BANGKOK, April 18 — Thai teen rapper Danupha Kanateerakul’s gimmick of eating the famous Thai mango sticky rice on stage at the world-famous Coachella music festival in the United States over the weekend, has sparked a craze over the dessert in Thailand.
Danupha’s act deliberate or not inadvertently spurred interest on the Thai dessert with the Thai Cultural Promotion Department finding it fit to consider applying for its listing as Unesco intangible cultural heritage.
While praising Danupa’s ‘soft power’ feat, the Director-General of Cultural Promotion Department Chai Nakornchai in a statement said his department is collecting information and has plans to push for the dessert to be listed in the Unesco’s intangible cultural heritage list.
The hip-hop sensation, Danupha or better known as Milli, 19, grabbed the world’s attention when she performed at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California where she ended her act by eating mango sticky rice on stage.
Her performance was a big hit with hashtag #MILLILiveatCoachella trending on Twitter yesterday. She is the second Thai artist perform at Coachella after Blackpink’s Lalisa Manoban also performed at Coachella 2019.
Since then, there has been a surge in the sales of mango sticky rice back home. Vendors and shop owners were pleased as orders were pouring in.
Danupha first made headlines in July last year when Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha pressed defamation charges against her when she posted on social media slammed Prayuth for poor handling of Covid-19 outbreak. She admitted to the charge and paid 2,000 baht fine. — Bernama
