Eating habits in Thailand

 

Food has a high priority in Thailand. It is part of lifestyle and has a large influence in social life (Gutter, 2004). It is already visible in the amount of food vending on the street, like food fairs, noodle-stands and vendors of snacks and fruit. In Thailand it is not unusual to eat fried insects and they will be sold on the streets as well. In the city it is common that people do not cook by themselves because of the many cheap and good food sold on the streets. The Thai people do not have standard eating times, they eat when they want to. In general they eat their dinner early, around six o’clock. The Thai people prefer to eat in groups. A principal meal mostly consists of rice with different toppings. In the city, most people eat with a fork and spoon. In the countryside most people only use their fingers and a spoon. There is less protocol in how they should eat. But speaking with your mouth full or licking your fingers is seen as impolite and there needs to be a balance between eating enough (the way of showing that you appreciate the food) and greediness (Cooper & Cooper, 1991).

 

The staple food in Thailand is rice and rice noodles. With this they eat a lot of vegetables and fish. Meat is less common to eat, but its’ popularity has increased now that the welfare of Thai people has gotten better. The Thai people cook very spicy dishes. Frequently used ingredients are coriander, lemon grass, fresh basil, lime, garlic, shrimps and coconut milk. Salt is added through fish sauce: a brown, liquid fish extract. ‘Ve-tsin’, a condiment that is known as E621 in the European Union, is sold on the market.  

 

The hygiene of the food sold on the Thai markets is not safe everywhere. An often used advice is to look at the amount of buyers: if a lot of people eat there, the food will be fresh and most probably safe. Also advised is to drink only bottled or boiled water (Gray and Ridout, 1998). 

 

Differences in food habits between cultures

There are some cultural differences because of different neighboring countries and immigrants. In western Thailand the influence of Burma is visible in the food and there are aromatic foods from the Indian cuisine, for example curry’s. In the south you’ll experience the influence of Malaysia and in Northeast Thailand it’s more common to eat khao niao (sticky rice) and use fresh herbs, than it is in other parts of the country. Chinese immigrants bring cultural differences among food as well, they use techniques as stir frying in the wok and steaming fish. They eat less spicy and use a lot of pork meat (Gutter, 2004).

 

Differences in food habits between regions

In the past there were a lot of differences between regions but with the coming of air conditioning and fridges in homes, many food products, for example seafood, can be eaten in the whole country. The Thai cuisine is a varied and influenced kitchen which has, depending on where in the country you live, different types of rice and different cooking techniques (Gutter, 2004).