Thai Cooking Class

By Noemi Gamel

One of the best ways to experience a culture is through its food. While simply eating the cuisine is fun, learning to cook local foods allows you to take the cultural experience to a higher level.

While in Bangkok, we took a Thai cooking class. At first, I was concerned that Tristan, who is eight years old and only recently learned how to work the toaster, would be bored or hesitant to participate. I was wrong. Kara and Tristan not only had a blast during the class, they completed all the activities without help.

Our instructor, Koong, was fun and had a knack for engaging all the participants, including Kara and Tristan, who happened to be the only children in the class. We started by visiting the fresh market to learn about the types of ingredients that are essential in Thai cooking. We then walked to the school, where we prepared five dishes: Tom Yum soup, pad Thai, a green curry dish, chicken or tofu salad, and mango with sticky rice. We were able to do so much because the staff had the ingredients already chopped and prepared, so all we had to do was the “fun” part of mixing and cooking everything together.

Learning to cook local cuisine is a window into some of the cultural color. For example, we learned from Koong that Thai brides-to-be impress their future mother-in-law by vigorously pounding the curry paste with the mortar and pestle. If the bride does not hit the pestle hard against the mortar, this is a sign she is lazy. Take note, ladies! She also said that Thai cooking is influenced by Chinese and Indian cuisines, which is an insight to its crossroads location both geographically and culturally.

We returned to our apartment with stuffed bellies and a cookbook of all the recipes we prepared. I cannot wait to get home to try my hand at Thai cooking.

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