News

2008.0721

Thai Teachers Get the Taste of Chinese Cuisine

By Vickie Lo Assistant Coordinator A total of 17 Thai university teachers spent six days at National Taiwan Normal University’s (NTNU) Department of Human Development and Family Studies (DHDFS), learned more about Chinese cuisine and had a tour between July 16 and July 21. Thailand’s Rajamangala University of Technology organized the group and the trip to participate the “Food Science and Chinese Cuisine Preparation Workshop,” which was hosted by DHDFS.  Members of the group came from five different universities in Thailand and all of them are homemaking related teachers.  The six-day trip cost them US$1,499 each. "The price was fair for us to explore more about Chinese cuisine so here we are,” said Suttida Suttisak, a member of the group. To elevate these Thai teachers, DHDFS invited those instructors who are the best of their own kinds to contribute to the workshop, including Hsu Shi-kuo (許世國) from Howard Plaza Hotel (福華飯店), Cheng Ten-chi (鄭衍基) from Ambassador Hotel (國賓飯店), Shi Kun-ho (施坤河) from China Grain Products Research and Development Institute (中華穀類食品工業技術研究所) and Lin Sung-yun (林松筠) from National Animal Industry Foundation (中央畜產會). "It is my first time to teach Thai students and I must say, that they pick up things fast,” Lin said.  “But I am worried that that they can not buy any of the same Chinese flavors back home in Thailand so they might not be able to cook or make whatever they learned here after they go home.” During the workshop, these Thai visitors learned how to make Chinese style sausage, Chinese meat balls, dried pork, fried white radish patty, taro cakes and many other Chinese desserts.  They also learned how to make western food, such as Italian milk puddings, tiger skin cakes, chocolate Swiss rolls, vanilla chiffon cakes, mango mousse, pizza, and coconut mousse. Lin’s worries were echoed by Pongthep Kertnat, another member of the group.  Kertnat said that there are a lot of Chinese restaurants in Thailand but the flavors they use are quite different from what they have been using during the workshop. In addition to lectures and practical classes, a tour was also included in the workshop, when these 17 Thai teachers had a chance to visit several well-known scenery attractions in northern Taiwan as well as field trips to many famous food-related factories or companies such as Kuo Yuan Ye Foods (郭元益) and White Wood House (白木屋).