Why do Thais like to eat on the floor?

[Mosha]

Eating on the floor means you don't have to stand up when you drop the spoon on the floor.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Mosha

[slipperylobster]

Just a cultural thing.  In Asia, from time remembered, people sat on the floor.  Japan still does (in traditional restaurants, and at the home).   It probably is a "cozy" thing for them...nostalgic.

 

In Western Countries...it is much different.  But....we still see movies where picnics take place on a blanket in a farm field. Much the same...if you look at it like that.  Just cute and comfortable for them.  In restaurants...they mainly use tables....!  Don't let it confuse you to much. 

 

Just cultural, mainly.   And perhaps the desire to "lay back and chill".....like our picnic cloth and basket.

 

 

[Costas2008]

Good answers, Thank you.

One thing that I can't understand is that in Thai culture, you are not allowed to point your feet at somebody else.

But sitting down, everybody is very near to somebody else's feet.

Also not a very nice site to look at another's feet while you are eating.

[AYJAYDEE]

Good answers, Thank you.

One thing that I can't understand is that in Thai culture, you are not allowed to point your feet at somebody else.

But sitting down, everybody is very near to somebody else's feet.

Also not a very nice site to look at another's feet while you are eating.

the feet are pointed behind them or are under them and nearness has nothing to do with it.

[bannork]

We have plenty of chairs but none are ever 'vacant', the wife always puts clothes, clutter, whatever on them!

lol

[96tehtarp]

Eating on the floor is more fun once you have stretched your tendons appropriately and no longer experience pins and needles and numbness in your limbs. It's more social and easier when eating communally from several dishes at the same time.

[willyumiii]

After 3 years of eating on the floor at my house, I bought a nice table and chairs and now insist we eat there.

 

I got sick and tired of people constantly kicking over and breaking my beer glasses!

[attachment=279032:images (1).jpg]

Edited August 14, 2014 by willyumiii

[geronimo]

They eat on the floor for two reasons,

 

first, their parents did (they had no table) and second the floor is a clean, flat surface suitable for sitting cross legged and eating a meal.

[geronimo]

Oh and I forgot,

that is why we don't wear shoes indoors.

[WitawatWatawit]

There's more of a communal feel to sitting around on the floor, close together and sharing the food. You don't get quite the same "bonding" (if I can call it that) when you sit around a table. Don't drink wine while sitting on the floor, though. Some bugger always kicks over the bottle or glass, and usually it's me shifting about all the time.

On the plus side, if you do drink wine, you do not have as far to fall


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

I do not drink falling down water.

My apologies. I was only referring to my own personal experience



Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

I was joking. Sadly, these days I can no longer enjoy your kind of "experience".

[eddie61]

Notice how Thais get comfortable in restaurants by sitting cross legged on the restaurant chairs. Its just habit.........

[abhaya]

I think you might as well ask why westerners sit in in chairs and tables- possibly because their floors are too dirty to sit on? Thais keep their floors immaculately clean (at least the ones I know) and because you take your shoes off you don't track dirt into the house. I like sitting on the floor because it is easier to lie down after having a good meal than a chair.

 

[jerrybuice]

My dad and his Thai wife bought her parents a set of chairs a while back. They went over to visit and the chairs were neatly stacked together over in the corner. They pulled one out so that my dad could have a seat.

I've often bought grilled chicken and sticky rice and visited my monk and novice friends at the temple in Bangkapi. We always would enjoy sitting on the floor and eating together. After a few visits they knew to always have a pillow ready for me to sit on. My ankle skin is very thin and I seen that their ankle skin is thick as leather! Seeing they have been sitting like that all their lives. Have you also wondered why the heads of all the school children, novices and monks are flat on the back? Because they have always slept on a hard wood or concrete floor.   

 

[recom273]

Another observation, I have a leather 3 seat sofa and an arm chair / white walls in my house. Yet, despite my offers of 'come and sit down' to the wives friends (BF or husbands usually) they will always choose to sit on the floor with their back up against my white walls, blocking the way to the kitchen or garden.

 

When I tell them again to take a seat, I get that silly hand wave and a 'mai bpen rai' .. Yeah, for you maybe, you don't paint the walls bro'

 

We used to eat on the floor for 3 years or so, a dining table was last on the list .. I never seemed to eat as much when my stomach was 'hunched up', I much prefer sitting on a chair to allow my food to 'go down'

[socksy01]

Maybe the same reason as to why they sleep on the floor often despite having a bed, or ironing on a towel on the
floor despite having an ironing board where the height can be adjusted for sitting or standing. TAFS springs to mind.

[socksy01]

It's not easy sitting cross-legged on a chair.

Not unless you're a local in KFC, Sizzler etc

[Keesters]

 

Why do Thais like to eat on the floor?

 

'Cause it's a lot easier than off the ceiling. 

 

[Saan]

I know lots of Westerners who choose to eat on the ground - they go on picnics.

[bra]

.

 

 

There are half a dozen restaurants in this medium sized town that have mats and low tables.  A couple are outside and the mats are on the ground.  They are quite popular.

 

Ever heard of JAPAN? 

 

You guys really don't get around much.  Guess what?  In Malaysia, they eat with their HANDS while sitting on the floor.

