From: ssg9328@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Samart Srijumnong)
Subject: Re: Thai Breakfast Foods
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 08:07:58 GMT

tstil@Auspex.COM (Tim Stilwell) writes:


>  Sawasdee Khrup Tuk Kon,

>  Simple question.  What do Thais eat for breakfast?  

I am not sure I can geralize my experience or not but I think MOST Thais
still eat rice for breakfast. I use the term MOST to refer to the majority
of Thais who are farmers and live in the countryside. Their breakfast is
like other meals. Its main element is rice.  

When I was young, during rice growing season, my parents woke up early. 
My father brought his favorite buffalo to plough the paddy plots. My mother
also woke up early to cook. Some of us, I meant me and other brothers or
sisters who were on school break and visited our parents' farm house, were
allowed to get up later. My father and few others who were employed to help
headed back home at about 8:00 am to have breakfast. His almost two hours
of hard work (from 6:00-8:00 am) made him hungry. Just a few pieces of
toast or "suny side up" eggs would not help! It must be a real big bowl of
rice with some Kap'Khaw". They went to resume their work again at about
9:00 am before took off of lunch time which was at about noon to 1:00 pm. 
They then went on working until dark. Their dinner was normally at 7:00 or
even 8:00 pm. Female members of the family did not have any work waiver. They
had to do shoulder to shoulder with men, only to take off few minutes ahead
to head home for cooking. 

I have a chance to live in urban area with educated people later in my life.
I have observed that many of them adopting western breakfast, with a boiling
egg, few toasts, and a cup of coffee. The children still eat rice, I believe.
Many of Bangkok kids have to eat their breakfast in their parents' car when
they are giving them the ride to schools. This may sound ridiculous, but it
is true. Otherwise, the parents and children alike cannot be in time for school
and work. The reason: Bangkok's traffic!

Before I left Chiangmai in 1988, I noticed that cereal package was on shelf
in many "supper markets" in that city. In Bangkok, it should have invaded 
many years earlier. 

Another typical breakfast for city people is Khaw"Raad"Kaeng- in the cafeteria
of their workplace or schools. I did that too. It was cheap and convenient.
Some time before 1988, our Faculty's Food Committee had regulated price at
the Faculty's cafeteria. A plate of rice topped by one or two kinds of 
Kap'Khaw" cost 5 baht. A customer-ordered plate cost 7 baht. Water cooler
with ice-water was provided though in some other places may cost 50
stang (1/2 baht) for a glass of ice-water. 

Khun Tim, next time when you visit Bangkok, head to any campus. You will
be sure to have good meals (including breakfast) with low cost. The reason
why your girl friend never offered you to stay overnight in her house may
not due much to the fact that she wakes up late and cannot offer you 
a breakfast but probably she cares about her reputation. Her parents,
at least, would not be so happy to see their daughter having such generosity! 
The best you can do is only try to find a cheap hotel nearby close to her 
house enough to convince her to go out with you early in the morning to 
get something to eat together for breakfast. 

Talking about breakfast reminds me of many times I had enjoyed eating Jok"
(glided-rice soup with pork, and a fresh egg instantly knocked into such
hot rice soup....Mmmmm...yummmmy). Also at Saam+Yaan" near Chula campus,
there were several vendors' cart offering birdnest soup which could also
be a good breakfast treat. I have heard they all were slashed as the new
commercial complex had erected. 

Thai and American breakfasts may be different but what they have in
common is that they have to compete with other activities people have 
to engage during the daylight time. People, Thais and Americans alike,
begin to give less time for breakfast. Breakfast is becoming instantly
prepared, and quickly eaten. We spend, however, more time for dinner 
which compared to breakfast, is less needed in both quality and 
quantity since we have few hours, if any, for digesting before going
to bed. No wonder, the more a country is industrialized (developed?),
the more its people are overweighted.