The owner of a pork leg stew with rice (khao khamu) shop and her daughter, in Bangkok’s Bang Kapi area, have recently been praised on social media after they offered free khao khamu to workers who were clearing the clogged drainage system in heavy rain.
A 49-second video clip, featuring workers walking to their shop to eat, was recently posted on TikTok and quickly registered over 300,000 views. The clip was also widely shared on Facebook.
The daughter, Pattama Leela-udomwit, told Thai PBS Online that the free lunch offer took place on a rainy day when her mother told her to invite some of the workers to the shop for a free meal, after she realised that they appeared to be looking to find a place to eat.
She said a worker asked if she minded that they were soaked to the skin and dirty after working in the drains, to which she said it did not matter.
After finishing their lunch, the workers asked her for the bill, but she told them that the food was free of charge for them. The workers smiled and thanked her and her mother with a “wai”.
Pattama said they had been giving free food to homeless and poor people on regular basis. “We agreed that, if we want to help someone in distress, we must do it immediately and must make the approach first, by asking them whether they are hungry or in need of food, because some of them may be too shy to ask,” she told Thai PBS Online.
