Crossroads, No. 6: Elisa Macellari’s "Pad Kra Phrao" with Tomato-Carrot Salad
A Thai dish, dressed up the Italian way
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Crossroads is a column about cooking and eating at the crossroads of multiple cultures. We explore dishes created from immigrants’ resourcefulness and creativity as they create the foods of their homeland while having to make do with the ingredients they have available to them in their new environment. This isn’t “fusion cuisine” (as in, the kind of stuff that would be served at a restaurant or marketed to the masses), but rather, food that’s part of a quirky, in-between cuisine reflective of where they’re from and where they currently live—something rooted simultaneously in tradition and innovation.
Thai-Italian illustrator Elisa Macellari tells me that her Thai family is connected to Italy through “strange waves of destiny.” The brilliantly vibrant illustrations of her debut graphic biographical novel, “Papaya Salad,” recount the tale of her great-uncle, Sompong, whose journey to Italy from Thailand began the first chapter in their family’s multicultural journey. A student with a penchant for languages and a dream of seeing the world, Sompong finds himself serving with the Thai diplomatic corps in Italy during World War II, where he witnesses firsthand the rise of fascism and the reality of Asians living abroad in Europe at the time. Despite its setting in such a deadly and tumultuous time in Western history, “Papaya Salad” presents a deeply personal and humanistic slant through Sompong’s eyes as an observer (of a foreigner navigating a new land) grappling with the ever-changing state of the world and Thailand’s role in the war.
The tale ends with Sompong returning to Thailand with his wife—setting the stage for the family’s subsequent migration. His return to his homeland marks the beginning of a family history that spans generations across two different continents, wherein Thai and Italian cultures intertwine and influence each other in a really cool way. I won’t spoil too many details here—today’s dispatch is all about Elisa, after all! Still, “Papaya Salad” is a great read, whether or not graphic novels are your thing. You can find the link to purchase it on Amazon here. As much as I try to link to Bookshop whenever humanly possible (speaking of, go support independent bookstores!!!!), at the time of writing this post “Papaya Salad” looks to be out of stock there.
The story would, indeed, come full circle a couple decades after World War II when Elisa’s mother moved to Italy at the age of 23 to study Italian at the University for Foreigners of Perugia. There, she met and married her Italian husband; they remained in the area to raise their family, occasionally returning to Thailand with their children.
Elisa grew up in Perugia during the eighties, enjoying both Italian cuisine (courtesy of her father) and Thai cuisine (courtesy of her mother). “Both my parents used to cook,” she recalls. “My father’s good at what we call primi in Italian—pasta with every kind of sauce, tomato, bacon, asparagus, etc. Dinner was my mom’s duty.” While the university brought a sizable international crowd to the area, at the time it was difficult sourcing many of the fresh ingredients needed to make more traditional Thai fare. Even then, Elisa’s mother—despite not being the most skilled cook—was determined to maintain her tradition and cuisines, even in a foreign country. She managed to do just that, often dishing out pork ribs cooked down with garlic and sweet soy sauce and Thai omelettes (kai jiew) with Maggi sauce over hot rice. Most notably, Elisa recalls her mother’s take on pad kra phrao, an iconic Thai dish of ground meat stir-fried with chiles and holy basil over rice, often topped with a fried egg.
“We never called it by its Thai name, we referred to it as ‘minced meat,’” she explains. “[However, she] used lemon instead of [holy] basil. We do have basil in Italy, but it’s a summer plant and I remember her serving this dish during cold winters. My mom very much likes the acidity of lemon. And sometimes she added finely-cut parsley. In the end it was a different dish, but she served it with steamed rice so it ‘looked’ like the Thai one.”
Today, Elisa’s a freelance editorials illustrator in Milan (you might’ve seen her work for Eataly Milano Smeraldo or Cartoon Network to create her own artistic spin on The Powerpuff Girls), and takes every opportunity to explore her multicultural heritage through her work.
“I felt that something was missing, so I asked myself what [stories] I really wanted to tell. That was the moment I realized how rich my Thai-Italian roots are, and how there were interesting stories to tell from an ever-transforming and multicultural world,” she says. “[Now,] I use comics as a tool for talking about identity and food. ‘Papaya Salad’ was my first graphic novel, and is the story of my Thai family. Mealtimes are a perfect time to be together and share stories. The papaya salad is a dish that has all the flavors—salty, sweet, sour, hot—like the different moments of the main character’s life. Even through my art, my style aims to merge Western and Eastern features.”
Serves 2-3
“Pad kra phrao”
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, divided
1 pound ground pork
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon chili flakes
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Chopped parsley, for serving
Jasmine rice, for serving
In a skillet, heat up the olive oil over medium-high heat. Fry the garlic in the oil until it begins to turn golden-brown.
Add the ground pork and cook, breaking the meat down with the blunt end of a spatula as you go. When the meat is cooked all the way through, add the fish sauce and chili powder.
Remove the skillet from the heat and finish off with the lemon juice and some chopped parsley. Serve over jasmine rice and with a side of the carrot and tomato salad.
A very, very simple carrot and tomato salad
3 large carrots, peeled and shredded into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
A handful of Italian basil leaves, roughly chopped
Combine the carrots and tomatoes in a bowl and set aside.
In a separate small bowl, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Dress the carrots and tomatoes, and mix well. Sprinkle chopped basil leaves over the top and serve immediately.