For children, food should be equal

Food — how it is prepared and consumed — can be a reflection of social status. A commonly available ingredient cooked in lower- or middle-class kitchens can be seen as mediocre, but the same thing prepared by a renowned chef and served in a star-studded restaurant can be a symbol of wealth.

Despite the criticism and negative comments online, Netflix’s new Thai film Hunger is a clear example of how food can reflect social levels. Oil — the protagonist — is a young woman who inherits a roadside noodle restaurant from her father. One of the shop’s most popular dishes is stir-fried noodles, or pad see ew, which costs around 30 baht. That’s a price that anyone can afford.

Later in the film, Oil — driven by her hunger for fame — opens a fine-dining restaurant and serves a deconstructed version of pad see ew which becomes popular among people who can…