Street food at a crossroads

Street vendors and food stalls have long defined Bangkok’s urban rhythm — sizzling woks, plastic stools and the hum of late-night chatter form an inseparable part of the city’s identity.

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To locals, they are the pulse of everyday life; to visitors, a culinary adventure.

Yet beneath the charm lies a perennial conflict: culture versus order, livelihood versus law.

That tension has shaped decades of city policy. Today, it returns to the spotlight as the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) embarks on a new chapter in its effort to reclaim and reorganise the capital's sidewalks.

A February survey by Nida Poll underscores just how deeply street vending is woven into the city's social fabric.

Out of 1,319 Bangkok residents surveyed, more than 92% said they had bought goods from street vendors. Most praised the convenience and affordability, but 59% agreed that vending should be allowed only on wide sidewalks, while 13.8% supported a complete ban. A third believed the issue would never be fully resolved.

For City Hall, striking a balance is nothing new.

Successive governors have sought to reclaim pedestrian spaces without destroying livelihoods. One of the most sweeping efforts came in 2016, when then-governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra eliminated all unofficial vending zones in the city’s Central Business District, including prime areas from Ratchaprasong to Sukhumvit.

With the deployment of municipal officers and military support, more than 10,000 vendors across 23 districts were displaced.