Not “From Scratch”: Thai Food Systems and “Public Eating”

The goal of this paper is to explain Thai patterns of ‘public eating’—or the purchasing and consumption of prepared food in public places, namely: sidewalks, lanes and the growing number of indoor spaces such as educational institutions and offi ce/shopping complexes. This is done through a historically contextualised gender analysis. Remarkably few Thai urbanites cook meals at home regularly, especially ‘from scratch’. It is not absolutely necessary to prepare meals given the ubiquitous presence of inexpensive cooked food around the clock as well as semi-prepared food now available (Napat and Szanton, 1986 ; Tinker, 1987, 1997).