We are a food-loving people and naturally associate foreigners with sweetmeats believed to come from their countries.

For instance we call Portuguese "Foy Thong", a favourite dessert brought to Siam by Marie Gimard, a Japanese-Portuguese cook who settled in Ayutthaya in the 17th century.

Gimard based the recipe on a dish served in fashionable convents of the day, and when we call someone "Foy Thong" we are in part giving thanks to her for sweetening our culinary history.

Streetwise can now reveal how one Singaporean ended up being called not Lod Chong Singapore but something else.

The exception is Bank of Ayudhya chief executive officer Tan Kong Khoon, who came to Thailand to take over the position in March.

At a shareholders' meeting just before Songkran, one of the shareholders rose to the microphone to comment on the difficulty of getting a Thai mouth round the newcomer's name. "I'll just call him Krong Krang," the shareholder quipped, referring to a traditional Thai caterpillar-shaped biscuit, which in view of our tendency to drop our Rs is a fair ringer for Tan's given name.

During a meeting with the press last week Tan had another pleasant surprise when a Thai reporter brought him some krong krang to taste.

He took a bite and smiled, but didn't say if he liked it.

Still, he didn't exactly say he'd prefer to be called Lod Chong Singapore either.

Jeerawat@nationgroup.com