BMA pushes ahead with campaign to provide cheap meals

BANGKOK, 16 September 2014 (NNT) - More restaurants in the capital have expressed their interest in joining the campaign to provide inexpensive meals and drinks to Bangkok residents.

The campaign which is a joint collaboration between the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Ministry of Commerce has already attracted over 1,000 restaurants and food shop owners.

The ministry has been supplying vendors with cooking material at discounted prices in a bid to assist participating restaurants. Vendors have provided meals priced within the range of 25-35 baht. The campaign is to help ease the pressure of the ever-increasing living expenses of residents in Bangkok.

The ministry has instructed food shops to maintain proper food standard and the BMA is also urged to further publicize the project on more media platforms.

The project is set to eventually expand throughout the capital and reach distant provinces.

-- NNT 2014-09-16

One could almost get the impression that Populist governing is applied, but we all know that is a thing of the past, don't we ?

If the goal is to win hearts and minds, this is a good place to start. A true social service safety net may be out of the question at this stage in Thailand's societal evolution, but there are a number of creative and cost effective ways the edge could be taken off of survival for the relentlessly over-stressed lower rungs of the social ladder. I applaud this only if it is one component of a well monitored, comprehensive and pragmatic long term strategy.

"The ministry has been supplying vendors with cooking material at discounted prices in a bid to assist participating restaurants" - Subsidising eating in Bangkok "The project is set to eventually expand throughout the capital and reach distant provinces" - cheap rice in abundance in the distant provinces little money to dine out

Dunno about elsewhere, but the wife and I stopped by FortuneTown for some shopping over the weekend, and while there, visited the FT Food Court just next to the Tesco store there.

Was surprised to see that all the shops, and I mean, ALL, had their menu signs up with new price stickers covering the original menu prices...and pretty much there was nothing in the way of any meal dish less than 40 baht. And most of the entree menu items offered at any of the food court shops were in the 40 to 60 baht per dish range. That's a hefty increase from what the typical prices there have been in the past.

Perhaps not everyplace is getting the government's message about offering economy priced meals and returning happiness to the people.

The problem with cheap meals , anything containing any kind of meat ie ground pork, will consist of 90 per cent fat and skin, vile, it can taste good but I cannot get a lot of street food past my lips, I understand Thais don't give a damn, love Thai food and lucky for me the wife only will eat none fatty dishes which she cooks really well.

Having said that I applaud the effort to supply cheap meals to the working poor class, but he'll better to pay them more.

And why just Bangkok? I've noticed that my local Tesco in Pattaya has increased many food prices by 5 baht.