Let’s slice open Sarasota’s latest food-crazed spectacle and see what festers inside.

Another “authentic” Thai restaurant—this one with a real chef from Thailand! The Sarasota Herald-Tribune wants applause. You’re supposed to line up, snap photos of larb and green curry, and feel entitled to the pride of ‘discovering’ culture through your fork.

Here’s a spoonful of reality to choke on: Sarasota isn’t celebrating Thai culture, it’s cannibalizing it. This isn’t culinary curiosity; it’s wealthy white Florida’s latest ritual of cultural costume play, dressed up as open-mindedness. The masses demand ‘exotic flavors’—but God forbid they actually grapple with what it means for a Thai chef to serve up her soul for American leisure, in a town that gets more excited about novelty than humanity.

Want to gush over ‘authentic’ food? Ask what’s sacrificed in the name of your authenticity fetish. Ask what it feels like to cook recipes born of struggle and spirituality, only to see them filtered, sweetened, and Instagrammed by people who’ll never bother learning your name—or how to pronounce it.

You want to taste ‘real’ Thailand? Then stop congratulating yourself for eating pad krapow like an adventurous hero while the same city votes down affordable housing and complains about immigrants. The hypocrisy is thicker than coconut milk: Sarasota hungers for “diverse” food without welcoming actual diversity in its neighborhoods, schools, or power structure. ‘Authentic’ food, yes… as long as the people serving it smile quietly and never expect a seat at the high table.

So before you worship this new Thai chef as some culinary prophet—before you post your glowing review—ask yourself: would you still celebrate this person if she opened a laundromat? Or is her culture only valuable when it bends to your appetite?

Eat the Thai food. Swallow the hypocrisy. But don’t pretend it’s respect.

This article was inspired by the headline: 'New restaurant opening in Sarasota with chef from Thailand serving authentic Thai dishes - Sarasota Herald-Tribune.'