Even though Thai street food is of high quality health wise (low in fat, high in lean meat and vegetables), and is available 24 hours/day, I rarely eat out for two reasons:

1. I'm more health conscious than almost everyone I know, preferring to make my own food
2. Best quality for the money

You can get nearly everything here at grocery stores, from fine luxurious ingredients to "health foods". Don't worry that coming to Thailand will mean your diet must change. However, you get a slightly better selection of groceries in the expat centers of Bangkok, for those who are very picky.

First, a list of grocery stores.
Second, discussion of specific products.

Grocery Stores

Villa Market is the best expat grocery store. You'll find the most things here that you cannot find anywhere else. Only three branches exist, all in the expat center of Sukhumvit Bangkok:

• Sukhumvit Road between sois 33 and 33/1 (the best branch)
• Sukhumvit soi 49, approximately 1 km down the soi (nearly as good as above)
• Sukhumvit soi 2, corner, in basement of plaza (not as good as above)

For people who like to come to Thailand and shop at traditional Western chains, there are four Western superstores which are all over Thailand -- mainly in the Bangkok suburbs and other provinces -- and the grocery store section of these superstores carry most of the things that Villa Market (above) and Foodland (below) also carry. The selection and quality varies from branch to branch, and some are surprisingly at their best in the provinces. They are:

• Tesco-Lotus (British) has the best grocery stores of the four European chains
• Carrefour (French) -- second best
• Big C (French) -- the cheapest (e.g., Price Leader brand) and lower quality
• Makro (?British?) -- these resemble bulk sale warehouses

WalMart does not exist in Thailand.

When I write of Tesco Lotus, I mean the big superstores of Tesco Lotus, not the new convenience stores of Tesco Lotus which are like a triple-sized 7-11. Those convenience stores are OK for quick pickups of mainstream meat, potatoes, and vegetables, but for the best selection go to the superstores.

There are some other chains which are Thai and other Asian:

• Foodland - popular with foreigners in the Bangkok CBD and Pattaya
• Central and Robinsons (now merged) department stores, with Tops supermarket (Tops is very good in Thailand)
• Siam Jusco
• Pata
• ... others

Of the Thai chains, Foodland and Tops are the best.

Thailand underwent a metamorphosis in the department & grocery store landscape in the late 1990s. First came the 1997 Asia economic collapse, which found Central and other inventory-heavy stores in deep financial trouble. At the same time, controversial WTO (World Trade Organization) negotiations and rules were scheduled to open the Thai market to foreign superstore chains, which had previously been blocked in order to protect Thai small and medium size chains and mom & pop shops from being blown away by the big corporate giants. The WTO rules came into effect at about the worst time for Thailand -- when the domestic Thai companies were weakest due to the 1997 collapse.

The four European chains (Tesco, Makro, Carrefour, Big C) raced in -- racing each other, with amazing numbers of stores going up all over the country. In some places, the shrinkage of the Thai stores was dramatic, sometimes obliterated, along with countless mom & pop shops.

The Thai Central chain merged with Robinsons, and somewhat held its ground in Bangkok. The rest are rather hard to find now.

There are various health food stores spread around. These are small chains and family owned stores. They specialize in organically grown vegetables and various specially nutritious products, though I was not impressed with their selection compared to American health food stores. Lots of faddish "health" products. One chain has a website, www.LemonFarm.com , and you can get some good expert advice from independent stores in classy, educated niches in the suburbs. However, you also have some groupie fad followers with questionable advice, like health food "fanatics" in other parts of the world.

Finally, about pharmacies: All of the above stores include a pharmacy in most of their branches (except maybe Makro). It is my experience that the pharmacists there are not very good compared to independently operated pharmacies on the street. If you know exactly what you want, then the superstore pharmacy may be OK. But if you need good advice from a pharmacist, i.e., a pharmacist who keeps up in their technical field and puts out a really good effort to help you, then I would recommend an independent operator. I've been to pharmacists in many provinces, and this is one field where Thailand really impresses me on average, as typical ones have been good, and many have been really outstanding. Indeed, exemplary human beings. (Their English stands out, too.) Many are doctors who moonlight or live in the shop/townhouse above their pharmacy. But my experiences with pharmacists in the grocery stores and superstores has been at the bottom extreme, over and again. So look for this sign on the street:

Remember: In Thailand, you do not need a prescription from a doctor. You can buy anything they have. But you'd better have a good pharmacist's advice or else know what you're doing.

Specific Products

The things which can be found only at Villa Market and Foodland include the following, though the list seems to shrink every year:

• ground beef
• sweet potatoes
• Mexican tortillas (corn chips, taco shells -- two brands made in Bangkok, plus imports)
• S&P salad dressings (the Thai company S&P makes great Caesar and others)
• balsamic vinegar

You can find nearly all other good food all the way out into the provincial superstores, including things like New Zealand cheeses, Talley's (NZ) frozen mixed vegetables, margarines made of sunflower or canola oils, whole grain breads, Mexican food (e.g., Old El Paso brand made in Australia!), and on and on.

Many foreign food companies have built factories in Thailand to make the products sold inside Thailand, sometimes by multinationals (e.g., Dutch Mill, Meiji, Heineken, etc., etc.), sometimes by local manufacturers (e.g., Malee, CP, S&P).

