Prof. Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul, Ambassador Ittiporn Boonpracong and Mrs Suteera Boonpracong.
By Roy Lie A Tjam.
Thailand’s master Chef is Prof. Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul, holder of a Ph.D. in Home Economics and Assistant Prof and Dean of the Faculty of Education at Kasetsart University.
First and foremost, Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul is a Chef. He has been cooking since the age of 8, His parents owned a grocery store and little Surachai was fascinated by the spices.
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For Prof. Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul, Thai cuisine consists of two parts: Thai Royal Cuisine and Folk Cuisine. A significant difference is that Royal cuisine does not use raw food, and presentation is of paramount importance. Portions are small, and the flavor is mild.
The Royal Thai cuisine is the most authentic cuisine style of the land and remains the preference of the Royal Thai family. Royal Thai cuisine calls for creativeness, he adds. It was invented by Thai noble women and the elegant art of preparing dishes, cooking and serving is what makes it unique.
Folk dishes, on the other hand, contain raw food and also include meat and fish. There are five regions and five different ways of cooking. Portions are large and the food is spicy. In his cooking, Prof. Dr. Jewcharoensakul makes use of his scientific knowledge of the ingredients. This helps him come up with fabulous combinations and blends.
Thai cuisine makes very little use of cooking oil, coconut milk is often used instead. Asked what his secret was, Jewcharoensakul responded: “There are no secrets to Thai cuisine – that’s why I can only tell you the right ‘techniques’ to pursue”.
The scientific blending of spices, ginger, galangal, lemongrass, and vegetables is remarkable. Thai food is healthy food, he explains, and it includes bitter food items such as bitter melon.
Thai cuisine is considered a proud heritage of the Thai people handed down through generations. They rightly believe it is second to none.
The Thai Culinary Diplomacy program
The aim of the Thai Culinary Diplomacy program was to build scores of Thai restaurants worldwide. According to the Thai government, 5,500 restaurants had been established by the year 2002, rising to more than 10,000 by 2013.
Of particular note is the role Prof. Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul played in the Thai government project named Thai food to the world. As the name suggest, the objective was to promote Thai food beyond the country’s borders. Chef Surachai Jewcharoensakul has trained several Thai cooks who became like envoys of the Thai Culinary Diplomacy project in various parts of the world.
Surachai Jewcharoensakul the man
Surachai Jewcharoensakul has held many positions in his diverse career. Besides teaching Home Economics for 40 years, he also worked for 2.5 years in a camp for Khmer refugees. He has worked as a gem broker in Australia and as a chef at Saudi Catering at an airport in Saudi Arabia. Surachai Jewcharoensakul once owned a restaurant by the name of Kim Kim at a place called Aranyapatse, near the Cambodian border. He even cooked in a temple in India, serving Thai food to Thai pilgrims.
Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul has thoroughly researched ancient Thai food and he is the author of five books on Thai cuisine. The last one was published three years ago titled Science and Art of Thai cuisine. He is considering publishing his future work in English.
On 16 August 2015 during the Royal festivities in Thailand, Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul cooked for over ten thousand people. He recounts how he started preparing two days in advance.
A highlight in Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul’s career came in February 2011 when the American Nobel Prize winner Prof. Dr. William Edward Easterling approached him in order to be initiated into Thai cooking. In 2006, he was awarded the iron chef (Thai Cuisine) title at Texas Culinary Academy in the USA.
Prof. Dr. Surachai Jewcharoensakul is in the Netherlands for his second consecutive cooking demonstration in Wassenaar. Last year he flew in for the Embassy festival and cooking demo in Germany and the Netherland. This time around he is back in town for the first Embassy Food Festival co organized by Diplomat Magazine and HANOS whole sales. Subsequent to the Embassy Food festival, a cooking demonstration was held at the residence of the Royal Thai Ambassador H.E. Mr. Ittiporn Boonpracong in Wassenaar
