Why do Thais like to eat on the floor?

[Pattszero]

 

My BF didn't own a mattress until he was 23.

Yes, but ask him now to sleep on the floor, and I bet you he will not be able to close an eyelid all night.

 

 

In case Sustento does a flying angel off the bed onto him? 

[ableguy]

You cannot eat or wear furniture, wardrobes eg, who has enough clothes to need one, beds no room anyway,extended family eating together, where would a dozen or more chairs come from, when we visit my gf family the only place for me to sit is on a single bed that we bought her mum after she had a nasty fall to help her recuperate. Different continent different culture.

[zierf1]

It's an Asian thing.  People in Indonesia eat with their HANDS.  I don't know why.  They don't like forks or chopsticks?

[ravip]

Comfort for them to sit x legged....in ancient times after western chairs were adopted they had to be extra wide so they could sit cross legged and be comfortable....in Thai fashion.....

And today, things like these are been introduced

...and it took so long to find out!

 

Sometimes, it doesn't mean that one culture's habits are wrong or inferior - it is just that one is different to the other.

 

Edit

Typo

Edited August 14, 2014 by ravip

[ravip]

...cavemen ate on the floor....I guess it's an 'ancestor thing'.....culture is a hard thing to change

...and the ancestors using table & chairs came from???

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I avoid eating in rural areas with peasant families.

 

Problem solved.

[khaowong1]

I have never been comfortable eating on the floor.  Now at my age it hurts. 

[balo]

I try to avoid it , but then I used to be a Bangkokian and most middle class Thais there are using tables and sit on chairs, believe it or not...

 

[mutha289]

The reason behind it is certainly cultural, but my experience is that it is also somewhat dependent on if they are from the country or the city. Most of my wife's city family eat at the table, while most of the country family eat outdoors while sitting on top of a raised platform that resembles a large, though shorter than normal table. 

[EBlair48]

Serf mentality in a feudal culture, cannot be elevated.

[Gillyflower]

My hairdresser on Soi 7 in CM has become a friend over the years. I am always invited to New Year and Chinese New Year meals. Always on the floor and sometimes on the pavement in front of the Salon. I'm always being invited upstairs for breakfast or a snack. We eat at the table. I was invited last year to Big Sister's new house. Practically a mansion, but we ate on the lawn in front of the house. When Big Sister's son (I have known her for 13 years and I still call her Big Sister as my friend does)graduated from university, I was invited to the celebration. At this time they lived in the suburbs of CM. There were many people and I was the only farang. There were tables set up and no one ate on the ground. How to work it out. Nowadays me old knees won't just get down, so they give me a little stool. I just take it how it comes, it's thailand. It's only my legs that get rather shitty with it all.

[mrfaroukh]

It probably give more homely feeling.

[buhi]

It probably give more homely feeling.

Yes, I like that.

We are a Bangkok family and most days all the immediate family eat together, on the floor.

Thai can squat, do so from when they first walk. I cannot and have arthritis, probably due to not squatting in my boyhood, Thai can easily sit cross legged with feet pointing away.

Once my wife's younger sister admonished me because my feet were sideways, towards her. I explained that I cannot bend my left knee and she got a roasting for being rude.

I usually sit at the kitchen table when there or on the wooden bench, everyone knows why.

At our home we have beautiful traditional Chinese style furniture, and always sit at the round table, maximum of six, six chairs that is, but on special occasions here, it is on the floor for the younger family and table for us seniors.

I have the same problem at  the Wat, but can tuck both legs back on one side.

Once I was invited to a television event celebrating the King, boy was it hard staying still for hours of chanting on the floor, but I like my head attached to my neck!

Edited August 15, 2014 by buhi

[tifino]

last year, I was 2 strikes out of 3, for putting the food on the ground, food meant for offering to the Monk - because I thought I was doing the right thing in emptying my hands to wai him.

 

boy, did I cop it from her - losing face, and very bad luck.

