John Kane > wrote:

> I like the idea now that I know what Sriracha is. I had someone ask
> for it at a Chinese buffet and had no idea what she was talking about,
> she seemed to think it was Chinese. The chef said if it was, it didn't
> exist in Mandarin or Cantonese and that he didn't speak whatever
> dialect it came from.

Sriracha sauce is of the Thai origin, so it stands to reason that it
might be unknown to people from China. In China and other Asian
countries, there are chile-based sauces that are produced and named
according to the customs and languages of those countries. In Korea,
for example, the default hot sauce/paste would be gochu jang ("go chu" =
"chile pepper"; "jang" = sauce/paste).

Victor