Kids from street reaching for stars

Jimmy Pham (second from right) says his trainee chefs may not have the best English but their food will speak volumes. Photo / Nick Reed

Taste festival features charity eatery with crew of trainees from tough background.

This year's Taste of Auckland event will also treat attendees to a taste of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The festival, in its seventh year, will this time around host special guest stand KOTO - which stands for "Know One, Teach One" and is staffed by eight former street kids from Vietnam.

The outdoor show at Western Springs showcases the Auckland food scene, and this year organisers have invited Sydney-based chef Jimmy Pham to set up the stand featuring food and staff from his charity eatery.

As a youngster, Pham and his family fled the Vietnam war in 1978 and migrated to Australia. He returned to Vietnam in 1996, aged 24, and was overwhelmed by the poverty among the country's children.

With his own mother having lived on the streets in the war-torn country, Pham was moved to make a difference - so in 1999 he opened a cafe, taking in and training nine kids as staff.

Now, KOTO restaurants and training centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are educating 200 underprivileged students at a time and Pham also runs an online bakery, cooking class, and catering service.

Every six months, KOTO recruits up to 30 people aged between 16 and 22 from at-risk or disadvantaged backgrounds, following recommendations from sources including individuals, orphanages and other organisations dealing with poverty, trafficking, physical abuse, alcoholism and other addictions.

KOTO's more than 700 graduates of the two-year training programme are encouraged to pass their learning on to others, and Pham said there was a 100 per cent job placement success rate.

"If you imagine kids who have never seen a five-star hotel are working at one at the end of two years - it's pretty amazing."

He said the kids he took in had all struggled, but the thing that stood out about them was their ability to smile and not be defeated by their circumstances.

"Even though they have worked on the streets for 16-hour days with ulcers and blisters, they have amazing spirits."

Pham said despite some of them not having top notch English skills, the fresh food would speak volumes.

Proceeds from sales at the KOTO Taste of Auckland stand will be going back with the team to Vietnam.

Taste of Auckland

• Tomorrow to Sunday at Western Springs.
• Tickets from $26 at www.tasteofauckland.co.nz
• The event will feature more than 100 producers from across NZ.
• This year there will be a gourmet hangi and each session will be hosted by a different Kiwi chef.
• More than 20,000 food-lovers will attend this weekend and over 50,000 dishes will be served.
• 5000sq m of marquee will mean guests can easily find a spot to enjoy food, drink, and live music.