explore global perceptions of Thai cuisine on social media. A total of 155 Thai dishes were collected from TasteAtlas, and KH Coder was employed to analyze linguistic data for high-frequency words and the co-occurrence network of key terms. Three linguistic strategies—English transliteration, translation with descriptors, and loanwords—are used to present Thai food names, ingredients, and descriptions. The words ‘sauce’, ‘garlic’, and ‘chili’ were found to be the most common ingredient-related terms, indicating the fundamental role of these items in Thai flavor profiles. Network analysis revealed key functional clusters, such as aromatic herbs and flavor-balancing agents. The terms ‘Thailand’, ‘traditional’, and ‘originate’ highlighted sensory details and the authenticity of Thai cuisine. Transliteration of ingredient names and culinary terms from the Thai language, as well as translation, helps disseminate Thai cuisine globally.
References
Baker, M. (2018). In other words: A coursebook on translation. Routledge.
Barlow, M. (2011). Corpus linguistics and theoretical linguistics. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 16(1), 3-44. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.16.1.02bar
Batra, D., Diwan, N., Upadhyay, U., Kalra, J. S., Sharma, T., Sharma, A. K., Khanna, D., Marwah, J. S., Kalathil, S., Singh, N., Tuwani, R., & Bagler, G. (2020). RecipeDB: A resource for exploring recipes. Database, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baaa077
Chatterjee, U., Kumar, V., & Madalli, D. P. (2016). Formalizing food ingredients for data analysis and knowledge organization. COLLNET Journal of Scientometrics and Information Management, 10(2), 289-309.
Cheng, E. M., Cheng, C. M., Choo, J., Yan, Y., & Carrasco, L. R. (2024). Biodiversity footprints of 151 popular dishes from around the world. Plos one, 19(2). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296492
Chotechuang, N. (2012). Taste active components in Thai foods: A review of Thai traditional seasonings. Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences S, 10. https://doi.org/10.4172/2155-9600.S10-004
Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213-238. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587951
Dash, N., & Selvaraj, A. (2018). History, features, and typology of language corpora. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7458-5
Eberhard, D. M., Simons, G. F., & Fenning, C. D. (2018). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (21st ed.). Sil International.
Enfield, N. J. (2013). Linguistic epidemiology: Semantics and grammar of language contact in mainland Southeast Asia. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203605196
Farr, F. (2008). Evaluating the use of corpus-based instruction in a language teacher education context: Perspectives from the users. Language Awareness, 17(1), 25-43. https://doi.org/10.2167/la414.0
Fried, D., Surdeanu, M., Kobourov, S., Hingle, M., & Bell, D. (2014, 27-30 Oct). Analyzing the language of food on social media. 2014 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data).
Government Public Relations Department. (2024). Government boosts global Thai cuisine appeal. Retrieved February 04, 2025, from https://thailand.prd.go.th/en/content/category/detail/id/52/iid/248768
Higuchi, K. (2016). A two‐step approach to quantitative content analysis: Kh coder tutorial using anne of green gables (part i). Ritsumeikan Social Sciences Review, 52(3), 77-91.
