02-07-2025
Will Bangkok's move to Singapore-style hawker centres kill the city's street food scene?
Will Bangkok's move to Singapore-style hawker centres kill the city's street food scene?
By CNA/Jack Board
For generations, street food sellers in Bangkok have created a unique culinary scene in the city.
In recent years, the local government has stepped up efforts to improve food safety standards and support lower-income citizens.
This includes allowing vendors to set up stalls only in designated areas and only Thai citizens on welfare are allowed to take on this work.
In the past two years, some 10,000 vendors have been removed from the streets.
But even without the new rules to "clean up" the street food scene, several vendors said that it has been increasingly difficult to make a living over the past few years.
And for some senior vendors, moving to a new centralised location just seems "unrealistic". 'I'm old so they (the authorities) let me stay here,' said Ms Ponthip Janjamsri, 60, who sells fried meat balls.
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