Here we were in Bangkok again: At 5:30 AM at the bus stop, freshly arrived from a mostly sleepless night, very much looking forward to our first cup of coffee. After our lively, yet grounding days in Chiang Mai and area, Bangkok re-welcomed us with its buzzing sounds and daily chaos. Our last days of interviews and research in Thailand had begun, starting on this very day with Stefan Järlhem, co-founder of Global Bugs Asia.
By now we had realised that many of our initial assumptions had been proven false – or at least different than expected.
Bugs, Crickets, Worms?
Not that much of a gourmet hit in the urban Thai diet. The habit of eating insects originates in the north-west of the country, where it still is an active part of people’s palate (or so it was told us). On the one hand, insects are still stigmatised as “food of the poor”, on the other hand, (Thai) people who fancy insects are likely not to be able to afford it. What a weird world.
If you are offered find insects on the streets of Bangkok it’s either the cliché tourist trap, or you might have indeed discovered a new trendy food innovation hub. In fact, insects are experiencing a comeback in international “alternative foods”, however way too expensive for the average Thai population.
Talking to Stefan gave us an enriching insight of how and where he sees the role of cricket proteins in future diets, of the potential but also the risks that big scale cricket farming can bring.
Smaller portions lead to less food waste.
Do they? When we saw that Thai street food portions are smaller compared to western European ones, as well as more balanced regarding ingredients, we took that as a new assumption. Also because we barely saw any food waste on the streets.
Talking to Dharath Hoonchamlong, food scholar and co-founder of wasteland bar (known as Thailand’s first sustainable bar), we found that this is unfortunately not the case. Sharing his perspective on food systems as a person engaged in sustainability, food and waste management, we additionally learned much more about people’s relation to food in Thailand, food journalism, as well as the culture’s position towards waste and second-hand goods. For instance, the concept behind wasteland bar is to use the kitchen’s “food waste” – in other words, the raw ingredients not used, that are being thrown away. Wasteland’s drinks still struggle with the stigma second-hand goods, seeing the “re-used” as something second class or even being disgusted by it.
Where does the leftovers from street food carts or markets disappear to then? Let’s just say that there’s a reason why at heavy rains the streets are easily flooded and the drains cannot take in the water.
With raining heavily practically everyday, our trip ended with a rather relaxed Saturday – a break we definitely needed after two full weeks of impressions and intense thinking.
Back to Lisbon, starting our final sprint towards the project’s end.
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