Today I want to write about Thai bread eating culture which has not been with our eating culture until fairly recently let’s say about two hundred years or so compare to our consumption of rice as a staple starch in our diet ever since the beginning of Thai eating culture. The Thai word for bread is Khanom Pung. This word is derived from the French word for bread, which is Pain. I guess the French introduced their pain to us Thais but since we are the only nation in S.E. Asia that was not colonized by either the French or the English bread did not become one of the main source of starch in our diet. The French have a greater influence in the food culture of those nations that they colonized than the English. It should be so because the French take great pride in their cuisine and are great eaters and inventors of food. While the English, only until fairly recently have turned their rather bland and uninteresting food around were more concerning with administrating their colonies than introducing their favorite dishes to the local populace. It is therefore not surprising to still see lasting influence of French eating culture in these former colonies. I went to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and was very happy to see that even in small villages in the countryside still have their own bakeries producing great amounts of baguettes. They eat them as breakfast or lunch items, stuffed with locally made pates and sausages and Asian version of pickles made with papaya or cucumbers because they cannot grow cornichons in S.E.Asia.

          While in Thailand, these baguettes did not take hold in our food culture and we have always regarded bread as Farang items or Kanom, which literally means snacks.  We were also more influenced by the English use of bread which are made into sandwiches. The Thai aristocracy took up the English eating culture of the afternoon tea because most of our Princes since the time of King Rama IV were educated in England.We Thais only knew that bread had to be white and in loaf forms and sliced.  We were unfamiliar with other kinds of Grains such as whole wheat or Rye.  WE can’t tell the difference between leaven and un-leaven breads, consequently we have been eating the same old sliced white bread for years. Mass consumption of sliced white bread has not changed much in the last 10 to 20 years.  There are hotels and bakeries that have sprouted up all over Bangkok but most of them make pastries or puff pies and desserts.  The preference on sliced white bread has remained constant and has not changed.  While Thais like thin slices which is about 12 millimeters in thickness.  We use them to make sandwiches and toast for breakfast, eaten with butter and jam.  The Japanese on the other hand have changed their preference to thicker slices of bread about 18 millimeters.  They argue that when you toast these thicker slices.  You will get crispy slices of bread, which are crunchy on the outside and hot and soft on the inside.  Even if you butter them, the rich flavor if the butter with enhance this feel of crispy outside and soft inside.  I was first introduced to this concept when I was last in Japan.  I noticed that their sliced breads were much thicker than ours and asked the chef why. He gave me the explanations, which I have just told you.  But to make sure that he was right I had to try it for myself and it was in fact true. 

You can feel more of the difference in texture of the outside and inside of the slice of bread.  The chef even went further to explain to me that when we make sandwiches with rather moist fillings the thicker bread is better because the sandwiches will not get soggy. I was hoping that they would introduce this version of thicker sliced bread in Thailand so that Thais can try and appreciate the difference.  My hope came true when my father was invited to the launching of a new bakery and their new line of bread products called A Plus.   They have both the thick and thin slices of bread but what I liked most about in their line of produces is the slices white bread made from real butter.  For most Thais I think they will find it expensive because there are only four thick slices of bread and it cost 22 Bahts.  But when you toast it and just eat it plain you will find out that it smells like butter and you do not need to spread butter on it.  Just eat it plain with coffee or tea or your favorite hot beverage in the morning and that is just perfect.  You can also serve it as a snack for your kid when they come home from school.  Have it with milk and you are set.  Wee, I have rambled on enough already now it is your turn to go find this bread and try it out and see if what I have suggested is true.