Report from Bangkok Post dated 4 December 2011 :-
Turning our backs on the meals of time
A look at the dining schedules of past generations offers a healthier alternative to the current craze of ignoring breakfast and cramming in the calories in the evening
Thai people's thoughts about food and eating seem to be always changing.
There was a time when the accepted idea was that people should only eat a little food in the evening because they would be sleeping soon. The body needed to rest and the food would force it to keep working. Breakfast was also considered a minor meal; lunch was the important one. This way of thinking kept people from putting on too much weight and helped to prevent cholesterol and fat from clogging arteries.
EARLY EATS: A variety of breakfast foods popular in Bangkok.But it is not only the ideas about the timing of meals that has changed, but also the kinds of food that should be eaten. In the past there was a special group of dishes that had to be eaten for breakfast. Nowadays there are no such rules. The same food can be eaten for the morning meal or any other time of day.
One thing that Thais of the past would invariably have for breakfast was hot coffee, which most people drank together with cruller-like pathongko. Those who knew the body needs other kinds of food for strength might also have managed a soft-boiled egg.
Stalls or shops that sold coffee often also had a stand offering khanom khlok, a snack made by spooning batter made from coconut cream, rice flour, sugar and a little salt into moulds containing small, round, hemispherical holes, and cooking them over a fire until they became crisp on the outside with a soft inside. There might also be a stall that sold khanom khao nio with various toppings. This was steamed sticky rice mixed with coconut cream, salt and sugar and then given a sweet topping like sangkhaya (a coconut cream custard) or pounded dried fish mixed with sugar.
Besides the coffee and items like these that accompanied it, breakfast might also include jok, a thick rice porridge with seasoned minced pork, egg and shredded ginger mixed in. Other options were tom luead mu (a soup made with congealed pork blood and innards) and khao man kai (sliced boiled chicken meat set atop rice cooked in chicken broth).
In southern Thailand, breakfast was and remains an important meal. It might consist of khanom jeen nam ya pak tai (noodles made from fermented rice topped with a spicy sauce made from coconut cream, pureed fish and seasonings including turmeric) served with a variety of vegetables. Coffee is also required at breakfast time. In some southern provinces there are local specialities. In Songkhla, for example, there can be dim sum and pork bone soup. Breakfast in Trang might also include dim sum and grilled pork.
The most popular breakfast food in the North is khanom jeen nam ngio, thin, thread-like noodles covered with a clear soup made from pork bones and blood and a local flower.
Nowadays the breakfast foods eaten in Bangkok have changed from what they were in the past for several reasons. One of them is that, as the city grows, it takes people much longer to get to work. They may have to change buses more than once or, if they are driving, wait out traffic jams.
As a result, breakfast is often just a cup of coffee taken at work or whatever food is available nearby. Most of the time these offerings are easy-to-eat sandwiches sold ready-made and wrapped. Working people also go for fruit juice in the morning because they believe it is good for the health. Fruit juice vendors therefore like to set up shop near workplaces, where they display different kinds of fruit for customers to choose from. The juice is squeezed on the spot and put into plastic bags or cups for the buyer.
It isn't only adult breakfasts that have changed. The foods eaten in the morning by children before they go to school are also different from what they once were. In the past they would eat rice topped with a fried egg or pork fried with pepper and garlic, or maybe khao tom (rice soup) with pork or shrimp. But those dishes take time to cook and to eat, so now the children make do with a bowl of cereal. If there is not enough time to eat it at home, they can have their breakfast in the car on the way to school, since cereal comes in individual serving-sized boxes and milk in little cartons. All they need is a bowl and spoon.
Lunch for most people these days is a one-dish meal - noodles, jok, khao man kai, fried rice, khao mu daeng, or kui tio rad na (rice noodles topped with meat in gravy). Time for lunch is very limited, maybe an hour or so, so the preference is for food that can be eaten in a hurry. Even the evening meal is now often chosen with simplicity and speed in mind. People with jobs sometimes have to eat supper after a long and tiring trip home, so that as with lunch, a one-dish meal is the answer, perhaps khao tom, jok with pork, rice with tom luead mu, or kui tio rad na.
This is the current state of affairs at mealtimes for most people in Bangkok, dictated primarily by considerations of time and necessity.
Food value and health benefits are not much of a factor. But perhaps, with the public concern about the importance over what we eat growing, there will be at least a partial return to our eating habits of the past, and that would be a very good thing.