Central Thai Food Culture and Acculturation During World War ii and the Vietnam War

Abstract

As food has a substantial cultural and economic value, globalization and the Internet have posed challenges to traditional culture. As previous research on Thai food has focused on recipes and the consumption behavior of the royal family and upper-class Thai citizens, this study therefore aims to investigate the Thai food culture of ordinary Thais before the proliferation of a foreign food culture. Senior citizens from diverse socio-economic backgrounds in central Thailand who witnessed two major cultural encounters, specifically World War ii and the Vietnam War, were interviewed until full data was obtained. Content analysis within the guidelines of consumer behavior analysis was conducted. The findings confirm that central food culture has been passed down over generations and has become firmly established. Unless there has been convenient access to provincial centers, then, food from other regions has seldom been consumed. Also, before globalization, acculturation with foreign foods was barely noticeable. Overall, a key driver of this acculturation was so-called “food availability”.