 

Monk 3 weeks later finally mentioned he didn't mind, because I was still learning...

 

... but the wifey, still - hmmmpf   about it

[buhi]

In a way there is a sense of equality, sitting on the floor.

There is a strong family pecking order in Thailand, the patriarch is served first ,all sitting  together lessens this.

And once everyone gets to tuck in there is a free for all, help yourself, but under no circumstances hog all the best dishes; there is always plenty and it will be noticed what your preferences are and insisted that you have some more.

 

And this aspect of lowering yourself when someone of higher status is present is very important to Thai.

 

Not quite off topic, on another occasion I was close, too close in distance to the Princess Royal and a very stern officer commanded, farang get down!

[3NUMBAS]

its common to see a  house with heavy table and chairs that was hand made and never used because they like the floor

[JohnnyJazz]

I live in a middle / upper class class neighborhood in Bangkok, everybody eat at the table. Only the maids eat on the floor. I believe it's a cultural thing, some people should always be lower than others from superior class.

[enuff said]

.

 

Guys...  I'm willing to bet 80% of the world's population eats sitting on the floor.   No kidding.

 

And the majority of those eat with their hands.  Damn.  Read a book.

 

 

'nuff said

 

 

~

Edited August 15, 2014 by 'nuff said

[Jaggg88]

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.

 

 

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

 

 

~

 

 

Some old ppl still eat with hands here too - always the left hand because they wipe their ass with their right hand (the explanation I was given). In England ppl like to eat chips out of old newspaper because that's how it was when they were kids.

[Gillyflower]

I have friends in Morocco. When I go to their home, we eat at a low table and are seated on cushions. They eat quite often with their hands. They usually give me western implements because they know it's not in our customs and the husband is with westerners all the time. That's the way it is......

[khrab]

Oh and I forgot,

that is why we don't wear shoes indoors.

 

Walking into a Thai house with shoes on is like walking on your sofa and chairs in a Western home.

[khrab]

What is the Thai word for "furniture"?

 

Right, there is none because furniture is untraditionel. They just say "fönidschö"

[ravip]

 

To the OP

I have not read all the responses nor am I going to. BUT:-

 

You have been polluting this site, for what seems an eon, with your crap and you still cannot get a grip on the culture you have involved yourself in!

 

Get a life!

Mr Bdenner,

Thank you very much for your kind remarks.

In the future, in order to avoid any nauseating comments from me, I beg of you, go to your profile, click on Manage Ignore prefs and then add Costas 2008, in users I'm ignoring.

Please do not forget to save changes.

In the meantime, I will be doing the same for your username.

Have a happy life

 

[AYJAYDEE]

 

My BF didn't own a mattress until he was 23.

Yes, but ask him now to sleep on the floor, and I bet you he will not be able to close an eyelid all night.

 

my wife, mother in law and sisters in law can all sleep soundly on the floor with no problem

[Gecko123]

Because it's too hot to eat up on the roof?

[EmptyHead]

They don't want to feel like prats.

[IAMSOBAD]

That's where you catch more bugs. High protein without shopping.

[howerde]

No Thai other than peasants  from a village would sit on the ground to eat, just not done,  i have been going to Thailand for 30 years i haver never eaten on the floor or seen a Thai eat on the floor, most would just laugh and say, only rural people(peasants)  eat like this  .

Edited August 16, 2014 by howerde

[AYJAYDEE]

No Thai other than peasants  from a village would sit on the ground to eat, just not done,  i have been going to Thailand for 30 years i haver never eaten on the floor or seen a Thai eat on the floor, most would just laugh and say, only rural people(peasants)  eat like this  .

then you havent seen much. i have eaten on the floor with richer families from the big city than you and i will ever be

[pigeonjake]

at the end of the day what does it matter,?

 

i cant use chop sticks very well, but my wife its like extra fingers,

 

ive said on here many times we are all different, eat different food in different ways,

 

some of the threads on here, just go with the flow,