Bangkok turning its back on street food heritage

Officials in Bangkok have announced plans to ban all of the city's famous street food stalls by the end of 2017.

Owners of the stalls – a long-time tourist draw to the Thai capital – are being told to move off the clogged streets.

The last few months have seen officials of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration rounding up food vendors and trying to contain them in certain areas of the city.

According to The Nation, a Thai English-language broadsheet, the move is officially a campaign to ensure the pavements are clear for pedestrians.

“All types of stalls including clothes, counterfeit goods, and food stalls will be banned from main city roads,” a representative from city hall said, according to the newspaper

“They will not be allowed for order and hygiene reasons.”

The authorities are “now working to get rid of the street vendors from all 50 districts of Bangkok and return the pavements to the pedestrians,” Wanlop Suwandee, chief adviser to Bangkok’s governor, said.

Clothing stalls and those selling counterfeit goods would also be banned, he added.

The city's tourism office frequently promotes Bangkok as one of the world’s top food destinations.