Sriracha sauce is a crucial condiment in households like mine, for cooking and for spicing up takeout from Asian restaurants that have toned down their dishes for Americans who think salt and pepper are exotic spices. For sriracha, or "rooster sauce," we can thank David Tran, who founded Huy Fong foods in 1980 and became a sensation. But in the last decade, sriracha sauce has had its ups and downs. We recall the incident in 2013 when the big new sriracha factory overwhelmed the town of Irwindale, California. The town and the company went back and forth for years before working things out, which not only affected production, but caused a run on sriracha and a shortage. There have been other shortages since then, caused by rumors of shortages, weather conditions affecting jalapeño crops, and disputes with suppliers. Weird History Food gives us the story of sriracha and the lowdown on why it might taste different from the way it did years ago.
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