Blackpink’s Lisa prompts Thai mango salad craze

Lisa posted the photo for her 95 million Instagram followers with the caption: “Mango salad straight from Thailand.”

Although the photo was only available for 24 hours on Instagram, it created a trend in Thailand. On food apps, mango salad sold out almost immediately all over the country.

Lisa posts a photo of Thai mango salad on her Instagram story. Photo courtesy of Instagram/lalalalisa_m

At a papaya salad store in Bangkok, a vendor told daily Thai national newspaper Khaosod that the salad become extremely popular after Lisa posted about it online. Vendors are now preparing more mango, papaya, fermented fish and tomatoes for a continuing increase in demand.

Sri Sukjai, 45, owner of the store, said she was busy preparing more ingredients for the salad because whatever Lisa touches quickly becomes famous. She added that when a customer orders the mango salad, she asks if they want the original recipe or Lisa’s, and most customers choose Lisa’s.

Mango salad or som tam mamuang is a traditional dish of Thai people.

There are many variations of the dish but the basic ingredients almost always include green mango, dried shrimp, garlic, chili, peanuts, fish sauce, tamarind sauce, lime juice, sugar and coriander. The green mango is thinly chopped or grated into slender strips and mixed with the cooked dried shrimps and other ingredients in a mortar. It is then sprinkled with peanuts and coriander for decoration.

Lisa’s version also had tomato and carrot. The dish can be easily recreated at home as the ingredients are simple and not hard to find.

Blackpink’s member Lisa. Photo courtesy of Lisa

Lisa’s real name is Lalisa Manobal. She was born in Thailand. The 26-year-old rapper is the only non-Korean member of K-Pop sensation Blackpink, one of the most famous girl groups in the world at the moment.

Blackpink is currently on their “Born Pink” world tour. Their next stop will be Vietnam where they will play two concerts in Hanoi on July 29 and 30 at My Dinh National Stadium.