It is national policy to make sure children drink milk. Besides the milk they get at home, there is also the milk they are given free at school. This policy has been in effect for a long time because it was felt that Thais were physically small and the milk would help to make them big and strong, like Westerners.
Evolving: ‘Tom yam nam khon’ made with milk.
A project was initiated jointly with Denmark to establish and promote dairy farms to produce milk to meet the country’s demand. As the fame and popularity of the products from the Thai-Danish dairy grew, other dairy cooperatives appeared at many locations in Thailand.
Milk had a long history in the country before it attained its current status as a household necessity. It is recorded that over a century ago it was considered a luxury used in the highest royal palaces, and was given to monks to drink at merit-making ceremonies at the Grand Palace, although these historical documents do not state whether or not the monks liked it. They also fail to mention whether or not the monks experienced stomach problems afterwards, as these are a frequent result when milk is drunk by someone who is not used to it.
Where did this milk come from? The historical sources say that along the banks of Khlong Lot the rows of shophouses had not yet appeared. There were few houses of any kind, but there were big, grassy fields where Hindus who raised cattle brought them to graze. In the evening they took them to an enclosure near Ratchadamnoen Road, the area known today as the Kok Wua (cattle pen) intersection. The milk from these cows was in demand among people in the affluent classes, and with the passage of time it became well known throughout Thai society.
Hindus who raised the cattle spread out from the Kok Wua area to other locations, including Sathu Pradit, Sathon and Yannawa. Every morning they would ride out to deliver the milk, contained in bottles, to various households. Besides the cow’s milk there was also milk from the goats that some Hindus liked to raise. These animals were not allowed to wander around freely like the cows were, but were kept permanently in pens. Their meat was also sold as food to Muslims.
Creamier concoction: ‘Phat phet khrueang kaeng’ with milk added.
Later, tinned milk imported from abroad became popular. It was available in plain form or as sweetened condensed milk. The first brands to find buyers were Nang Phayaban Chao Tawan Tok Brand (“Western Lady Nurse Brand”) and Mae Baan Chao Tawan Tok Brand (“Western Housewife Brand”). The latter had a picture of an occidental woman carrying a packet on her head, Thai-style, so that the brand was popularly called Tra Maem Thuun Hua (tricky to translate, roughly “Western Lady Carrying a Parcel on her Head Brand”). One brand that became popular and has remained so until today is Tra Mee, or Bear Brand tinned milk. It was often taken as a gift when visiting relatives or sick people.
Tinned fresh or sweetened condensed milk became an integral part of Thai life. As more and more coffee shops appeared, sales went up. Vendors who sold old-fashioned Thai brewed coffee would put sweetened condensed milk into the bottom of the glass before pouring the hot coffee in. With iced coffee, the milk would be poured in to float on top. Coconut ice-cream was served with peanuts on top together with a splash of milk. Another iced Thai dessert was made by cutting a slice of bread into squares and putting them into a dessert bowl, covering them with crushed ice and then pouring on sweet red syrup covered by some sweetened condensed milk.
There was once a very famous coffee shop behind the SAB intersection near Charoen Krung Road where the Khlong Thom shopping area is now. It was called Nai Paw, and attracted customers from all over the city who came by trolley to have breakfast there. The owner put milk supplied by the Hindus who raised cows into a big pot set on the counter and kept warm on a heater. Butterfat from the heated milk rose to the top, and when a customer ordered hot coffee he would spoon some of the creamy milk from the top into it, giving it a deliciously rich flavour. The plain milk underneath the cream was also served in glasses with sugar added. Nai Paw is gone now, together with its era and milk of the kind that drew so many customers then.
Many Thai dishes are made with coconut cream. Some, called kaeng phet, are flavoured with seasoning pastes, while others leave them out. Tom khaa plaa chon (a sour-spicy soup made with snakehead fish), tom kathi kap plaa salit yaang sai bai makhaam awn (another soup made with grilled fish and tender tamarind leaves) and plaa thuu sote tom kathi sai luke madan (mackerel stewed in a coconut cream broth with a sour fruit) were among the original dishes of this kind. With time they were varied and adapted. Tom khaa made with snakehead fish was seasoned like a tom yam with lime, chillies and palm sugar and, still later, incorporated new ingredients like grilled shallots, grilled dried chillies and the aromatic, saw-toothed herb called phak chee farang in Thai. Tom khaa came to be made not only with snakehead fish but also with chicken meat. In its new form it resembled tom yam with coconut cream added.
Thais have enjoyed tom yam with coconut cream added for a long time. The dish was originally made without it as a clear soup called tom yam nam sai, but when coconut cream was added, it was called tom yam nam khon, or tom yam with thick broth, and usually included grilled shallots and dried chillies and the phak chee farang leaves.
A further development occurred when some cooks started substituting milk for the coconut cream. At first, people who had grown up with the authentic coconut cream version didn’t accept the change, but as more and more restaurants and food shop cooks adopted the substitute, the milky soup became unavoidable. Now, milk and dairy cream have found their way into various phat phet khrueang kaeng dishes, too.
So today milk is one of the essentials of everyday life in Thailand. Not only is it given to children, it is also served to adults in familiar dishes into which it has only recently intruded.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.