Bringing Sriracha Sauce to Si Racha, Thailand

VOA Correspondent Steve Herman pours Sriracha hot sauce onto a spoon for Aree Khajonrungruang to try in the Si Racha central food market. (Z. Aung/VOA)

There are various claimants to the title of the original "Sriracha" sauce, also spelled Si Racha after the Gulf of Thailand city. (Z. Aung/VOA)

Restaurant owner and cook Matcharee Kedpathum appears nonplussed after trying the American Sriracha sauce. (Z. Aung/VOA)

Despite its prominent Vietnamese and Chinese writing Huy Fong's Sriracha sauce is from the United States. (Z. Aung/VOA)

Si Racha municipal government officer and art director Booncherd Nilsonthi glances at a bottle of American-made "Sriracha sauce." (Z. Aung/VOA)

Food writer Wanvida Jiralertpaiboon tries the American Sriracha sauce. (Z. Aung/VOA)

The town of Si Racha, Thailand is well known for its seafood dipping sauces. (Z. Aung/VOA)

Nida Khajonrungruang, a purveyor of hot sauces in the Si Racha central food market, opines that the American sauce bearing the city's name is spicier and saltier than the local varieties. (Z. Aung/VOA)