Street food has long been popular among foreign visitors and locals alike in many Asian cities, with Bangkok in Thailand being one of the leading capitals endowed with such a powerful magnet.
Meanwhile, Singapore is seeking to register its hawker-centres as an intangible cultural heritage with Unesco, a move that has sparked regional controversy, especially with neighbouring Malaysia whose cuisine is quite similar to that of the island republic. However, unlike Singapore’s hawker centres, the street-food scene in Bangkok and other big cities in Thailand is probably more diverse, with characteristics that are not found anywhere else.