Eating in Thailand

Travelling to Southern Thailand from a first-word English-speaking country was a huge cultural step for me.  Not only was the language barrier an issue, but my lack of cultural finesse left me looking awkward at the best of times especially at the dinner table.

Food is a large part of Thai culture.  Unlike western countries, the Thai people eat with a fork and a spoon at the dinner table.  The fork acts a scoop to collect food to eat off the spoon.  It is customary to leave a small portion of food in your plate when you are finished to signal to the host that they have fed you sufficiently.  After eating has commenced, it is seen as extremely rude to remove food from your teeth at the table.  Unfortunately for me I had braces at the time, and food collected on my teeth like decorations on a Christmas tree.  I wished at that time that I had got invisalign manchester or dental implants manchester to suffice the gaps in between my teeth instead.