The fresh meats are excellent to good in most of the mainstream superstores -- seafood (lots!), chicken, pork and beef (except ground beef). The selection of the good stuff isn't so wide at Big C or Makro, so I'd recommend you stick to Villa Market, Tops, Foodland, Tesco Lotus, and maybe Carrefour.

The Thai government and food industry have been working together on a program for "hygenic" meats, which means they are carefully inspected for hormone levels, antibiotics and other things, and participating farmers are supposed to feed the animals and birds only certain kinds of things. The meats are generally not cut and packaged by the store or superstore butcher but are cut and packaged at a participating slaughterhouse and rushed to the supermarket in well-refrigerated trucks. They have a standard label on them identifying the product as having been produced by participating sources, and are in a "MAP" (modified atmosphere package, typically 100% nitrogen-packed, whereas the air we breath is 77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 2% other). The label is in Thai (except "MAP"), but you can figure it out.

Some egg vendors have carefully controlled feed to their chickens in order to get eggs rich in Omega-3 or DHA. It's often machine-written in English on the individual eggs within the clearly marked package. (I never saw a printed egg in the US.) The eggs are all brown here, and they aren't always cleaned completely of chicken poop, so I suggest washing your hands after cracking them open and discarding the shells.

Some of my favorite locally made products:

• Meiji brand milk and yogurt, real Japanese level quality transplanted to Thailand, beats Western transplanted factories
• Malee brand fruit juices, 100% natural, no sugar added, and excellent quality, indigenous Thai company
• Tipco - arguably now better than Malee (but I don't like the Unif brand, their competitor)
• Gourmet brand yogurt and cottage cheese (Villa Market and Foodland Sukhumvit only)

I never liked skim milk until I tried the Meiji brand, and now it's all I drink. I don't know how they do it, but only trying is believing.

The fruit juice mixes in Thailand are carefully blended. You get some very healthful ones with a large percentage of beet root, purple carrot as well as ordinary carrot, blood orange, and other things. Look at the nutritional information on the side for the amounts of natural vitamin A, E, B1, B2, Folate, and other things. Pure carrot juice was previously made by all of them and then discontinued by all of them, but Harvey's is starting to be imported from California.

There are some good bean and seed juices, not just soy but also things such as "Jobs Tears", one of the most nutritious foods around. There are sweetened and unsweetened versions. Look for the Pro-Fit brand. Unfortunately, Tesco doesn't carry the unsweetened blue version of Pro-Fit even though Jobs Tears drink is already a little sweet, and they carry only the overly sweetened green version. I highly recommend the blue version.

There is only one good brand of margarine -- Flora. It has no hydrogenated fats (transfats). Others do, such as Meadow Lea, an import I don't recommend. Flora is sold at Tesco, Tops, Foodland, and Villa Market.

The locally baked whole wheat breads available all over Thailand are excellent quality in terms of both pure ingredients and taste. The two main brands are Gardenia and Farm House. The latter fortifies its bread with a bit more extra vitamins. Both are tasty eaten right out of the bag just plain. There aren't many whole wheat breads in the U.S. which I can say that about (and no white breads). They're not only at supermarkets but also most convenience stores.

You can get some esoteric breads at Villa Market, such as the 7 grain (my favorite), multiseed, sourdough, Bavarian, and others.

Some things aren't made in Thailand but must be imported. This includes oats (I prefer McGarrett, carried most everywhere) and wheat germ. They're cheap, despite being imported. The McGarrett oats you can soak without cooking and they're soft in 10 minutes (in Jobs Tears drink, or skim milk).

Villa Market also carries frozen things from abroad. I don't like most of it, except the salmon and the Talley's vegetables. I love sushi, and frozen salmon and tuna is a bit safer than never frozen as regards potential parasites (though freezing does not kill all bacteria or viruses!). The farm raised salmon tastes much better than the more expensive Alaska wild salmon, and besides I don't like eating wild meat, only domesticated.

Some things to avoid:

• Shell fish and river fish
• Thai beers (except foreign brands made in Thailand)
• Big-C's brand "Price Leader"

Regarding my opinion on the cheap "Price Leader" brand carried in Big C, this covers not just meats but other Price Leader products as well. They are the ultimate in low price, but trying some will tell you why. After a few tries at various products, I didn't touch them for awhile, but one day I decided to go ahead and get a big jug of Price Leader water. How can you go wrong with water? So I picked it up and was halfway down the aisle when the handle broke off and the thin jug went SPLAT! on the floor, bursting open and drenching it. Big C also tends to run short on items which are a competitor to its Price Leader brand.

I pretty much stick to Tesco, Tops, and Foodland, and about once every two weeks I'll skytrain in to Villa Market (Phrom Pong station) and taxi out with bags of esoteric stuff.

Your Opinions Are Solicited

The above is mostly my opinion. Others opinions are welcome, too, and I'd like to add them here.

I've gotten a few expat men started on cooking, and here is some general advice: You can find good recipes on the Internet. I've done it since the late 1980s. From quick and simple dishes like macarone & cheese to really advanced stuff. Start on Google. Find good sources to bookmark from there. I plan to put some up here if much interested is expressed. Drop me a line.

If you buy an electric stove or oven (which are cheap), then you should read my section on electrical grounding