It all started with my grandma.
I am half Thai, half Belgian, and currently studying journalism in Ghent, Belgium. I was born and raised in Phuket and later moved to Bangkok. My mum is Thai and she is from Nakhon Sri Thammarat (located in the southern part of Thailand), where my grandma used to run a street food restaurant called สถานีผัดไทย (Pad Thai Station). As she has gotten older, she has now shifted to doing event-based food pop-ups instead.
That restaurant was the beginning of my interest in storytelling, especially the behind-the-scenes world of street food. Through my grandma, I witnessed long hours, physical labour, and the relentless dedication it takes to keep a small food business running. It made me realise how tough she is, and it sparked a deep admiration for her resilience and work ethic.
“Resilence of Thai Cuisine”
My interest in food deepened after I moved from Phuket to Bangkok, where I began to reflect on how Thai street food tells stories, not just through flavours, but through the people behind the stalls.
Street food in Thailand is not just about convenience or taste, it is a form of cultural expression. The sellers themselves embody a quiet resilience. Cooking for hours under the sun or in the heat of a wok, day after day, takes an incredible amount of strength and dedication. I have come to see that strength as something deeply embedded in Thai identity, a quiet toughness, a commitment to providing comfort and connection through food.
Inspired by my grandma and other street food sellers, who ran a street food restaurant and later shifted to pop-up events. I wanted to highlight not only the rich ingredients and vibrant flavours that make Thai cuisine so unique, but also the resilience of the people who keep it alive. The stories of these food vendors are everywhere.
ially, I gathered research by taking photos of street food vendors when I walked to school. I have always preferred to sketch from images, and by collecting my own data, it felt more personal. The use of a simple black pen is my favorite sketching medium because mistakes cannot be erased, but rather allows for more lines and chaos that I can later refine.
The top two dishes are based on my grandma’s food. It's a quick watercolour sketch. This page was an experiment to test my ability with watercolour and oil pastels. I enjoyed drawing lots of Thai dishes in oil pastel, and chose to present the one with my favorite dish (Kra Pao Talay). Yet, I felt more confident in watercolor, as it also fit with my vision of presenting the ‘toughness’ and ‘messiness’ associated with being a resilient street food seller.
Chili. The most important ingredient in every Thai dish. I wanted to have fun with my project and not confine myself to one style of art; like how most street food sellers can cook from curries, to woks, to noodles, never categorizing themselves. Hence, through chilis I experimented with lino and ceramics. I was able to create a gift (ceramic chili, bell pepper, mango and sticky rice) for my family members too. A win is a win.
I practiced a lot to paint humans with watercolours as it was quite challenging for me. It finally worked out and I found my own style and way with it. I knew I wanted to present the lady with the fire wok from Yaowarat (China Town), so I completely focused this page on her. I love her food and how serious she is while cooking; firing every dish with passion, love and hard work.
Pariwat Anantachina is a Bangkok based artist and designer. I would encounter a lot of his work when I would go to markets such as “Jatujak Market’. He became a household Thai artist to me. He is most known for his unique collages that represented Bangkok. Since my own project also involved bits captured in Bangkok (Bangkok street food sellers) I decided to use him as inspiration. Mainly, I took inspiration from his style of collage which glued pieces together in one long line. As a result, this is what I began to create with paintings of foods, street sellers, and aspects that related to the resilience of these sellers; all in one long line as a collage.
I was born and raised in Phuket before moving to Bangkok and I really struggled to assimilate in the beginning. The fast-paced lifestyle and intensity of the city were overwhelming, and for the first two years, I honestly hated it. But everything changed when I started a project about Bangkok. That was the year I began to truly appreciate the city. Now, I would even say I love it more than Phuket and have adapted to life in Bangkok really well. I love the city lights at night when everything is so vibrant and colourful, it gives a much different sense compared to Phuket which is much quieter and slower.
Bangkok allows me to be myself, an outgoing person who thrives in motion. The city is always moving, and it energises me. If I want to go anywhere, I can just hop on a motorcycle taxi or take public transport like the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS Skytrain) or Mass Rapid Transit (MRT or Underground train). From my 15th-floor apartment, I have never seen the city stop, it is constantly in motion.
Bangkok is not like other cities. It might not be the most globally diverse place, but it feels surprisingly inclusive. Unlike many big cities where social class or stereotypes create invisible walls, in Bangkok those lines feel more blurred. People from all walks of life share the same spaces, whether it is on the street, on public transport, or at a food stall. The city has a nonstop rhythm. It is fast, chaotic, but somehow in sync, and once you find your pace, you start to feel like you are part of it too.
This piece I created shows buildings hanging from strings inside a box. I wanted to represent the city's diversity. I used different painted fabrics and stitched elements, for example, the little taxi in the image has wheels made from buttons. Each hanging element represents a different aspect of the city. Though all are different, they come together as one just like Bangkok itself.
Boxed Bangkok. From the large array of materials used: fabric, thread, paint, plastic, hot glue, buttons, parchment paper, metal wires, papers etc. I wanted to place Bangkok into a box to highlight how such different aspects can co exist. From the Mahanakhon building (tallest building in BKK, you can see in the box) to the local’s town houses; Bangkok is an organised mess, which gives it its charm.
Each drawing is in a different style to test my ability. I used my time to draw from photos that I took just being on the back of a bike in Bangkok because it gave me joy to draw these futuristic buildings, or the ancient temples because it gave me gratitude to be able to live and come from such a special country.
The top piece I named the “Jity”, The Jean City. All the jeans used in them are from my own closet. (I strictly only wear jeans, it's quite ridiculous). The jity was made because if I wear jeans everyday, even whilst living in the Thai heat, I might as well create Bangkok based off of jeans. I also used watercolour to refine the backgrounds. As for the bottom piece, it is based on a building in Chinatown. This piece challenged me and tested my machine sewing ability. The building is made from red plastic from China town itself, to define it I used my own yellow felt and different colour threads. The background is complete chaos involving various fabrics and threads, as my aim was to highlight the pollution in Bangkok.
Again, Pariwat Anantachina became my inspiration to create art as a “collage form”. You can see another one of my watercolour paintings in this linear collage style, as well as my practice pieces of sewing into canvas paper of Bangkok buildings. The “Boxed Bangkok” is my final piece. From combining painting and sewing, I used both elements but in my own collage style, which was to place it all into a black box.
Sawadee Ghent
Now, I am bringing that same spirit to Belgium through “Sawasdee Ghent” , a Thai cultural guide website I created to share Thai cuisine and heritage with the local community in Ghent. The platform highlights not only food, but also other aspects of Thai culture, from recommended restaurants to Thai massage studios and Muay Thai gyms. Each feature is tailored to different audience groups, with the goal of expanding to more cities in the future.
t is not just about food or a place, it is about culture, resilience, and connection. Through storytelling of street food experiences, Sawasdee Ghent brings the authenticity of Thailand to new audiences, celebrating the people and stories behind every aspect of Thai culture.
Evi Apitchaya Willaert
Illustrator
Evi Apitchaya Willaert is a Thai-Belgian illustrator whose mixed-media practice—spanning watercolor, pen drawing, collage, and textiles—illuminates the resilience, cultural richness, and often overlooked human stories embedded in Thai street food and the vibrant, ever-moving landscape of Bangkok
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