While Pad Thai is a staple dish at most Thai restaurants today, it would have never been possible without the Columbian Exchange. Pad Thai is a traditional stir-fry dish made with rice noodles, eggs, bean sprouts, chives, and some type of protein, like chicken or shrimp. The unique, spicy but earthy flavor comes from peanuts and chili peppers, two foods that actually originated in Central and South America. Peanuts come from the foothills of the Andes, in Bolivia and Peru, while chili peppers are first domesticated in Mexico in more than 6,500 years ago. These two plants traveled across the Atlantic to Europe and eventually found themselves as staples in most Southeast Asian dishes and meals (chilis are used in almost every single South, Southeast, and East Asian dish), as well as pineapples, papayas, and tomatoes. Most dishes that we consider traditional "Asian food" only came to be after the massive exchange of plants, animals, technology, (and disease) across the Atlantic in the 15th and 16th centuries.
You can clearly see the use of peanuts and chili peppers in this traditional Thai dish. The second and third pictures show peanuts being harvested in South and Southeast Asia.
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