The symbolic value of different meals among Thai children in Krabi

Abstract

During the past three decades the food patterns have changed in dramatically in Thailand. At the same time the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased considerably among children and adolescence. Therefore it is important to have a good preventive work in Thailand. In order to have a good preventive work it is important to know what determines food choices among the population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the symbolic value that a number of dishes have for Thai children in the ages of 8-10 in Krabi. The focuses have been on traditional Thai dishes and Western dishes from a social status and ethnical perspective. The research design was a cross-sectional design, with questionnaires. The result showed that the children ate most of traditional Thai dishes. Simultaneously, the majority of the children associated the Western dishes with the statement luxury food. If seeing luxury food as expensive and delicious food the results indicated that the Western dishes had high social status from a social perspective. The results also showed that the traditional Thai dishes were associated with the statement family food and guest food. This indicates that the ethnicity and Thai traditions are more important than luxury among family and guests. Furthermore, the traditional Thai dishes were associated with the statement everyday food in greater extend that the Western dishes. This indicates that the Western dishes were considered as rarer than the traditional Thai dishes among the respondents. Furthermore, this also indicates that the Western dishes had higher social status than the traditional Thai dishes as rare food have high social status according to the social perspective.