In Love with Spice: Thailand’s Fiery Affair with Mala Hotpot

Even as Thai cuisine is making its mark worldwide, with many dishes earning titles like “world’s best”, local Thais, especially the younger generation, have developed a fondness for Sichuan cuisine’s hotpot, known as mala. The proliferation of mala hotpot restaurants has been nothing short of phenomenal, to the extent that enjoying a mala meal has become commonplace among the younger crowd.

“Mala hotpot” has also become a hot trend among restaurant entrepreneurs. Over a 12-day period – from August 31 to September 11 –  data from Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter show that 11 new mala restaurants opened in Bangkok alone, averaging almost one new restaurant per day.

The data on newly-opened mala restaurants have been collected by the social listening platform DXT360. The platform also found social media’s…