Click on photo to view / download the book
This Summer if you're thinking of visiting Thailand but still wonder how you will manage grastronomically in our largely meat-eating society when your preferred choice of food is total vegetarian or Thai cuisine isn't quite your thing. Here's your answer.
Last month, the Royal Thai Embassy in New Delhi in cooperation with Tourism Authority of Thailand, New Delhi Office, launched the first guide book of Indian and Thai vegetariant restaurants in Thailand to cater to those visitors who might not want to part with their Indian cuisine or need to adhere to their dietary restrictions while travelling in Thailand.
Aha! Desi khana. A Guide to Indian and Thai Vegetarian in Thailand is a compilation of a selection of Indian and Thai vegetarian restaurants in popular areas among Indian tourists, such as Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Hua Hin, and Krabi. This list of restaurants, though not ranked in any particular order nor does it contain the producer's choice of restaurants, gives a rough idea of how an Indian tourist can enjoy food in the confort of their own preference.
The first circulation of these booklets was done as a supplement to GoNow Magazine, May 2014 issue and has been distributed with the 25,000 copies of the magazines.
"Thailand has been their [Indian tourists] favourite destination not only because of its hospitality and natural beauties but also exotic foods. Many of themwere first-time visitors and perhaps were restricted to vegetarian or Indian foods. They may find it bewildering to satisfy their palate while travelling in Thailand. Yet, they might not realize that there are many authentic Indian and Thai vegetarian restaurants available in major cities. ... We hope that, after visiting Thailand, you will know more of Thailand and our vegetarian cuisine", says Mr. Chalit Manityakul, Thai Ambassador to India.
This compact-size guide book includes not only name and contact information of the restaurants, it also include short comments from first-hand experience of a food write who travelled to Thailand to check out these places before returning to write about them. Their views however are not meant to solicit any restaurant in particular. Judgement is left to readers and diners to pass on these eateries.
Apart from TAT, the main sponsors of this book are VFS Global, the visa outsourced partner of the Royal Thai Embassy in Northa and South India, as well as the Thai national flag and award winning carrier, THAI Airways International.
For those who are interested, they can check out and download the electronic copy of this book (which is under the Royal Thai Embassy's Copyright) by clicking here.
We hope that you will enjoy Thailand much more next time you visit us, and don't forget that Thai cuisine also can cater to vegetarians. And of course, you can never say you've been to Thailand until you have eaten Thai cuisine.
Praphan Samphaiworakit
Thaiindia.net Team
2 June 2104