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Food in Thailand

Eating in Thailand is very surprising and challenging for the spiritual Buddhist traveller. The influence of Buddhism is everywhere in Thailand. If you book a trip to Thailand to get acquainted with the local culture, you will taste the persuasion of different cultures that make Thailand fascinating. But you also experience the creativity of the Thai population through divine recipes. The food is diverse for each region. In the east, there is the influence of the Laotian agricultural people. These people still have an intertwining with the forests. In Bangkok, food has become urbanized. And on the islands and near the coast, the population eats fish and shellfish.

Buddhist food culture

Clearly, the food in Thailand is influenced by Buddhism. But not everyone adheres to the beliefs that apply within Buddhism in the same way. Bhikkus and Bhikkunis have stricter rules than lay Buddhists. Because Buddhists want to live according to the Ahimsa principle, killing an animal is undesirable. As a result, strict Buddhists are more often vegetarian.

But many practitioners apply the rules less rigorously than the regulations dictate. Such as the prescription about abstaining from goods that numb the mind like drugs or alcohol. For serious Buddhism practitioners, alcohol is often a no-go compared with lay Buddhist people. So, if you book a retreat in a monastery, keep in mind that there are rules regarding food and drink.

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Bhikkhu with almsbowl walking the streets of Bangkok Thailand

Thai bhikkhu with alms bowl

Fasting

On the contrary to laypeople, Bhikkus and Bhikkunis adhere to stricter rules. For it is customary for Bhikkus to fast from noon to six o’clock in the morning. A Buddhist monk will preferably not take food that comes from an animal. So the food used is normally really vegetarian. The Buddhist monks in Thailand are allowed to eat or drink dairy products. However, eating an egg is not allowed. Since the Bhikkhus live on alms in the form of food, the rules are not too strict. They sometimes eat given meat. It is also remarkable that monks do not take strongly pungent foods such as garlic, onions, chives, leeks and shallots. Because this food makes it difficult to meditate. Furthermore, the monks are not allowed to cook food themselves and food that is given after twelve o’clock must be given to the poor or the temple animals.

Food in Thailand to honour the animist gods

It is customary for the Thai people to pay tribute to deceased ancestors or to gods.
Doing so is part of animistic beliefs. Besides burning candles or giving flowers, it is a habit to share food with spirits. Virtually all buildings in Thailand have spirit houses. And here, for example, someone can leave rice or a bottle of lemonade. An important characteristic is that it is customary to give strawberry lemonade to spirits of gods or ancestors. For Buddhists, this is a form of making good merits. It’s a way of appeasing them.

Book a trip to Thailand and stay in a monastery.

There are fascinating locations in Thailand for your yoga retreat. But there are also beautiful authentic monasteries that are open to Western Buddhists. It is even possible to be part of a monastic community for a few days, a few weeks or a few months. However, the road to becoming Bhikkhu is a long road of several years. If you take the step to become Bhikkhu, you are in the regime of the monastery. Get up early, sometimes at three in the morning. During the day you receive alms and you eat at the required times. Monks fasting is somewhat similar to the popular intermittent fasting whereby the followers also eat only two meals in six hours. For instance only breakfast and lunch.

Food in Thailand and health

By the way, in Thailand, there is coherence between everything. This is because holistic thinking has a powerful influence on the people of Thailand. As a result, the body, people, mind and religion are closely intertwined. In Thailand, people prefer to use their own Traditional Thai Medicine (TTM). Albeit, to a lesser extent, there is the influence of Indian Ayurveda. Ayurveda is ancient teaching to improve the living conditions of sick people. But so is Traditional Thai Medicine. According to the holistic perspectives, there is a connection between blockages or negative energy accumulations and the food you consume. If you use healing Ayurveda herbs appropriate, your physical and spiritual presence restores more and more.

Thai Traditional Medicine and food in Thailand

So, for the Thai people, Thai Traditional Medicine works well. There are many similarities between Ayurveda and TTM. Undoubtedly, the teachings of Thai Traditional Medicine have been handed down to the Thai people by the deity Shivaga. Shivaga was also the personal physician of Siddharta Gautama the Buddha.

Another significant point is that Gautama did not disciple Shivaga. As he wanted Shivaga to remain a lay Buddhist. This way it would be better for Shivaga to focus on medical practices. In addition, according to the tradition, Shivaga travelled to Thailand several times. Shivaga and the transmission of medical knowledge and experience from generation to generation have shaped Thai Traditional Medicine. Because of this, traditional healers always pay tribute to Shivaga before treating anyone. This can be in the form of chanting a mantra or burning incense, called: Wai Khru. The homoeopathic healers also pay tribute to Phra Mae Thorani or Mother Earth when the healers gather the medicinal plants used.

Food in Thailand and Ayurveda

The god of medicine Shivaga is a gigantic mythological figure for Ayurveda. Besides, Ayurveda is the name people in India use for helping to recover from negative blockages in life. Sometimes these blockages manifest themselves on a physical and mental level in a sick person. However, body pain can be reduced through behavioural change, diet, or yoga. Doctor Shivaga developed this in India in the time of Gautama the Buddha about twenty-five hundred years ago. The ideas of Ayurveda and Thai Traditional Medicine are almost identical, but in Thailand, healers prefer their own Thai system.

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woman taking a healing ayurveda bath with green leaves and slices of fruit

Woman taking a healing Ayurveda bath

Combine travel with health and relaxation

If you want to combine travel and health, a visit to a yoga or wellness spa resort is certainly a contribution to your well-being. Think of participating in a spa or wellness centre. Where there is an offer of a stress-free breakfast or lunch. Obviously, much of the diet is based on a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. But why not choose to fast completely for several days? This allows you to discipline yourself by bringing your body back into balance with the help of a detox herbal tea. All by using healing herbs used in Ayurveda and Thai Traditional Medicine views.

Enjoy healthy food in Thailand

Thailand thus offers a range of options for spiritual travellers. So get yourself completely immersed in an entirely different culture during your vacation.
And if you want to know how food and the culture of food or spices have influenced life in Thailand, then be open to tasting the fiery flavours.

On the other hand, when you like to get acquainted with a more authentic way of life then participate in a monastery. See and really experience the way Bhikkhus or Bhikkhunis live. This is possible for a few days, but for a vintage experience, you really have to go longer.

Furthermore, the yoga practitioners who are less interested in the spiritual side can undergo all kinds of health treatments in a wellness or spa centre.
If you participate here, then you will also discover that there is more emphasis on Ayurveda and Thai Traditional Medicine. But the spiritual knowledge and experience will be less intense than in an authentic monastery.

 

slim woman at the beach in yoga position on hands and foot with one leg straight up
older thai monk walking in ancient temple seen through several doors
female thai dancer with multiple arms going up in the air
dock with cabin and lights in the twilight in a tropical dark blue sea
Country NameThailand
Main AirportSuvarnabhumi Bangkok
CurrencyBaht
LanguageThai
Travel PeriodNovember to April
CapitalBangkok
ReligionTheravada Buddhism
Time ZoneGMT +7
Country Code+66
Power220 V
Country NameThailand
Main AirportSuvarnabhumi Bangkok
CurrencyBaht
LanguageThai
Travel PeriodNovember to April
CapitalBangkok
ReligionTheravada Buddhism
Time ZoneGMT +7
Country Code+66
Power220 V
Country NameThailand
Main AirportSuvarnabhumi Bangkok
CurrencyBaht
LanguageThai
Travel PeriodNovember to April
CapitalBangkok
ReligionTheravada Buddhism
Time ZoneGMT +7
Country Code+66
Power220 V
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