Thai Food Consumption Behavior among Citizens of Southeast Asian Countries

Abstract

The study objectives are to 1) explore Thai food consumption behaviors of ASEAN citizens, and
2) analyze patterns of Thai food consumption behaviors of ASEAN citizens. An online survey was used to collect data from 395 Thai participants and 232 participants from the Southeast Asian region including Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Myanmar, and Brunei Darussalam. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics, multidimensional scaling, latent class analysis, and chi-square.

The major research findings were as follows: 1) the Southeast Asian viewed that Thai foods were similar to Southeast Asian foods in two dimensions which were geographical proximity and ingredients and 2) the analysis of participants’ background and consumption profile (group membership) obtained from latent class analysis found that the consumption profile was related to age of participants, specifically, the participants aged ≤ 20 years and 21-40 years were those who preferred Som Tum, green curry and sticky rice with mango, while participants aged 21-40 years and 41-60 years old were those who preferred Pad Thai and Tom Yum Kung. However, there were no significant relationships between consumption profile and other background variables.