The story of sriracha: how a hot sauce launched by refugee from Vietnam spawned a food empire
- Contrary to popular belief, Huy Fong’s sriracha is an American-made spicy sauce with Thai roots, invented by Chinese-Vietnamese refugee David Tran in 1980
- Tran began by delivering his product personally across California. Today his sauce business is worth US$80 million
When Sriracha fanatic Griffin Hammond first visited the Huy Fong Foods factory, where his beloved hot sauce is made, it took his breath away – literally.
“The smell inside the jalapeno grinding room was unbearable. I was wearing a mask but my eyes were watering, my nose was running. I could barely breathe,” the 34-year-old American filmmaker says.
More than 45 million kilograms (100 million pounds) of jalapenos are ground up each year to produce Huy Fong Foods’ legendary sriracha hot sauce, lauded for its spicy kick, vinegary tang and garlicky aftertaste. Recognised the world over for the white rooster on its label, this ubiquitous sauce, which first tantalised taste buds in 1980, has developed a cult following.
From fans getting tattoos of the bottle and personalising car number plates after it, to astronauts on the International Space Station taking it into orbit, never has there been a condiment with such a loyal fan base. Heat seekers are known to add it to almost any dish – drizzling it on pizza and sushi; mixing it into bowls of pasta or pho.
Easily spotted on the tables of Asian restaurants in the West, it is a common misconception that the “rooster sauce” – with its bottle covered in traditional Chinese characters and Vietnamese writing – is made in Asia. It’s also not produced by a Thai: the spicy sauce owes its success to soft-spoken Chinese-Vietnamese refugee David Tran.
“Americans don’t realise it is actually made in America. And that’s why I wanted to tell the story,” says Hammond, who went on a journey across two countries to make a documentary about the American-made hot sauce.
