No Have

While from time to time, I am used to hearing "no have" in relation to anything from a menu item to an item I may be looking for, there are some items one does not expect to hear "not have" or to find shelves empty.

I noticed a few months ago that I was having a hard time to find coconut milk. This is a staple in most curry dishes, and we tend to eat a lot of curry dishes. All of the major chain stores like Tesco, Villa Mart and Big C had empty shelves.
This happens from time to time and you will find that you are just between supply deliveries. But this carried on for weeks and has not stretched to months. Even the local fresh markets had no supply. Curry can be made without coconut milk, so my need is probably more of a want.
I had, early on, found powdered coconut milk, which actually was pretty good for cooking. Another trick I had been taught by my friend Dul was to make your own coconut milk from buying the shredded coconut meat at the fresh market. I recall Clive telling me that surely we could afford 15 baht for a tetra pack of coconut milk, as opposed to hand pressing coconut meat. As it turns out, hand pressing the milk is about our only option right now. And besides, I have the time and it is really good, and my hand strength is improved considerably! . It appears there is some type of beetle infestation in the north that is killing the coconut trees and this is impacting the supply of coconut milk for manufacturing. Strangely enough I have also found tetra pack coconut milk at the fresh market lately. It is about 75% more expensive than when I was buying in the supermarkets, but at 25 Baht it is not a hardship. So there must be a supply chain I have not yet found.

An absolute staple in Thai cooking is cooking oil. Mostly you get soybean oil or coconut/palm oil. I was taught in Chaing Mai, where they tend to use peanut oil, but that is not an easily found comodity here in the south. Then a few weeks ago I began to notice the same thing with the oil I had seen with the coconut milk. Suddenly the store shelve where I could always find literally aisles full of oil in sizes up to 2 liter bottles, became empty. A bit eerie to look down and see an entire store aisle empty on one side. And it has hit all the chain stores at the same time, and the local fresh markets as well. This is a serious issue, as the ability to then find fried banana's, fish or chicken are getting less and less. Or oil is being used for longer periods of time than normal. I have now found out that the issue is supply. And the government here has had to resort to importing the palm oil. This has been causing some issues, as the price of any oil, you may find, has increased in price significantly. I actually saw something, I would never seen in Canada. A cabinet minister made a public announcement about subsidizing the price of the palm oil, especially for the poor. Unlike Canada where the current prime minister would never allow a cabinet minister to speak without a script prepared by his office, here is just happens. And then the prime minister comes out and says that it will not happen, and then there is an open public debate. This seems more along the lines of how I would define democracy and free speech. But the very fact that cooking oil could be a political issue is in itself an interesting one.

In the cases of coconut milk and oil, I am also told, there is a small supply that keeps coming, but as soon as it hits the shelves, it is sold out. That may explain how it is I can sometimes find stock at the fresh market (where many of the local Thais shop) and not the department grocery chain stores.

Yesterday, I headed out and saw I needed to get gas. The price of gas has gone up significantly. Whereas I used to fill Scoopy for about 80 baht, it now costs me 110. I had been following this public debate as well, and the government it seems regulates and approves gas prices. Something the government in Canada always says they do not want to get into and go to great lengths to stay out of. Here the regulation seems to make sure that gas is affordable and the price is consistent, without gas companies meeting behind doors and making agreements amongst themselves on prices. Which is always denied, but being the skeptic I am, I don't believe. And just like the coconut milk and the oil, I have now twice in a month found the gas station is sold out of gas. It is not a problem, as there are lots of places to get gasoline, as I have commented on in previous posts. It just seems strange to me when I pull up and the attendant just says, "No Have".