Street food in Bangkok - Khao San and Yaorarat "model" to herald major changes in capital's roadside dining

[webfact]

Street food in Bangkok - Khao San and Yaorarat "model" to herald major changes in capital's roadside dining

 

Picture: Daily News

 

BANGKOK: -- The Bangkok metropolitan authorities are teaming up with the Tourism and Sport Ministry in a major overhaul of street food provision in the capital.

 

Changes already in progress in Chinatown and Khao San are set to be repeated across the city especially in landmark tourist areas.

 

Apart from regulating exactly where traders can set up stalls according to convenience of traffic flow a swathe of other measures to improve hygiene and consumer confidence are expected to become the norm, reported Daily News.

 

There is also expected to be a total ban on immigrants from neighboring countries selling food after concerns over diseases entering Thailand.

 

Amnuay Nimmano, deputy governor of Bangkok met with other bigwigs at a meeting chaired by Tourism and Sports minister Kobkarn Watanavarangkul at ministry HQ yesterday.

 

The various parties decided to move forward together on street food.

 

It was decided that changes to street food provision in Yaowarat were going well with Khao San only a bit behind. Both areas should be used as models for changes in other areas.

 

Among the measures are moves to promote greater hygiene, cleanliness and convenience.

 

Traders will be required to wear gloves and hats.

 

There will be central plate washing sections in each area.

 

Proper waste disposal arrangements must be adhered to. This will help to stop the depositing of oil down drains that has caused many problems in the city's waterways.

 

All stallholders must be registered with the authorities.

 

Pricing boards must be clear on every stall. A barcode for customer complaints must be available.

 

In addition it was agreed that measures must be taken by the police to ensure that no foreigners are involved in providing street food.

 

Daily News said that it was illegal for foreigners from neighboring countries to work in the business.

 

The authorities hope by so doing that diseases not prevalent in Thailand are kept out. One such disease named was elephantitis.

 

The first major area where the scheme is expected to be expanded to in the short term is the seaside road area in Bang Khun Thian.

 

Source: Daily News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-05-09

[colinneil]

Traders will be required to wear gloves and hats

Yea yea yea, and how long will that last????

Easy answer 5 minutes.

[tonray]

What about the foreigners who sell thru Thai ladies they hire. I know a couple of baked good sellers that are just fronts for a Frenchman who bakes the stuff in his condo at night and pays them a wage to sell on the street. Actually pretty good stuff too.

[trogers]

Love that stretch of grated drain...so convenient for scrap food and gravy, and rats and roaches...

[Destiny1990]

Well its a plan and better regulations and safety and more space for pedestrians are welcome.

[nisakiman]

1 hour ago, Destiny1990 said:

Well its a plan and better regulations and safety and more space for pedestrians are welcome.

Indeed; and most certainly better than the stupidity of declaring that all street traders were to be cleared off the streets.

 

Yaowarat in particular is probably one of the finest street food markets in the world, and to destroy that would have been vandalism beyond comprehension.

 

Still, it seems the outcry following the proposal to clear street vendors hit home, thankfully, and brought them to their senses. The plan to police the hygiene and waste disposal is good news, and won't adversely affect the traders to any great degree. All the situation required was a bit of common sense, which as Voltaire said, is unfortunately not very common.

[wirat69]

Wear gloves for food preparation and still wear the same gloves to take the grubby bacteria infested money....!!!!!

[realenglish1]

"Daily News said that it was illegal for foreigners from neighboring countries to work in the business.

 

The authorities hope by so doing that diseases not prevalent in Thailand are kept out. One such disease named was elephantitis."

 

Total garbage Elephantiasis is usually caused by an infected mosquito carrying the parasite  They have absolutely no idea what they are talking about

 

and espow  what ever sounds good the the uneducated. Bottom line they do not want foreigners competing in the food industry because they fear

 

some will create too much serious competition  What a joke    

Edited May 9, 2017 by realenglish1

[farang2002]

3 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Well its a plan and better regulations and safety and more space for pedestrians are welcome.

If the government is so concerned about safety for pedestrians, the should begin by focusing on repairing broken sidewalks and the removal of impediments from them,  keeping motorbikes off sidewalks altogether, ( I don't know how many near-misses I've had with bikes over the years), and replacing the many missing access covers on sidewalks.  Street vendors are the least of my problems.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, realenglish1 said:

"Daily News said that it was illegal for foreigners from neighboring countries to work in the business.

 

The authorities hope by so doing that diseases not prevalent in Thailand are kept out. One such disease named was elephantitis."

 

Total garbage Elephantiasis is usually caused by an infected mosquito carrying the parasite  They have absolutely no idea what they are talking about

 

and espow  what ever sounds good the the uneducated. Bottom line they do not want foreigners competing in the food industry because they fear

 

some will create too much serious competition  What a joke    

Usual Thailand protectionism at work... foreigners are excluded from making a living.

[teatree]

3 hours ago, wirat69 said:

Wear gloves for food preparation and still wear the same gloves to take the grubby bacteria infested money....!!!!!

But at least they will probably have to take off their gloves to pick their nose.

[jaiyen]

Look at the stall nearest the camera...... the pavement is black around the stand and the gas bottle is hanging over the edge of the pavement !   And still there is no way you could walk on the pavement so they have taken 1 lane off the road for pedestrians ! So what has it achieved ??      Nothing much.  Like most of the big plans in Thailand.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

It would be a constructive move, but doomed to failure.

