What do people in Thailand eat in a day?
Thai people eat rice at almost every meal, from jok porridge in the morning to a one plate lunch and a dinner of several shared dishes, with street snacks in between.
Typical dishes and their calories
Breakfast
Breakfast starts early, often at a street stall before 7:00. Jok, a smooth rice porridge with minced pork, ginger and a soft egg, and khao tom, rice soup with whole grains, are the classics. Office workers grab moo ping, grilled pork skewers with a bag of sticky rice, about 420 kcal, or patongko, small fried dough sticks, with warm soy milk or coffee.
Lunch
Lunch, around 12:00, is usually a one plate meal eaten fast: khao man gai, poached chicken on rice cooked in chicken fat, about 600 kcal, pad kaphrao, minced pork stir fried with holy basil and a fried egg on rice, or a bowl of noodle soup. Pad Thai, stir fried rice noodles with egg, tofu and shrimp, is about 700 kcal a plate.
Dinner
Dinner, around 18:00 or 19:00, is shared. Everyone has a plate of rice and several dishes arrive at once: a curry, a stir fry, a soup, a salad and a chilli dip, eaten with a spoon in the right hand and a fork in the left to push food onto it. Green curry with rice is about 700 kcal. In the north and northeast, sticky rice is eaten by hand.
Starters
A Thai meal has no starter course, everything comes together. Snacks that look like starters are eaten any time: satay, grilled chicken skewers with peanut sauce, about 400 kcal for five, tod man pla fish cakes, and miang kham, a leaf wrapped around lime, ginger, shallot, peanuts and dried shrimp. Tom yum, a hot and sour shrimp soup, is about 150 kcal a bowl.
Desserts
Thai sweets, khanom, are sold all day at markets rather than served after dinner, which usually ends with fruit. Mango sticky rice, sweet sticky rice with coconut milk and ripe mango, is the best known, at its best in mango season from April to June, around 450 kcal a plate. Many others are made from coconut, pandan, palm sugar and mung beans.
Drinks
Cha yen, Thai iced tea, is strong black tea with sweetened condensed milk over ice, about 250 kcal a glass, and oliang is the iced coffee version. Fresh coconut water is sold straight from the shell. Beer like Singha, Chang and Leo is the usual drink with dinner, often poured over ice to keep it cold in the heat.
Street food
For many people street food is everyday food, from carts and stalls open before dawn and late into the night. Som tam, green papaya salad pounded with chilli, lime and fish sauce, is about 120 kcal a plate and comes from Isan in the northeast. Boat noodles, gai yang grilled chicken and roti with banana are easy to find in Bangkok's Yaowarat and on most busy streets.
Normal there, odd elsewhere
People add sugar, fish sauce, chilli flakes and chillies in vinegar to their noodle soup from the condiment set on every table. Green mango is dipped in a mix of sugar, salt and chilli. A common greeting is kin khao reu yang, have you eaten rice yet, and a ham and cheese toastie from 7-Eleven is a normal snack for locals too.