Bringing an Urban Chef to Cook with Locals: Fostering Fresh Perspectives

In early September, my team and I from Around the Room Studio went to Chana district in Songkhla, where we participated in and organized a cooking showcase at the annual boat racing festival known as Ah-Boi-Mha. It was the 9th edition of the festival. A one-day long event held at Suan-Gong beach. The festival’s core mission was to celebrate the abundant sea of Chana through a variety of activities.

One of the festival’s highlights was the fishing boat racing, a mesmerizing spectacle that demonstrates the beauty of nature-made beaches and reflects the traditional livelihoods of fishermen. This activity showcased the perfect layers of sand that allow boat drivers to elegantly dock their boats on the beach. It’s a testament to the deep connection between the people and their coastal environment.

Another integral part of the festival was the presentation of local food and products by the Chana Conservation Network. The community’s goal is to be a source of seafood products and local ingredient delicacies.

Our role in this festival was to organize a cooking showcase. After a year of working closely with the community, we had learned that the locals possessed exceptionally fresh and high quality seafood products, yet they lacked the knowledge of how to effectively market them and infuse creativity into their culinary offerings. To address this gap, we invited Note-Atip Samosorn, a chef and food designer from Bangkok who has a passion for local ingredients, to join our team for this event.

The experience of an urban chef collaborating with local residents was enlightening and enjoyable. Before the festival began, we accompanied our chef to a morning market, allowing him to select the ingredients he wished to work with. As an activity curator, I was eager to understand how the dishes would be crafted, what recipes would emerge, and what they would be named. To my surprise, the chef kept his creative process under wraps, allowing his imagination to take the lead. This experience taught me that working with an artist is not always straightforward, but it adds depth and authenticity to the project. It made me realize that I would never have had such a genuine and touching experience with the locals if I had chosen a conventional office job.

During the festival, our chef crafted four unique menus, all composed of ingredients found in the local area. The primary focus was on seafood products supplied by a group of fishermen’s housewives. Our chef generously imparted his knowledge, demonstrating how to infuse creativity into their products. Another standout ingredient was fresh fish, previously used in Gyotaku, a fish printing activity designed to teach children about local fish through art. Our chef ingeniously repurposed this fish to create muslim sweet curry dish called Fish Kor-Lae.

Beyond sharing recipes, our chef and the entire team gained invaluable insights from the locals. We deepened our understanding of not only the ingredients we used but also the natural resources that the community is dedicated to protecting. The experience underscored the importance of inviting outsiders, like our chef from Bangkok, to bridge the gaps and bring fresh perspectives to the community. We’re committed to building more of these bridges to empower communities throughout Thailand.

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