Culinary tourists make a meal of Thai cooking classes
Thai cooking classes are gaining in popularity among foreign tourists, especially Europeans and East Asians, according to private schools which offer Thai cuisine lessons.
On average about a thousand foreigners a year attend the classes at the Thai Cooking School at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok alone, according to its manager Sujaree Pureepatpong.
The majority of the students are from Europe although over the past couple of years it has seen an increasing number of tourists from China and Japan. The latter always attend classes in a family pack, she added.
"The numbers of our students are also related to the political situation. If it is during a period of normal peace, our high record hits 2,000 students a year," she said, adding that the short course is quite popular among foreign tourists. In addition, over the last five years more foreign chefs have also applied for Thai cooking classes to expand their cooking repertoire and to offer Thai food in their restaurants.
Perennially popular dishes include pad thai and tom yam kung, she said, adding that nam prik (chilli paste) is also gaining favour unlike in the past when foreigners felt the dish was too spicy and had a pungent smell of shrimp paste.
Television chef Ajarn Yingsak Jonglertjesdawong, also managing director of the Thai and International Food Academy (TIFA) on Rama III Road, said more chefs have attended the intensive classes in his school too.
The majority are Europeans while some are Thais who married Westerners and wanted to open restaurants in their towns.
"We are registered with the Education Ministry so it can facilitate those who want to apply for a student visa," he said, adding if one is looking for a Thai cooking classes, they should consider certified schools as the certifications are valid to apply for jobs in any countries.
He said the TIFA school also offered classes on Thai halal food, which is also gaining fame in Islamic countries, especially in the Middle East.
Kasikorn Research Centre predicted that the Thai cooking school business will grow by at least 10% this year, amounting to 250 million baht in revenue.
The research centre found that the cooking-class business has been a rising star, with increasing demand from tourists who love spicy Thai dishes and want to learn how to cook them for families and friends, and for foreign chefs who wanted to offer Thai food on their menus. Another key factor is the large demand by Thais who want to open restaurants here or to work as chefs abroad.
The centre estimated that there were 14,000 Thai restaurants worldwide and about 42,000 Thai chefs now working outside the country. The government aims to increase the number to more than 15,000 restaurants, so demand for chefs is also increasing, according to the Ministry of Tourism and the Sports Ministry.
"The increasing number of foreign tourists attending Thai cooking classes also benefits local markets," said Prasan Fargrajang, owner of Thai House, a homestay built in traditional Thai style in Nonthaburi.
When guests apply for its home-style cooking class, the owner and her daughter accompany them to a fresh market near their house to learn how to buy ingredients. Prasan will offer hands-on classes and teach her students, mostly from Europe, how to preserve the ingredients too.
A tourist who recently attended a half-day class said tom yam kung is her favourite and it was good to know how to prepare it.
"Cooking is one way to present our Thainess," said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Director of Tourism Training Network Division.
It is a magnet to lure more tourists to the Kingdom as well as to promote the Thai way of living, she added.
Credit: Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment