Changing rural and urban lifestyles

Since the 1960s, more than four-fifths of both male and female villagers have left their home communities to work for a period of months or years in urban areas. While many of these migrants work in unskilled construction or service jobs, an increasing number have found work requiring high skills. As a consequence of the rapid growth of the Thai economy, there has been a marked expansion in the cities of both middle and working classes. While many in the working class continue to retain strong ties to the rural communities from which they came, many others now see themselves as primarily urban rather than rural people.

Urban life has also reshaped rural society. Government programs in the 1970s and ’80s brought electricity to most villages in Thailand. This, along with economic growth and rising incomes, has made it possible for most households to purchase televisions and, increasingly, other electronic equipment. The arrival of television—and the urban-based culture that it offers—has drawn rural audiences away from older local forms of entertainment such as regional opera, even as rural opera of northeastern Thailand has in turn been repackaged for urban audiences.

Rural as well as urban Thai would generally agree that their quality of life has improved significantly, especially since the late 20th century. Most people live in better housing, while an increasing number of homes have running water, even in rural areas. Villagers benefit from much better health care than in the past, and in the urban areas the middle class has access to top-notch facilities and professionals. The large increases in per capita income since the 1960s have generated much more money for both urban and rural people to spend on luxury goods and entertainment. This growth, however, has been accompanied by a notable decline in participation in community life. In the cities, families often see each other only briefly in the morning and evening, before and after long commutes to and from work and school. In the rural areas, family members are often absent for months or years, working not only in urban Thailand but also abroad in such places as the Middle East and Taiwan.

New social demands and professional options have led to an increase in divorce and in the number of women who choose to remain single. The expansion of the economy, coupled with equal education opportunities for both women and men, have made it possible for many women to become financially independent. Some women have shied away from marriage because of the fear that they might contract a sexually transmitted disease from men who have had many sexual partners. In the 1960s and ’70s many Thai saw the marriage of the king and queen as a model, but since the 1980s the royal family—with the divorces of three of the children and the successful professional career of Princess Sirindhorn, who has never married—has become more like other Thai families.

In spite of these sweeping changes in social customs, the Thai continue to engage in many practices that are grounded in traditional culture. Even the most contemporary new business enterprises are opened only after the owners have consulted an astrologer for an auspicious date, and middle-class city dwellers are more likely to consult spirit mediums than are rural people. It is Buddhism, however, that remains central to Thai culture. The Buddhist concept of “merit” (bun) figures prominently in everyday discourse in such terms as cai bun (“generous”) or mi bun (“having merit,” i.e., being a good person), and most homes have shrines to the Buddha, if not a display of photographs of famous monks as well.

Cuisine

There is a popular saying that the Thai live by their stomachs. There have long been small vendors of Thai food on the streets of urban Thailand, but until late in the 20th century the best Thai food was usually produced in private homes. Most restaurants only offered Chinese food. Since the 1970s, Thai cuisine has become a public cuisine not only in Thailand but throughout the world. Bangkok today has hundreds of superb Thai restaurants and cooking schools, and some of the most popular restaurants in North America, Europe, and the Middle East offer Thai cuisine.

A good Thai meal typically includes a blend of spicy, mild, sweet, and sour dishes. Among the most popular Thai dishes are curries made with coconut milk, shrimp paste, garlic, chili peppers, and seasonings such as coriander, lemongrass, galangal, and Kaffir lime leaves. The Thai use fish sauce—today a commercially prepared extract—as a basic ingredient for many dishes in the same way that the Chinese use soy sauce. Although rice is fundamental to Thai cuisine, the Thai have adopted many foods, such as noodles, that form a basic element of Chinese and Sino-Chinese cuisine.

The peoples of Lan Na Thai in the north and Isan in the northeast prefer glutinous rice as their staple rather than the usual Thai fragrant long-grain rice. Since the 1980s Lao cuisine has become popular throughout the country. Typical Lao food includes grilled, marinated fish and chicken, as well as chopped beef, pork, chicken, or fish that has been mixed with lime juice, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, and peppers and then lightly fried. Another Lao favourite commonly found at Thai restaurants is som tam, a salad made from green (unripe) papayas.

In Bangkok and other cities, fewer and fewer women cook at home or have servants to prepare meals; rather, prepared food is typically purchased at shops located between home and workplace, where freshly made dishes are offered daily.