When You Bring Your Thai Wife / Girlfriend To Your Home Country To Live...

[kunash]

My girlfriend will be coming to the UK in April for 3 weeks, then hopefully will setlle here later this year.

i am curious to hear from people who have brought their wifes to live in their home country. Does your wife mainly eat Thai food, or is she quite happy to tuck into a roast dinner, or lasagne, shepherds pie, etc ( i am talking UK food as an example ). my girlfriend like chilies with everything, but i hope she will like English cooking. i know Thai food is easy to prepare and i would like to have a mix of Thai / English, but i would hope my girlfriend will like to eat English food.

[Soutpeel]

Never had any problem with Mrs Soutpeel during our overseas visits, she will try anything once, howvever she does take Chilli and fish sauce with her just in case but these days Thai name brand stuff availible locally, same as Thailand so no problems there.

And I have found taking Mrs Soutpeel to a proper Thai restaurant (with Thai chefs) at least once a week certainly doesn go amiss as she generally gets talking to the chefs etc and they can generally make her anything she craves even if not on the menu.

[Orac]

My wife quickly took to western food when she lived in UK but did make me take her a Thai food shop in Sheffield every 3-4 weeks for supplies.

[garyh]

She will be much happier if she can get the food she is used to even if she does enjoy what you normally eat, think if you lived in Thailand would you eat just Thai food?

[Crossy]

Having lived in Italy, Belgium and the UK (briefly) my lovely is truly a international cooker and eater. She does however splodge a 1/4" of (very expensive) wholegrain mustard on her pork chops

That said, we ate Thai 2-3 times a week wherever we were living, the Thai shop in Leuven (Belgium) is very convenient for the Stella brewery (and its factory shop)

[Richb2004v2]

My wife adapted without difficulty. At the time it was difficult to find Thai ingredients but she just made variations on the traditional dishes. They were so nice she now makes them here in Thailand. After five years in the Uk we returned to Thailand. Within a couple of months she wanted to get out and back to the Uk. I had to convince her to stay.

[kunash]

She will be much happier if she can get the food she is used to even if she does enjoy what you normally eat, think if you lived in Thailand would you eat just Thai food?

i would be quite happy to eat thai home cooking in the UK, and go out to a thai restaurant once a week. but i would also like my girlfriend to enjoy good old english food.

and when i am in thailand i eat an english breakfast every day and one kfc a week. the rest is thai / chinese

[Soutpeel]

She will be much happier if she can get the food she is used to even if she does enjoy what you normally eat, think if you lived in Thailand would you eat just Thai food?

i would be quite happy to eat thai home cooking in the UK, and go out to a thai restaurant once a week. but i would also like my girlfriend to enjoy good old english food.

and when i am in thailand i eat an english breakfast every day and one kfc a week. the rest is thai / chinese

Didnt realise KFC was good old English food...

At the end of the day its up to your GF, she may eat it, she may not.....you dont know until you get there, forgive me, but this thread is starting sound like its about what you want her to do.... not what she wants... please tell me I am wrong but what happens if she doesnt like "good old english food" and wants to stick to strictly Thai ?

[robbo1]

My wife eats mainly thai food however she will eat good old aussie bbq and the famous mrs mac meat pie is another one she loves to eat but thai food is her main priority

[kunash]

She will be much happier if she can get the food she is used to even if she does enjoy what you normally eat, think if you lived in Thailand would you eat just Thai food?

i would be quite happy to eat thai home cooking in the UK, and go out to a thai restaurant once a week. but i would also like my girlfriend to enjoy good old english food.

and when i am in thailand i eat an english breakfast every day and one kfc a week. the rest is thai / chinese

Didnt realise KFC was good old English food...

At the end of the day its up to your GF, she may eat it, she may not.....you dont know until you get there, forgive me, but this thread is starting sound like its about what you want her to do.... not what she wants... please tell me I am wrong but what happens if she doesnt like "good old english food" and wants to stick to strictly Thai ?

no idea, it is up to her what she eats as you said, all i am asking is for people's experiences

[TheLaughingMan]

Only you know what kind of woman you are with. Some Thais absolutely cannot change and have a very closed mind, others are like us and willing to try and enjoy anything. Asking here is rather silly since youre the only one that knows her. Does she EVER eat falang food while in Thailand with you? If not, then she absolutely will hate living in and eating english food and youre totally kidding youself thinking she is suddenly going to change. If you see her enjoy some foreign dishes here then she should have no problem, really only you know this.

