Buddhist monks in Thailand have a rather peculiar diet. A monk can't just eat food whenever they want and they can't just eat whatever they want. A Buddhist Thai monk has to go on a quest for food. Monks in Thailand go on an alms round to collect their meal. Reverse engineers was lucky to be able to film the life of a monk (a bhikku) during his breakfast morning ritual in small jungle Temple in Sakon Nakhon.

The second best thing about Thailand is the food. I mean, who doesn’t love Thai food, right? And there is plenty of options to choose from.

But having too much options can be a problem sometimes. Every time when I’m with my sister and we are both hungry, we don’t seem to be able to make a choice.

When we finally made up our minds, we end up with enough food for a small family to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner.


This morning, Dong woke up at 4.30 for his first meditation session.
This is Dong’s first day as a true monk. I wake up at 06.00. I’m clearly not a true monk...

Monks are a bit of a mystery for me. I don’t know much about the life of monks, but I do know that they don’t possess much, they have a very basic wardrobe, and they don’t need hair gel.

Dong told me that monks in his temple can only have one meal a day. They are not allowed to cook or buy food. Monks don’t have a choice when it comes to food. They exclusively rely on food that people give them.

At 6.30 in the morning, Dong and the monks gather at this rendezvous point and start their quest for food, also called their alms round, almsgiving or begging for food.

They walk for one and a half kilometers of roads that look more painful than stepping on a piece of lego.

But on their road, they find a lot of people who are willing to share their food with the monks. Young, old, poor or disabled. Everybody showed a lot of respect towards the monks. And the monks were grateful for every piece of rice they got.

And then there are these dedicated helpers, who turn all offered goods into delicious Thai dishes.

Monks live this sober because they shouldn’t get distracted from their goals. All their time and energy should be dedicated on meditating and find spiritual peace.

The people who share their food with the monks get blessed by their act of kindness. The people who help to prepare the food will have a better life in the hereafter.

I don’t really believe in a life hereafter. But I do believe that all these people will get extra karma points in this life.

When everything is prepared, the monks will sit together and share all the food. They have to take at least something from every bowl to show their gratitude and not to discriminate any sort of food. Also, they can’t let food go to waste. So they have to eat everything they take.

And after a short prayer, it’s finally time for the monks to fuel up their minds and bodies.

The left-overs are shared by all the people who help the monks.

But the best thing about food in Thailand,
is that Thai people always share their food.

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