When I first wrote about Sriracha, it was a sauce that most Indians had not heard of. Only those who travelled to America had tried it and knew that it had become a rage in that country. Its popularity had spread to all corners of the American market. Such chefs as Jean-Georges Vongerichten used it in their Michelin-starred restaurants, and it had become a staple of pantries among trendy people and chilli-heads, who claimed that a dash of Sriracha improved everything.

Over the years, the fame of Sriracha has spread to nearly every corner of the globe. It is to younger (middle-aged, even) people what Tabasco was to their parents’ generation: The most famous hot sauce in the world.

Because the term Sriracha is not copyrighted, local manufacturers soon started making their own versions and the sauce became so easily available that even at mid-market restaurants in India, you were as likely to get Sriracha as Tabasco.

Such was the global success of Sriracha that Huy Fong, the California-based company that made the sauce famous, was valued at $1 billion and the saga of Sriracha was cited again and again as a prime example of the American Dream.

But now, that dream, like so many others in America, has run into trouble.

Huy Fong’s valuation has plummeted. Its Sriracha is no longer the best-selling sauce of its kind in America. In fact, Huy Fong Sriracha has disappeared from many supermarket shelves. Where it is available, Sriracha devotees claim that it tastes different from the sauce they loved. Even the colour is wrong, they say.

I have written about the seemingly (but not really) irresistible rise of Sriracha before, so forgive me if you’ve heard some of this before. But it goes like this: A penniless young man called David Tran comes to America from Vietnam and launches Sriracha sauce. It is said that this is a popular sauce in Vietnam and Tran is trying to recreate the flavours he grew up on. The company name, Huy Fong, is the name of the freighter that brought him to America.

With its fiery mixture of chilli and garlic, the sauce catches on, first in so-called ethnic restaurants, and then crosses over to the mainstream market, where it becomes the hip alternative to Tabasco. Like ketchup, it is smeared on hot dogs, omelettes, hamburgers, sandwiches and more. Tabasco is left reeling by the onslaught and tries to compete by launching its own Sriracha sauce, but purists much prefer the Huy Fong original.

But wait! Is the Huy Fong sauce really the original?

I like the Huy Fong Sriracha as much as the next man. But I began to wonder about its origins. In 2017, I went to Thailand and drove from Bangkok to the town of Sriracha – yes there is an actual place with that name.

It seemed too much of a coincidence that a sauce called Sriracha had the same name as this small town. And sure enough I met many irate Thais who said that the sauce had been invented in their town.

I spoke to one of the last artisanal makers of the original Sriracha sauce and he was scathing about a) Tran’s claim that Sriracha was Vietnamese; b) the quality of the Huy Fong product; and c) the plagiarism involved. He claimed (but could not substantiate) that Tran had come on holiday to Pattaya (which is close to Sriracha) had tried the sauce and had then stolen it.

Over the years, American food writers who had glorified Tran’s inventiveness eventually came to accept that Sriracha was originally a Thai sauce and some even agreed that the many Thai originals (Sriracha is now bottled by several Thai companies) had more depth than the Huy Fong version, which had much more chilli.

Ah, the chillies!

In his glory days, Tran’s admirers had made much of the fact that his sauce was made from fresh chillies, while other hot sauces were made with dried chillies. But nobody had focused too much on where these fresh chillies actually came from.

Around four years ago, Huy Fong began warning customers that supplies of Sriracha would be restricted because of chilli shortages. As supplies dwindled, a grey market developed and prices of Sriracha on eBay reached $150 a bottle.

Nobody really knew what had caused the chilli shortage and explanations abounded. Perhaps it was to do with global warning. Perhaps the pandemic had disrupted supply. And so on.

It took a while for the real reason to reach public attention. It turned out that for 28 years, Huy Fong had bought its chillies not from hard-working peasant farmers in Vietnam, but from a Californian farmer called Craig Underwood, whose Underwood Ranches produced up to 45,000 tons of chillies to meet Huy Fong’s needs.

Underwood and Tran were friends but fell out over financial matters and took their battle to court. Unfortunately for Huy Fong, it lost the case and had to pay $23 million damages to Underwood. Worse still, in the aftermath of the case, it was clear that Huy Fong could no longer rely on chillies from Underwood.

Global warming or the pandemic had not caused the disruption in the supply of Sriracha. It was a battle over money.

Since then, a few things have happened.

One: Huy Fong has tried hard to find other sources of chilli. It has been partly successful and production has resumed, though at lower levels.

Two: You would think that Sriracha devotees would be grateful to have the product back on the shelves. Instead fans have complained about the colour and the taste of the post-Underwood Sriracha. And so-called experts on the subject have said that recent batches of the Huy Fong Sriracha differ substantially from the original flavour.

Three: This means that the billion dollar valuation that Huy Fong had secured has now collapsed. The company is now worth far less and its legend has been significantly diminished.

Four: Craig Underwood has not been idle. Recognising that his chilies were critical to the taste of the original Sriracha, he now makes his own version of Sriracha and sells it under his own brand. It’s doing well in the market.

Five: The winner in all this may be Tabasco. When Huy Fong pushed the original Tabasco sauce out of the market the makers of the legendary sauce hit back with their own Sriracha. At the time, people laughed at their attempts to mimic Tran’s success. But guess what? Tabasco Sriracha is now the market leader.

The story isn’t over. It is possible that Huy Fong will stabilise the quality of their product with new chilli suppliers. After all, Tran created the original by adding more chillies to a Thai sauce, so he must know a thing or two about chillies. And it can’t be that hard to find other chillies like the ones Underwood used to supply Huy Fong with.

On the other hand, it is also possible that Tran’s moment has passed. As the Huy Fong Sriracha has vanished from the shelves, its fans have found new sauces and have decided that they are just as good.

But one thing is clear. This battle will be decided in America by competing American manufacturers. The poor Thais who invented the sauce in the first place will still not get a look in.

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