You have to be in search of dinner in a truly small American town to not walk past a Thai restaurant. They’ve become almost as ubiquitous as a McDonalds or a Starbucks. Good for them, and for us. What’s not to like about Thai food? It’s healthy. Meat is used as a flavor not the main event, stir fries are quickly cooked in little fat, vegetables play a dominant role.
Naturally you’ll never find as many Thai restaurants in the US as you would in Bangkok-- the actual number of eating options in the Thai capital truly stretches the mouth. There are over 50,000 eating eateries in the Thai capital, ranging from white table-clothed establishments to food stalls on the street. In fact, there’s nearly one restaurant for every 100 people living in the country’s largest city.
If you find yourself in Bangkok and only have the chance to go to a few restaurants, pick Cabbages & Condoms. It'll give you so much more to discuss back home, wouldn’t you say, than the classic Thai and regional dishes on its menu. Plus you’ll be eating for a good cause.
Don’t suppose that in a city known for its sex trade this is a sleazy venture. No, no. The Bangkok Cabbages & Condoms branch is one of five across Thailand. There’s one even in Pattaya, the major Thai beach resort on the east coast.
Cabbages & Condoms is the brainchild of former Thai Minister of Health Mechai Viravaidya. Born in Australia to a Scottish mother and Thai father, Viravaidya came to Thailand in the 1960s to work on population control. In 1974, he founded the Population and Community Development Association, also known as PCDA, a non-profit that promotes family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention. In 1986 he was made deputy minister of industry and in 1991 head of the prime minister's office responsible for a curiously eclectic bag: tourism, information, sports, economic cooperation, zoological gardens, and AIDS prevention coordination.
All proceeds from Cabbages & Condoms go back to PCDA and in turn are used towards teaching HIV/AIDS education and prevention, treating people infected with the virus and for family planning.
In Thailand, prostitution is widespread. It offers one of the few reliable sources of income for women who have no education or training to support their families and for children who have been separated from their family or have no home at all.
Viravaidya believes birth control should be as cheap as vegetables, with condoms as widespread and accepted as cabbages-- which you may think a German food favorite but the cabbage is also a staple of northeast Thailand.
The Cabbages & Condoms menu trumpets the message, "Our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy," a theme echoed on T-shirts for sale in the souvenir shop next to bunches of what at first look like plastic flowers but on closer inspection the petals turn out to be actual condoms. Your vacation souvenirs can’t get better than this.
Restaurant walls are hung with cartoon posters of condoms designed to reflect their wearer's profession. An impressively large display of condoms from around the globe in all manner of shapes and sizes adds further wall decoration. Bowls of condoms sit on the table by the door under a sign that says, "Sorry, we have no mints. Please take a condom instead." And, yes, they come with the bill for the meal.
As to the food, it’s almost as rewarding as Viravaidya's crusade.
At the peak of his education drive, there were 16,000 volunteers going through villages to spread his message around the country. In 1974 the average number of children per family was seven-- now it’s two. Population growth in the 1970s was running at 3.2 percent a year, by the mid-1990s it was down to 1.2 percent and is currently 0.7 percent.
Since the 1990s, despite its thriving sex trade and widespread problems of drug use and addiction, Thailand has seen a drop in HIV infection rates.
Now, if you want to buy a condom in Thailand, “Mechai”, Viravaidya's first name, has become the popular slang word for one.
Website: Cabbages & Condoms, http://www.pda.or.th/restaurant/default.asp
Julia Watson is the editor of local food site eatWashington.com.
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