American Foods

[SageYe]

ok;...\

will be heading off to Thailand in 4 days and I had a question about foods...Are there any american foods you cant really find in Thailand??I wanted to cook or bring foods for my host family (something hat you cant find inThailand alot...(I will be in Rayong Rayong)Also what would be good things to cook for them, something as american as possible...

so basically what foods do you miss, when you are in Thailand???

Thanks sage

[lovelomsak]

I have found that I can get just about everything I need in Bangkok at Siam Paragon food floor downstairs.

[gurnani]

you could check out foodbyphone and chefsxp websites for any kind of food or just roam in Siam area. Everything's available

[Jingthing]

You should mention what foods exactly you have in mind. No, you cannot get everything, and in the provinces, much less than everything. Then there is the cost factor. For example on my last trip, I brought back a bunch of parmesan cheese (for pasta). The same portion in the U.S., about 3.25 is 14 dollars in Thailand. Also peanut butter especially the better pure stuff is very expensive in Thailand. Just a few examples. I actually miss stuff like Progresso canned soups. I simply won't pay the Thailand prices for that, which isn't a tragedy as freshly cooked soup is better.

[NanaFoods]

A nice thought, but it could be misplaced - depending on your hosts.

Not many Thais appreciate foreign cuisine.

And if you plan on baking anything.... well, see last paragraph.

If they are well-traveled upper class folks, then your chances are better. Aside from that, American cuisine isn't exactly top of the list (other than KFC, hamburgers and hotdogs). Italian is the #1 foreign food in Thailand, last I heard. Mexican seems to be gaining in popularity.

That said, I don't know many Thais that would pass up some REAL chocolate. Thais do like their sweets. Real chocolate is quite expensive in Thailand. I live in the boondocks, and although most are not interested in foreign food, they never turn down a homemade chocolate chip cookie.

Keep in mind also, not many Thais even have an oven. Does your host family? If not, and you opt for cookies, you might want to bake them there and vacuum seal them to bring over.

Edit: afterthought....a box of Sees candies or similar might go over well... just got to prevent it from melting once you get here.

[Ulysses G.]

Not many Thais appreciate foreign cuisine.

I agree. Do not waste your time. However, if your host family is American, a few cans of corned beef hash or some real maple syrup might ne appreciated.

[JeffreyMcCollum]

Not many Thais appreciate foreign cuisine.

I agree. Do not waste your time. However, if your host family is American, a few cans of corned beef hash or some real maple syrup might ne appreciated.

I second that !

[snarky66]

You can get most of what you need in Pattaya at Foodland & Villa. Don't know where the nearest TOPS is but I use them for meat, fruit & vegetables.

Yes expensive.

Things like dill pickles you have to grab when you see them because the inventory is hit & miss.

Does lasagna count as American food? That is what I would like. Thai taste would be that is is made of pork instead of beef. Some Thai will not eat beef.

Tutti amici Italiano no hate mail please.

[snarky66]

Be good to ask jfchandler what he likes to bring back.

I would suggest buying a 5 pound bag of pecan nuts & throw in your suitcase.

They are hideously expensive here.

O yeah & one more thing , stock up on Ziplock HD freezer bags; the quart & gallon size.

Unavailable at any price here. Except by drugstore.com.

[bonobo]

I make my own BBQ sauce (used rarely when I don't use a rub), but I have found that most Thais like the flavor of the various jars of ready-made BBQ sauce. If you have a favorite high-quality one, bring that. Stick i on pork or chicken, and they will love it.

I have also found that they like pot roast with Lipton's Onion Soup on top (although many Thais won't eat beef, so you need to substitute a pork collar for the it.)

Hebrew National franks go over well.

For women, Crystal Light, the diet drink mix is very, very popular.

And while not my personal favorite, pork chops with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup is well-liked.

I bring back tons of food with me, but those are for my own tastes. As far as Thais go, the above are decent in my experience. However, instead of cooking, I would go along with those who recommend chocolate, but i would also suggest a bottle go Black Label or wine. You can carry two with you in your luggage, and for 95% of the men here, the Black Label will make you a friend for life.

