A Thai Food Revolution

Thailand is a foodie empire, but now there is a new food revolution going on.

When I first came to rural Thailand in 2005, the largest nearby grocery store was twelve miles away, and they had no dairy case and no frozen food case.  I could buy milk at a 7-Eleven in the same small city but even they had no frozen food.  Times have changed.

Now, there is a 7-Eleven in Chong Khae, my small village.  They are still the only store in town that sells milk, but about a year ago they started selling refrigerated easy meals* and even put in an upright freezer of frozen dinners.  The store has always had a microwave to nuke hot dogs and cold cuts, and they’ve always had dairy-case pizza, but these easy meal entrees are something new.  The hot dogs which are cut up and eaten with a wooden pick out of a plastic bag and the pizza with sauce sweetened to the Thai palate never tempted me.  But now I can get spaghetti with tomato sauce and (pork) meatballs or macaroni in carbonara sauce with ham, bacon and spinach.  These entrees aren’t gourmet eats, but they are passable.  And in a land where just about every Thai dish is rice and something made with eye watering hot peppers, I am happy to see and eat them.   

About 80% of these easy meals are still Thai dishes.  I’m not sure of the business sense in this as most 7-Elevens are on busy (sometimes even grid-locked) streets where there are food vendors ready to cook you cow pat (fried rice) from scratch.  Most Thai food can be prepared quickly and in as much time as it takes to nuke an easy meal, so I wonder what the advantage of standing in line at a check out is.    I’ve read that 7-Eleven is expanding some stores in Bangkok to provide a sit down eating area, but I’m still not sold that this is a money maker.

Ten years ago, rural Thais did not have refrigerators.  Instead the Thais used a cabinet or upside down basket to keep food safe from birds, cats, and dogs (but not spoilage).  Now most rural Thais have refrigerators and microwaves, so easy meals make sense.

You have always been able to get any kind of food in Bangkok and the larger Thai cities, but now it is beginning to be possible to eat western food no matter where you are in Thailand.

*Easy Meal seems to be the trademark of S&P – a national, upscale fast food restaurant.  I’m using easy meal here as a general term.

What is in my refrigerator as I write this.

7-Eleven products:

7 Fresh                          Chicken steak burger

7 Fresh                           Spaghetti with pork balls and grilled bacon

Easy Choice                  Chicken spaghetti with tomato sauce.

S&P/ Easy Meal             Macaroni with  white sauce and bacon

 

Simplot                            Bag of mixed frozen vegetables

Forrest Greenwood is a novelist and poet.  He keeps a poetry blog at www.Forrestgreenwood.blogspot.com