'My heart aches': Bangkok street food ban serves up social media outrage

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But, sadly, that could all come to an end as Bangkok city officials reportedly consider a crack-down on stalls on main roads for "order and hygiene reasons".

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), has announced that the city's street food vendors will be banned from selling on the streets in all districts. "Yaowarat and Khao San Road will be our next goal in clearing out illegal vendors", Wanlop said.

"The street vendors have seized the pavement space for too long and we already provide them with space to sell food and other products legally in the market, so there will be no let-up in this operation", the local The Nation newspaper quoted him as saying.

The news - which has upset both locals who depend on the low-cost meals and tourists who enjoy adventurous eating - comes just after Bangkok was awarded the title of city with the best street food in the world by CNN.

Many locals and tourists alike consider Bangkok's vibrant street food culture an indispensable asset ― the food is often far tastier and always cheaper than dishes served in restaurants.

A Bangkok-based street food blogger, Chawadee Nualkhair feels that the ban would make Bangkok "less charming".

A man making food at a street stall in the Phrakanong district of Bangkok.

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'If they go against the vendors, that will that affect business and it will affect the charm of Khaosan Road, ' said Sanga Ruangwattanaku, the president of a business association in the backpacker hotspot in Bangkok's old town.

The ban is meant to "return the pavement to the pedestrians" and restore "order and hygiene".

The news has been met with shock from many who love the city.

Since seizing power in 2014 Thailand's junta has embarked on a widespread morality and orderliness campaign, seeking to corral a kingdom where many revel in a spirit of flexibility, convenience and organised chaos.

Acknowledging that tourists flock to these two areas for the street culture, including the food, Dr Vallop Suwandee, BMA chief adviser, told The Straits Times that street vendors there will get to stay but will have to follow zoning and schedule regulations.

"There will be no relocation, they will be at the same place but in an orderly fashion, and they need to follow food sanitation rules", he said over the phone, adding that BMA wants to "promote night activities".

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