This is going to sound elitist but from my experience dirt poor farm hookers are rigidly stuck in their ways and well not enjoy foreign food ever, whereas middle and upper class Thais in Bangkok seem to enjoy food from all over the world. Like I said.... only you know this about her.

[robblok]

Just like some foreigners over here moan about their problems getting their foods so some Thais will moan about it. Its purely up to the individual. Some foreigners are content with what they can get others need to eat foreign food all the time. Same with that in the end you just have to make do with what you can get.

[kunash]

Does she EVER eat falang food while in Thailand with you?

well, i cooked her a spaghetti bolognaise once, she ate it, and loved it, but she did have to have some chillies with it

when she is in the UK in april, we will be going out for pub lunches, and eating out in London. and going to Toby, and harvester, and hotel meals and home cooked meals.

Edited March 5, 2011 by kunash

[jimbeam1]

She will be much happier if she can get the food she is used to even if she does enjoy what you normally eat, think if you lived in Thailand would you eat just Thai food?

i would be quite happy to eat thai home cooking in the UK, and go out to a thai restaurant once a week. but i would also like my girlfriend to enjoy good old english food.

and when i am in thailand i eat an english breakfast every day and one kfc a week. the rest is thai / chinese

Some Thais adapt easily and willingly to western food others don't. I have a friend. A french guy, his g/f will not eat western food. My g/f often asks me to prepare English/Western food. Suerly this should not be a problem?

jb1

[transam]

My mrs hated UK grub, went home slimmer. Saying that, she wasn't much impressed by UK Thai restaurant food either.

Totally up to the individuals pallet.

[Soutpeel]

Does she EVER eat falang food while in Thailand with you?

well, i cooked her a spaghetti bolognaise once, she ate it, and loved it, but she did have to have some chillies with it

when she is in the UK in april, we will be going out for pub lunches, and eating out in London. and going to Toby, and harvester, and hotel meals and home cooked meals.

Get her to take the small packets of chilli powder and small packets of fish sauce when eating out and if she needs to spice things up in the food she can put it in the food.....no big deal

[kunash]

Does she EVER eat falang food while in Thailand with you?

well, i cooked her a spaghetti bolognaise once, she ate it, and loved it, but she did have to have some chillies with it

when she is in the UK in april, we will be going out for pub lunches, and eating out in London. and going to Toby, and harvester, and hotel meals and home cooked meals.

Get her to take the small packets of chilli powder and small packets of fish sauce when eating out and if she needs to spice things up in the food she can put it in the food.....no big deal

good idea, will do that

[David006]

Sort of niggling how so many responders talk about our Thai ladies like they are pet poodles or something!! ( oooh my snookems does not eat anything but prime rib!..lol)

No really... my wife ate just french fries and packet noodles in Canada for the first week...then she took to cooking for herself and copying some of "mum's" cooking with a bit of added spice.(my poor old dad took the red chillies for tomato slices with predictable and spectacular results) biggest issue was finding things like fresh kaffir lime,fresh chillies and curry pastes.....and the horrendous price one pays for such things as mangosteens ..we get so spoiled here...Hard to find good Thai restaurants unless, as some posters say, they are family run by real Thais not Chinese.

Wife's usual words on coming home from anyplace including Malaysia is...cannot stay ..nearly die ...

She is not from up north but a definite taste/need for "blow your head off" Isaan food. She cannot eat Indian food at all, likes spagetti bol a la Thailand the way I cook it and even roast pork with some lemon grass......

Could she live in UK or Europe without Thai food..think not... her sis is in Germany ...to whom we have to send all those things other posters have mentioned...chillies, curry pastes etc..think she has adapted to euro food though ...judging by her "new" figure..lol

[mstribling]

She's not a child. If she gets hungry she'll eat. When we travel my wife just eats mama, eggs, and canned fish. I never worry about it. It's her deal not mine.

If it's a big worry, test fire her at some UK joints in BKK.

[Wallaby]

Mine took to it like a duck to water. Every couple of days on the way home from work I'd get the call.....'chicken and chips please'. She was also partial to the long creamed donuts, and my specialty, steak eggs and chips,

After about a month she would have a feed of rice before dinner then get into the western food. I couldn't believe someone so small could eat so much. So beware, if she does like western food then be prepared for her to stack on the kilos.

[Forethat]

Even though we live in Thailand I've taken the missus on numerous business trips in Asia and Europe. She can't stand bland food. Anything European and she can't eat it. I've seen her come close to throw up a couple of times. Never complains and always tries new stuff, but she finds most of it uneatable.

