Pad Thai, formerly called ‘fried noodles’, originated during World War II. Field Marshall P. Phibunsongkhram, the prime minister of Thailand at the time, was promoting Thai nationalism; he attempted to initiate a national recipe. But rice was expensive at the time, so it was widely replaced with noodles. With a combination of local ingredients, a kind of fried noodles that tasted deliciously familiar was born and quickly became domestically popular. Thus, it has been called “Pad Thai” since.