Jurafsky, D., Chahuneau, V., Routledge, B., & Smith, N. (2016). Linguistic markers of status in food culture: Bourdieu’s distinction in a menu corpus. Journal of Cultural Analytics, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.22148/16.007
Lai, M. Y., Khoo-Lattimore, C., & Wang, Y. (2019). Food and cuisine image in destination branding: Toward a conceptual model. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 19(2), 238-251. https://doi.org/10.1177/1467358417740763
Lindblom, T., & Mustonen, P. (2015). Culinary taste and the legitimate cuisines. British Food Journal, 117(2), 651-663. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-02-2014-0054
Low, P. (2018). Students’ needs and vocabulary development in English for specific purposes (ESP) course. Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics, 3(2), 151-161. https://doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v3i2.135
Low, P. (2019). Identifying specialized vocabulary in Thai food menus using computer-based approach. Journal of Advances in Information Technology, 91-94. https://doi.org/10.12720/jait.10.3.91-94
Low, P. (2021). Descriptive language of “Thai select premium” restaurant menus: Appealing perception and collocations [Journal Article]. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(4), 1669-1683. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.122
Low, P. (2023). The language and thainess of Thai food products on an e-commerce platform. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 13(12), 3126-3134. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1312.09
Low, P. (2025). An analysis of language use and food menu naming of Thai dishes on social media. Applied Research on English Language, 14(2), 159-182. https://doi.org/10.22108/are.2025.143820.2422
Lueangseree, P., & Phoocharoensil, S. (2023). Developing wordlist of western food: A corpus-based approach (Publication Number 314793) [Doctoral dissertation, Thammasat University].
M Nordin, N., Stapa, S., & Darus, S. (2013). Developing a specialized vocabulary word list in a composition culinary course through lecture notes. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 4(1), 78-88.
MacFadden, K., Barrett, K., & Horst, M. (2009). What's in a television word list? A corpus-informed investigation. Concordia Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 2, 78-98.
McEnery, T. (2019). Corpus linguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
Meluzzi, C., & Balsamo, S. (2021). The language of food and wine tourism on the web. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/10821
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524759
Nation, P. (2016). Making and using word lists for language learning and testing. John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.208
Pomat, N. (2024). Corpus-based word usage in social media marketing and e-commerce: Developing word lists and a proposedly designed teaching. Higher Education Studies, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v15n1p1
Popovski, G., Seljak, B. K., & Eftimov, T. (2019). Foodbase corpus: A new resource of annotated food entities. Database, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baz121
Putra, F. K. K., Putra, M. K., & Novianti, S. (2023). Taste of asean: Traditional food images from southeast asian countries. Journal of Ethnic Foods, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42779-023-00189-0
Royal Institute of Thailand. (1999). Lakken kan thot akson Thai pen akson Roman baep thai siang [Principles of romanization of Thai script by phonetic transcription]. Retrieved January 11, 2025, from https://www.orst.go.th/iwfm_table.asp?a=36&i=0040002104011001%2F63ERJ5814038
Rungrueang, T., Boonprasert, P., Poempongsajaroen, S., & Laosrirattanachai, P. (2022). Corpus-based approach to generate a word list for food service. Thaitesol journal, 35(1), 57-76.
Sadiku, M. N. O., Chukwu, U. C., & Sadiku, J. O. (2023). Food around the world. International Journal of Culture and Modernity, 27. https://doi.org/10.51699/ijcm.v27i.490
Siam Rat Blog. (2019). The remarkable history of the Portuguese in Thailand. Retrieved January 26, 2025, from https://siamrat.blog/2019/07/06/the-remarkable-history-of-the-portuguese-in-thailand/
Smalley, W. A. (1994). Linguistic diversity and national unity: Language ecology in Thailand. University of Chicago Press.
Sridhanyarat, K. (2017). The acquisition of L2 fricatives in Thai learners’ interlanguage. 3L: Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 23(1), 15-34. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2017-2301-02
TasteAtlas. (n.d.). About TasteAtlas. Retrieved December 15, 2025, from https://www.tasteatlas.com/about.
Tourism Authority of Thailand. (2024). “Amazing food festival 2024” elevates Thailand’s gastronomic tourism experiences. Retrieved February 02, 2025, from https://www.tatnews.org/2024/07/amazing-food-festival-2024-elevates-thailands-gastronomic-tourism-experiences/
Watanasin, R. (2012). Thai food: A gateway to cultural understanding. The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand, 4, 145-164.
West, M. (1953). A general service list of English words, with semantic frequencies and a supplementary word-list for the writing of popular science and technology. Longman.
Winichakul, T. (1997). Siam mapped: A history of the geo-body of a nation. University of Hawaii Press.