[Jingthing]

I think American style lasagna would be a good thing to try. American style uses ricotta cheese so yes that's American, and you can get all the fixings in Thailand.

[Backwoods]

Twizzlers licorice, Hormel pepperoni, summer sausage, assortment bags of candies, canned ravioi, good hot salsa, three muskateers bars and milky ways, cans of cheese dip, etc

[jfchandler]

And while not my personal favorite, pork chops with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup is well-liked.

Ahh....that brings back memories, Bonobo... That dish was a staple with my parents and grandparents....and so of course I ended up learning to make it back in the U.S., and I actually very much like it....

However, once here, I tried it a few times for my Thai wife, and she had absolutely no interest in it.... even though of course it has lots of cooked rice..... She's more of a beef eater than a pork eater.... but I don't think that would have made any difference...

But it does speak more broadly to the point raised above: depending on their social status and past travel experience, a lot of Thais aren't especially interested in typical American foods.... Or if they are, even if they'll eat something, they won't necessarily go out of their way to choose it.

So I think the OP has broached two entirely separate issues here" 1) what kind of American things to bring or fix for a Thai family (which depends a lot on the particulars of that family). And 2) what kinds of food items that Americans typically use in food and cooking are hard to get here, or particularly overpriced.....

Your question really seemed to focus on the first one. So, I do think some variety of liquor is a good idea... And if your family happened to like wine (and a lot of Thais aren't accustomed to drinking wine), California wines and imported wines in general are tremendously overpriced here... So that would be a good and easy choice... But failing that, the JW suggestion above usually goes over well with Thais.

When I've brought gifts back from the U.S. for Thais in the past, I've often resorted to boxes of Sees candy, which I've never seen available in Thailand (though there are a lot of imported straight chocolates available here such as Lindt and others). But the Sees varieties are different, and I haven't quite found anything similar that's nearly as good here or even very similar. And, particularly if you pick the nuts or chews varieties, the Sees varieties do seem to hold up well to Thai heat.... unlike pure chocolate bars and such that will seriously melt.

While I was writing this, I thought about and asked my wife about the choc chip cookies idea mentioned above...and upon reflection, both consider that a non-starter. For me, I think about the shops I see when we go out to the malls and such, and they are TONs of cake type shops, but almost none selling cookies... When I broached the subject, my wife responded that cookies tend to be drier and harder, whereas the cakes are soft and more moist, which Thais prefer.

Beyond that, there are entire TV threads here on what thing Americans who live in Thailand bring back on their home country travels because they're unavailable or or very overpriced... And indeed, similar to what someone mentioned above, in terms of foodstuffs, on my past trip, it so happened I brought back some 8 oz cannisters of Kraft grated parmesan and romano cheeses (very expensive here) for use as a pastas topping, and some bottles of low-calorie but natural (no high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners) pancake syrup, among some other food stuffs...

But I will second the comment above about zip type freezer storage bags... Regular zip bags can be found around BKK at least in some of the farang oriented places, but the more heavy duty freezer bags I've rarely if ever seen here.

[WarpSpeed]

Fresh snow crab or King crab... Ummmmmmm...........

[Kilgore Trout]

Twizzlers licorice, Hormel pepperoni, summer sausage, assortment bags of candies, canned ravioi, good hot salsa, three muskateers bars and milky ways, cans of cheese dip, etc

Not to mention beef jerky (for those who like beef or the thai equivalent; nua daad deow.)

Not talking about slim jims but real jerky like from trader joe's or whole foods.

My wife loved it and she never eats beef.

[SausageKing]

Sausage King Company has a great range of americian foods that we manufacture like us style burgers-meatloaf-jimmy deen style patties -us style smoked ham-dry cure belly bacon and much more. www.sausageking1.com We can deliver to your door any where in thailand for a small fee. example Chiang Mai-Bangkok 350B and up to 15kg in weight for that price. Rob/sk