Experiencing local cuisine is key to learning about the culture of the place you are visiting whether you find yourself in North Carolina or Thailand. While exploring the Sunday evening market in Chiang Mai, I met Yui and learned about her cooking classes. One of the best spontaneous decisions I have ever made was deciding to enroll in her course the next day. I took her full day course, but there are also half-day options.
My classmates for the day were a group of Australian tourists. In addition to learning Thai cooking and appreciating Yui’s humor I got to see Thailand from the Australian perspective as they shared their travel stories. The cooking classes are held at Yui’s home on the side porch where she has individual cooking stations for each student and a large dining area where everyone gathered to try out each dish as it was finished.
A highlight of the day was a field trip to the market for a guided tour with Yui. She gave us tips for shopping in a Thai market and offered suggestions for alternative ingredients that would work well if we could not find something in American or Australian grocery stores.