 

'nuff said

 

 

~

 

I lived in Malaysia for 10 years and the only time I sat on the floor and used my right hand to eat was in the up country areas of Sarawak (long houses) and Sabah. In Peninsular Malaysia you only use your hand at banana leaf restaurants but they have tables and chairs. Other wise you use knives or spoons and forks like Thailand or chopsticks at Chinese/Korean/Japanese restaurants.

 

In Korea most restaurants have tables and chairs or you sit on the floor but eat from a raised table - not the floor.

 

At my Thai in laws they eat from a raised platform on which they sit, but give me a chair, although it does feel uncomfortable sitting above everyone else.

 

But to answer the OP its traditional, especially upcountry. In BKK it has always been tables and chairs where I eat., including private homes. 

[Sparkles]

I sympathise wit the op as I too find it verydifficult to sit at floor level to eat due to football injuries my knees just lock up.Even worse was when we got married and the monks went on forever and I needed help to get get up which caused great mirth amongst onlookers.

 

My wife's family live in a rural situation and of course have squat toilets ,whoever invented those had a cruel streak.The family have now installed ,especially for me , a western toilet and while it is not connected to the water supply it was a nice thought !

[ggt]

It allows them to do a slow roll of their hips...hopefully unnoticed...so they can pass gas undetected...

[Kerryd]

I have a table and chairs where I normally eat. If that is where I put the food, that is where my friends eat as well. But if they have the choice they'll take the food to the coffee table in the living room, then sit on the floor with their backs against the couch.

I didn't grow up spending a lot of time with my knees bent or squatting so it is rather difficult nowadays to sit/squat like that for more than a couple of minutes. I end up kind of twisted with my feet pointing behind me while still trying to face "forwards". Awkward and uncomfortable to be sure.

 

During a trip to Laos a few years ago, I was having dinner with the g/f's family. They had one of those wide wooden "couches" in the living room (no padding or cushions). They served the meal on that though, so I could sit on the edge while the rest of them sat on it cross-legged. Worked out quite nicely even though the couch was only about a foot or so high.

 

The times they are a changing though. More people are getting used to using tables/chairs, sitter toilets instead of squatters, toilet paper instead of bum guns (despite the claims made in other threads). As the next generations become more "westernized", the customs of the current (and previous) generations will start to fade. One day kids in Isaan will be sitting at the table looking back at pictures of their grandparents, wondering why they had a bucket and bowl in the bathroom to shower with, why they had urinals that were flush with the floor and why they used a spoon and a fork instead of a fork and a knife.

 

It'll take a few generations to happen for sure. Remember that up until WW II it was still quite common (in some areas) for women to walk around topless (now they only do it in certain establishments, or so I'm told  ).

 

 

[glegolo]

I can only speak for Isaan where I live. But when thinking about it, I mean they PREFER sitting on the floor and do their stuff. I think I understand where they all are coming from in all that!!

 

Thais were taken way too quickly from a tribe-invironment, where they lived in huts out in the countryside, just like we did round stoneage.. And of course they sat on the ground doing everything. Just like the nortamerican indians, or natives from Borneo or the indians from the Amazonas. The culture in Thailand and Isaan have not yet caught up with sitting on chairs, nor sitting and using a normal toilet.....

 

So expect it to change as the new generations of thais grow up.....

 

Glegolo

[LOWH]

I'm a native Thai. I've never eat on the floor in my life. But I don't live in Issan, and my family live in big city. (Not Bangkok) So, maybe it's habit for some people. Still, I don't have any friends eating on the floor.

[umbanda]

If I was younger than 70 ...and a Thai speaker.....I will share the floor seating and Thai floor eating manners without any problem and with joy. I feel in shame everytime I cannot follow Thai traditions.....When my bones agreed and the food is not too spicy....floor eating it is my first choice. I live in Thailand, my new family is Thai.....and I am not just passing by....

Edited August 14, 2014 by umbanda

[smotherb]

where else would you eat?

[Saan]

 

 

The times they are a changing though. More people are getting used to using tables/chairs, sitter toilets instead of squatters, toilet paper instead of bum guns (despite the claims made in other threads).

 

I hope I never have to return to the dirty habit of using toilet paper again. Bum guns are a great, hygienic invention. If I ever had the misfortune of having to move from Thailand my bum gun will go with me.

[cardinalblue]

That is a gross generalization that they all have tables and chairs. At least in the isaan villages I have been to many do not have chairs and tables. What i did see as a constant is a bamboo platform underneath their house or in an adjacent covered area. Chairs are sporadic and usually of those cheap plastic types if present... 

 

I would say it is a money issue (also a comfortability issue and tradition) as they prefer not to spend money on what we westerners would see as a kitchen/dining room table with appropriate chairs...

 

They have other item priorities...

 

CB

[khunpa]

Normally, I lay on the sofa and watch TV while my girlfriend feeds me like a baby. 

[theguyfromanotherforum]

This is exactly the question I asked on "another forum".

 

Why does my gf prefer washing clothes by hands even though there is a brand new washing machine in the kitchen that she never used.

 

No, it is not about the cost of electricity.