Bangkok street food vendors’ removal sparks debate about whether Thai capital’s food culture can survive
Loss of a signature feature of the city, ostensibly to clear footpaths for pedestrians, divides residents and visitors
The French have their cheeses and wines; the English have their fish and chips; the Germans have their sausages and beers, and the Thais have their street food – regularly cited in travel polls as the world’s best.
Thai junta’s crackdown on Bangkok street food intensifies with ban now taking effect across the entire city
There’s little wonder then that much debate was stirred up by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s announcement that it intended to purge the city’s streets of the popular delicacies.
All manner of stalls, makeshift carts and trolleys have long been a common sight on the pavements of Bangkok.
For a couple of US dollars, locals and tourists alike enjoy such food as kwea teow (noodles with fish balls), gai pad med mamooang (chicken with cashew nuts), neaua yang (strips of barbecued beef), and a host of other delicious dishes and snacks.
A post shared by Amine Lakhdari (@amine.lakhdari.33) on Sep 27, 2017 at 8:51am PDT
The April announcement, by Wanlop Suwandee, chief adviser to Bangkok’s governor, caught many by surprise. Wanlop said the local government was “working to get rid of stalls from all 50 districts of Bangkok” and “return the pavements to pedestrians” by the end of this year.
Rather than imposing an outright ban on the sale of food on the streets, however, the government says its intention is only to reorganise and regulate vendors to ensure higher quality and better hygiene.
