Market traders at a Thai fruit and vegetable market. Photo / Getty
Market traders at a Thai fruit and vegetable market. Photo / Getty
I'm sitting in a house in a quiet Bangkok neighbourhood. Alina is teaching me about the traditional Thai food we will be making in a cooking class. The way she expertly handles and explains the exotic flavours and produce, you'd think Alina was a local.
But this is no ordinarycooking class. Alina didn't grow up in Thailand - she fled to here with her family from her home country of Vietnam nine years ago as an asylum-seeking refugee.
I'm here thanks to an Urban Adventures day tour that partners with Courageous Kitchen. The Kitchen is a non-profit organisation in Bangkok set up to help refugee youth, who have fled from neighbouring countries, find their way in a new environment.
The enterprise is run by Dwight Morgan, who was born in Atlanta and moved to Thailand to teach English. Here he started working with refugees and realised the kids sometimes didn't have any food or know how to cook. "It shocked me because Bangkok is a city surrounded by food . . . I never imagined there were people who didn't have any food to eat."
Helping refugees settled into a new life
Although many refugees escape to Thailand, the country does not recognise refugee status. Many are in limbo waiting for appeals from the United Nations and for resettlement elsewhere. They often can't get proper work or attend school for fear they may be arrested or deported.
Courageous Kitchen aims to help by teaching food education and English programmes to refugee children. It'll help set them up for jobs in the future when they are eventually resettled. "It's not like we are trying to make chefs," Dwight said. "The idea is to combine some skills and learn some English."
The Courageous Kitchen cooking classes use fresh, local ingredients and teach you how to make traditional recipes. We started the day by going to the local market to see where the produce comes from. Aisles are brimming with bright fruit, spicy curry pastes and fresh-pressed coconut milk. We also try roti saimai, known as Thai cotton candy crepes, from a street food stall that has been serving them for 30 years.
Fresh vegetables at the local market on the Courageous Kitchen cooking class tour. Photo / Intrepid
Alina (28) and Bella (16) take us through our class. We start by drinking butterfly pea tea and creating entrees of miang kham (betel leaf wraps) and kratong tong (filled pastry shells). They teach us how to cook "the unofficial Thai national dish" pad krapow moo (spicy basil stirfry with pork) and pad see ew (stir-fried noodles with egg and chicken).
More than just a cooking lesson
While we eat, Alina tells us the story of how she fled Northern Vietnam with her family because of religious persecution. The story brings me to tears, I'm inspired by her strength and how she works to support her family. Alina says she dreams of one day running a restaurant and becoming a chef, and sees how Courageous Kitchen could help her get there.
Ingredients in the Courageous Kitchen cooking class. Photo / Intrepid
I finish the class with much more than the knowledge of how to cook traditional Thai meals, and a full stomach. I now have an insight into the life of a hidden side of Bangkok.
Urban Adventures' Thai cookery class with Courageous Kitchen offers Thai cooking classes for $157 pp. Proceeds from the tours help fund food aid and educational activities for vulnerable refugees.