[RAZZELL]

Does she EVER eat falang food while in Thailand with you?

well, i cooked her a spaghetti bolognaise once, she ate it, and loved it, but she did have to have some chillies with it

when she is in the UK in april, we will be going out for pub lunches, and eating out in London. and going to Toby, and harvester, and hotel meals and home cooked meals.

She's in for a real treat!

IMHO she'll eat anything but prefer Thai food.

Get yourself down to Wing Yip!

RAZZ

[craigt3365]

Why don't you take her to a local restaurant serving British food? You order something like fish and chips and have her order a meat pie? See how she likes it.

My wife has traveled all over, and lived in the US for 5 years. She cooks all kinds of different foods. But still won't eat most types of fast foods, sandwiches, hamburgers, cheese, fish and chips, etc. She loves pasta, but mainly when it has seafood in it! And sushi is hard to pass up....even for breakfast! She loves visiting Japan for their breakfasts.

[whybother]

When I take my gf to Aus, the first thing she makes me do is to take her to a supermarket to buy food for her. That is easy, since being in central Melbourne there is plenty of Asian (it doesn't always have to be Thai) food available. There are even a few local Asian grocery stores. She is OK having western food, but needs a hit of her own food occasionally, not just for the chilli, but for the flavour.

A friend of mine took his gf to Aus, but in outer Melbourne. There is less Asian food around, and she barely eats western food in Thailand. She didn't enjoy it at all.

Don't expect your gf to eat western breakfasts. And make sure you have plenty of snacks (savoury, not sweet) available, because your gf will be hungry every 2-3 hours.

[gkinbkk]

My Thai wife cooks a better roast dinner than my mum used to make, boy can she can cook a mean leg of lamb

When we were in Aus we all used to eat Thai food once or twice a week but for the most part it was western food, all cooked by the Mrs. Even back here in Bangkok its about 50/50 western and Thai

Just yesterday we were debating whether the better fish and chip shop was Ocean Foods in Drummoyne or Great North Rd Fish and Chips in Five Dock and she was adamant the Great North one was better because they did a superb grilled fish and Greek salad so not only did she like to eat the local food she also became somewhat of an expert in it.....idolises Neil Perry and still cooks out of his cook book....swears by the Angel Hair Pasta and Blue Swimmer crab at Dicks in Balmain, spent time eating her way through the restaurants in Crows Nest, loved winter sunday afternoons in Newtown drinking coffee with a Sticky Date pudding....in general assimilated very well, had 2 Thai friends in Sydney and didnt care for any more, enjoyed a cold gold KB on the hill at Newtown Jets home games......the good old days!

The only thing is after 18 months in Sydney she is still trying to shed the extra kilos from all those Doner Kebabs!

[Richb2004v2]

Are you sure you want to take her outside Thailand? I've often heard people say they don't want to take them to their home country because it might spoil them. I think they mean it might change them.

[craigt3365]

Are you sure you want to take her outside Thailand? I've often heard people say they don't want to take them to their home country because it might spoil them. I think they mean it might change them.

I've heard that before. But in my case, it has been fantastic. She now speaks great English, understands slang and "off beat" humor, cooks Italian, Korean, Mexican, etc. Knows the streets aren't paved with gold in American/Europe (has seen lots of real poverty during her travels). Understands how beautiful Thailand really is compared to many other countries (Nicaragua, Albania, etc). Etc. I've not noticed any downsides....yet!

[Richb2004v2]

Are you sure you want to take her outside Thailand? I've often heard people say they don't want to take them to their home country because it might spoil them. I think they mean it might change them.

I've heard that before. But in my case, it has been fantastic. She now speaks great English, understands slang and "off beat" humor, cooks Italian, Korean, Mexican, etc. Knows the streets aren't paved with gold in American/Europe (has seen lots of real poverty during her travels). Understands how beautiful Thailand really is compared to many other countries (Nicaragua, Albania, etc). Etc. I've not noticed any downsides....yet!

I agree. My wife benefited hugely from her years in the Uk and she loved it.

[Digitalbanana]

good old English food...

Surely an oxymoron in itself. As an expat Brit the thing I least miss from UK is the food.

[bangkokburning]

my girlfriend cracks me up. day in out she eats loads more western food than me. milk and bi products even bread. When we go backpacking she will get cranky for . . . . food. i tell to her FORGET It eat what is here and better luck tomorrow.

so at home its milk and bread in myanmar or indo its gotta be spicy or smelly or whatever.

not a thai thing a woman thing.

shes gonna love trek nepal

Edited March 19, 2011 by bangkokburning