Thai food is absolutely wonderful, but as I explained to my Thai family, many westerners' food is a mix of cultures and Thai food is only one of them. I have found a lot of street level western food offerings are very average to poor in Thailand. Unfortunately, some average Thais think Maccas, KFC and Pizza hut is representative of Western food . This is where a bit of shopping comes in !
I cooked a few Italian style pizzas, spaghetti al pesto with chicken and brought a taco kit from OZ. The family now line up for farang food !
There are a number of large supermarket companies in Thailand and it pays to just cook western dishes at home yourself if you can.
Foodland - One of the best for foreigners - mainly around Bangkok, Pukhet and some tourist areas. Great if you want an American, Aussie or New Zealand Steak and many western foods and sauces. Good range of Wines, spirits and beers.
Villa Market - Only went once but even had Aussie and UK made muffins among many other things ! Big range of wine and spirits !
Tops Supermarket - Fairly good, any make the grade in my books if they stock good olive oil and balsamic vinegar ! Some wines and spirits.
Makro - Could spend all day in there ! Usually go there for big bags of yellow,red & green capsicums (bell peppers) and frozen oven bake bread rolls. Probably the best range of fruit & veg and frozen meats & seafood from all over. A huge operation. Allow lots of time and put on your walking shoes ! Not worth the trip though for alcohol products.
Other majors are Carrefour, Big C & Tesco-Lotus but i think they predominantly cater to Thai people with a few good products for westerners. Lotus has quite a good range of fresh meats, seafood and fruit and veg. The others are all fairly good for these things too.
A Few Essentials
Cereals : Local offerings from multinationals are pretty sad in my opinion. Best is the " Famiglia" brand from Switzerland. A museli/cereal type mix. from Foodland, Tops and Big C. Best with "Lactasoy" a soy milk mixed with milk powder.
Coffee: Doi Tung from North Thailand very good. Suzuki brand is good if you want sheer caffine power ! Also quite nice, a coffee from the Coffee Bean Company . Again, the multinational offerings are a bit limp. The best is Paxong from Laos, not available from supermarkets but a distributor in Bangkok, duty free on the Lao-Thai border or just rock up to the factory in Vientiane and buy a few kilos. Buy 80% Arabica and the rest Robusta and mix to taste. Buy the beans and grind yourself , the ground offerings are too coarse to make a good cuppa. The best grinder I saw is from Verasu at around 1600 baht. Find them on the net.
Beef : Forget it if you don't buy imports. You may find good beef at a local outdoor market if you're lucky. A hit & miss experience however! Where Thai meat really shines for me is pork , yum!
Wine : Wine is very expensive and in my opinion many offerings are less than we are used to. From my travels the best quality/value wine available in Thailand is a drop called "Martin's Road" available as a Shiraz and a Shiraz Grenache. This is a very good wine from the McLaren Vale Region of South Australia. Often found on special in Tesco Lotus for around 500 + baht a bottle. In my opinion, one of the best available here for a reasonable price.
