VILLA MARKET, BANGKOK – A late attempt at panic-buying forced central Bangkok resident Henry Porter, an American expat, to stock up on several months’ supply of exotic and expensive imported foods yesterday.
With panic buying having already taken place among most of the city’s 12 million population, Porter’s decision to wait until the last minute forced him to confront empty shelves bereft of basic supplies like drinking water, pasta and basic canned goods.
“I was hoping to get some reasonably cheap stuff, like maybe tuna fish or peanut butter,” the 44-year-old HSBC executive said. “But by the time I got to Villa, pretty much everything was gone – except, well, this stuff,” he said, indicating his shopping cart which contained 12 frozen French goose livers, a half kilogram of Camembert cheese, a jar of Claussen pickles, 11 pints of Haagen Dazs ice cream, 800 grams of Milano salami, three jars of sun-dried tomatoes, 30 bags of Kettle chips and various fresh produce from abroad, including hydroponic Dutch vine-grown tomatoes and 10 packs of fresh rocket.
“I guess I’m going to eat real well if I get stuck here,” he said. “At least until the power goes off,” he added, indicating the cheese and frozen goose livers.
Porter’s search for drinking water also led him down an embarrassing path of overpriced, second-choice items.
“They were totally out of water, even Evian, so I had to get 30 liters of San Pelligrino sparkling,” he said. “I mean I like Pelligrino, but this will be a real test.”
After searching in vain for water substitutes, including ice and fruit juice, Porter reluctantly added 24 cans of imported American Budweiser beer to his cart.
“It’s pretty expensive,” he admitted, referring to the price of ฿110 per can. “But Budweiser is about as close as beer gets to being plain water, so I think this will keep me hydrated in an emergency.” Even basic supplies like cooking oil and butane were in short supply, forcing Porter to buy extra virgin olive oil and Kingston charcoals instead.
“I have a grill on the balcony, so I can always cook there if my induction range loses power,” he said. “Good thing too, since I have all this Wagyu ribeye steak and Australian lamb.”
Upon reaching the checkout, Porter’s total grocery bill was ฿45,932. While it was far more than what he had intended to spend on his panic buy, Porter expressed overall satisfaction with his mission to prepare himself for flooding.
“Even if the power goes out and I lose refrigeration, I can always marinate everything,” he said. “I’ve got nineteen bottles of 1998 Appellation Haute-Medoc here and I can’t possibly drink it all.”
