Sriracha Is Named After A Real Place In Thailand

Sriracha is a spicy chili sauce that has exploded in popularity over the past 20 years. It's a versatile condiment that can be used as a dipping sauce for shrimp cocktails, a marinade for chicken wings or ribs, a seasoning for noodle soups, or even as the base for some homemade spicy mayo. The seamless blend of spicy, tangy, sour, and sweet notes collide to make sriracha an oft sought-after taste enjoyed in dozens of countries. 

What many people may not know is that sriracha's origins trace back nearly a century to a Cantonese housewife's kitchen in Thailand. It started as a homemade sauce Thanom Chakkapak whipped up for her family when she cooked seafood. Her neighbors instantly fell in love with the sauce when she gave them a taste. And just like that, a new legacy was born.

Chakkapak and her relatives began bottling the sauce up and selling it in 1935. When it came time to christen her creation, Chakkapak dubbed it Sriraja Panich, an ode to the Si Racha coastal Thailand district that she and her family called home. The sauce garnered its name from there because the southeast Thailand province is also called Sri Racha. For almost 50 years, Chakkapak marketed her original recipe of thinly laced vinegar blended with aged peppers and red chili flake. She ultimately sold the company to international sauce manufacturer Thaitheparos in 1984. 

Sriracha has ascended to great heights from its humble beginnings on Thailand's gulf shores. In just the U.S., sales for the garlicky sauce skyrocketed 45% between 2007 and 2021. Much of that surge is attributed to millennial foodies with a blossoming interest in international and fusion dishes. It's a phenomenon that has made a noticeable imprint on the fast-food market over the past decade. Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Chick-fil-A, and Taco Bell have all dibbled and dabbled in the sriracha craze. Starbucks still has sriracha sauce for those who enjoy a little spice on their breakfast sandwiches, and Subway made creamy sriracha a permanent part of its menu in April.

Huy Fong is the company that's credited for propelling sriracha to the world stage (though Huy Fong sriracha fans have begun moving on in recent years thanks to a series of supply shortages). Vietnamese entrepreneur David Tran was big fan of the original recipe Chakkupak cooked up in Thailand. After his family came to the United States as refugees, he developed his own thicker version of the chili sauce and began selling it out of his van. He eventually opened a factory just outside Los Angeles and began producing his "rooster sauce." He grew the company into a multinational, billion-dollar staple known for the large rooster imprinted on Huy Fong's bright red bottles. 

So the next time you squeeze a few drops of sriracha onto your taco or over-easy eggs, just know you're reaching back in time and enjoying some culinary ingenuity from the other side of the globe.