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Food insecurity and the ways it is measured have become a global concern. A total of 842 million people in 2011–13, or around one in eight people in the world, were estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger, regularly not getting enough food to conduct an active life. Food insecurity has been one of the major issues on the Thai political agenda and on the programmes to reduce hunger and poverty as well as to improve nutrition and food safety conditions. Recent social and economic transitions have created a situation where malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies have come to coexist with “the diseases of affluence” in Thailand. Given the problem of food poverty is highly concentrated in the rural north and northeast of Thailand, the Northeast region or Isan, in particular, presents a unique position in the Thai dietary landscape. Using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) questionnaire, our recent study focused on two rural communities in the northeast region of Thailand (n = 238 households, female headed households = 30.5%, average household size = 4.3 members, average income = 3,580 USD/year; average expenses on food = 130 USD/month).

The results revealed a rate of household food insecurity of 70.2%. Factors affecting household food insecurity included marital status of a household head (p<.01), having young child(ren) at home (p<.001), having been in-debt, and expenses on food (p< .05). Age, gender, education, and occupation of the household heads, household size, income, holding a piece of land, having elderly person(s) at home, and community participation were not related to household food insecurity in these study population, data were not significant at p < .05. Findings from this current study provide clues to alleviate household food insecurity and to help guiding the ways forward in a rapidly changing world in nowadays Isan.