Are they kidding? After banning vendors across city, BMA to co-host Bangkok Street Food Festival in June

Photo: Laurel Tuohy/Coconuts
Photo: Laurel Tuohy/Coconuts

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) have just shockingly announced that they will co-host a Bangkok Street Food Festival in June.

We’re not sure why. The BMA is planning to spend the entire year removing and restricting street food from all the city’s major streets. So, what’s to celebrate?

After removing vendors from Siam Square, Pratunam, Tha Prachan, Silom, Ekkamai, Thong Lor and Phra Khanong, the TAT and BMA  plan to hold Bangkok Street Food Festival 2017 in June since Bangkok has been named by CNN as one of the top street food cities in the world.

The event will present street food along major tourist streets in Bangkok, namely, Yaowarat, Khaosan and Pratunam areas, according to the National News Bureau. The exact location and the number of streets are yet to be determined. Also to be determined is how they plan to return vendors to Pratunam, an area where they fought long and hard to strip the streets of food.

The TAT chief said though street vendors must follow regulations laid out by the government, the street food will be continually promoted.

What we are asking is: How can you promote…nothing?



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Comments

  1. Actually the BMA is not banning street food as misreported. See today’s Thai news sources.

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