Nothing is ever enforced for more that a couple of weeks when they agree on the baksheesh.

Still, I hope the street food stalls can be improved and remain in business.

We will see what happens???

[jaiyenyen]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

Pricing boards must be clear on every stall.

Does this mean they have to clearly show the price difference between "Thai" price and "foreigner" price? Or will they finally be told to show one menu/one price.

[free123]

On 9.5.2017 at 3:18 PM, nisakiman said:

Indeed; and most certainly better than the stupidity of declaring that all street traders were to be cleared off the streets.

 

Yaowarat in particular is probably one of the finest street food markets in the world, and to destroy that would have been vandalism beyond comprehension.

 

Still, it seems the outcry following the proposal to clear street vendors hit home, thankfully, and brought them to their senses. The plan to police the hygiene and waste disposal is good news, and won't adversely affect the traders to any great degree. All the situation required was a bit of common sense, which as Voltaire said, is unfortunately not very common.

pom rak thai streetfood...period....

seldom get any shits from it....love the food the athmosphere the people....

[funandsuninbangkok]

Outdoor food courts with decent seating and bathrooms like Singapore and Malaysia. 

 

Put em in parks and empty lots with lighting. 

 

Nice to sit outside with a beer and some spicy food

[fruitman]

2 hours ago, funandsuninbangkok said:

Outdoor food courts with decent seating and bathrooms like Singapore and Malaysia. 

 

Put em in parks and empty lots with lighting. 

 

Nice to sit outside with a beer and some spicy food

In Chinatown there's a brand new esplanade along the riverside but it's not very busy there. It's very close to the new flowermarket.

Perfect to sit outside and wine/dine and you have a riverview there.

 

 

[ben2talk]

On 5/9/2017 at 9:48 AM, webfact said:

There is also expected to be a total ban on immigrants from neighboring countries selling food after concerns over diseases entering Thailand.

 

On 5/9/2017 at 9:48 AM, webfact said:

One such disease named was elephantitis.

 

Right, so we don't want foreigners to come here? We don't want foreigners to sell food here? because they might give us Elephantitis?

 

Do these people know how Elephantitis is spread?

Are these people aware that I've only even been infected with Thai food (from restaurants/cafe's).

 

On 5/9/2017 at 10:46 AM, tonray said:

What about the foreigners who sell thru Thai ladies they hire. I know a couple of baked good sellers that are just fronts for a Frenchman who bakes the stuff in his condo at night and pays them a wage to sell on the street. Actually pretty good stuff too.

Racists don't go that deep. They see an Indian selling Roti and say 'Look, dirty diseased packie, get him!' They don't even know where Pakistan is. They don't really care.

 

Again, this is very suspicious behaviour (despite the few 'reasonable' comments included...) carefully phrased to seem partially reasonable. Actually it simply goes against the grain of Thai culture (if restaurants are good, and clean, they generally thrive).

 

On 5/9/2017 at 9:48 AM, webfact said:

All stallholders must be registered with the authorities.

Right - with an appropriate fee. 

 

On 5/9/2017 at 10:15 AM, colinneil said:

Traders will be required to wear gloves and hats

Completely ridiculous. Hats are only ever considered necessary with long hair.  Are gloves necessary to keep their diseased hands from infecting the food?

 

How do they wash their dirty gloved hands whilst preparing food?

 

 

If we assume that there are some positive sentiments here - I agree that waste disposal needs upgrading. Perhaps the vendors will face a closing time of 23:00 and instead of a police Hilux, a trash collection service be sent instead.

 

Perhaps they should consider employing proper 'market inspectors'. It's difficult to imagine any system being possible where corruption couldn't rule the roost... 

 

Isn't it sad that these local communities couldn't be given a Local Council with decentralised power, control over their own local area (which could be given general guidelines rather than very specific and silly rules).

 

[ben2talk]

On 5/9/2017 at 5:13 PM, farang2002 said:

If the government is so concerned about safety for pedestrians, the should begin by focusing on repairing broken sidewalks and the removal of impediments from them,  keeping motorbikes off sidewalks altogether, ( I don't know how many near-misses I've had with bikes over the years), and replacing the many missing access covers on sidewalks.  Street vendors are the least of my problems.

I've frequently seen scooters using footpaths, generally when the traffic is locked up. I don't think any of them provided anything even close to 'near miss'.

 

The government has no interest in the safety of pedestrians. They only have an interest to be seen to be doing a few things which might be flagged up as 'reform' and 'positive' which is to be coupled with 'stifle any negative news with extreme measures'.

 

Altogether very shiny. Now, let's get back to re-writing history!

 

[realenglish1]

On 5/9/2017 at 4:41 PM, realenglish1 said:

"Daily News said that it was illegal for foreigners from neighboring countries to work in the business.

 

The authorities hope by so doing that diseases not prevalent in Thailand are kept out. One such disease named was elephantitis."

 

Total garbage Elephantiasis is usually caused by an infected mosquito carrying the parasite  They have absolutely no idea what they are talking about

 

and espow  what ever sounds good the the uneducated. Bottom line they do not want foreigners competing in the food industry because they fear

 

some will create too much serious competition  What a joke    

A follow up note The government does more harm then good bye creating false reasons then telling the truth Just say'" We are of the opinion that we desire to keep the  food industry Thai thereby not allowing foreigners to participate That is totally acceptable 

But no then have to come up with some bullshit excuse that has no basis in fact What a twisted way of thinking