As part of their training in the culinary arts, ICE students are exposed to a wide variety of cuisines, flavors and ingredients.
Part of this is exposure is through attending demonstrations and lectures with incredible guest chefs and experts. For example, author Robert Danhi came to speak with ICE students and guests about the food of Thailand. Danhi is the author of the award-winning Southeast Asian Flavors and an authority on the cuisines of Southeast Asia.
While at ICE, he demonstrated two dishes from his latest book, Easy Thai Cooking: 75 Family-Style Dishes You Can Prepare at Home in Minutes (Tuttle Publishing, March 2012) —Green Mango and Cashew Salad and Silky Butternut Squash Coconut Soup. He noted that the cuisine of the countries in Southeast Asia is a plethora of regional specialties and exotic ingredients.
One of his favorite aspects of the cuisine was clearly that there was an incredible room to keep learning new things from throughout the region. He praised the food of Thailand, saying,”I highly recommend you take the time to get over to Southeast Asia because it’s an amazing place.” In fact, Danhi recently bought a home in Thailand and is planning on turning it into a culinary bed-and-breakfast where guests will explore the markets and restaurants and then learn how to make dishes at home.
Demos like this are a special chance for students to learn about authentic dishes and cuisines from those who have studied and experienced international cuisines first hand. Danhi was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable source of information about not only the recipes and food of Thailand, but also the cultural influences that shape the cuisine.
