Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cooking Schools for Travelers
94
Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School
The King of Siam
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Sompon Nabnian has become a local
celebrity since 1993, when he and his Eng-
lish wife, Elizabeth, first launched this
cooking school in northern Thailand's cap-
ital, Chiang Mai. He has appeared on sev-
eral international television shows,
including his own U.K. series,
Thai Way II;
he has developed the Jasmine Rice Village
Boutique Resort and Spa, where many
cooking class participants stay; and he has
opened a new restaurant in the historic
heart of Chiang Mai—The Wok, a peaceful
garden restaurant in an old wooden house,
which also serves as an alternative venue
for cooking classes. Not bad for the son of
a village butcher.
Culinary tourism has lately become the
hottest sector of Thailand's tourism indus-
try, and the Nabnians' school is right at the
forefront. Chiang Mai's distinctive regional
cuisine incorporates accents from the south-
ern Chinese who settled here centuries ago
and the Burmese who ruled the region until
1775. Students try their hands at cooking
classic Northern Thai dishes like sticky rice
and
plaah goong
(a spicy prawn salad) as
well as pad Thai noodles, chicken in coconut
milk soup, Penang curry with pork, and
steamed fish in banana leaves. The class
schedule is supremely flexible; students take
one class a day, choosing from among five
different daylong programs, which can be
Outdoor classes at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School.
