Saturday 6 August 2011

Thailand Creative Cuisine To Become “Kitchen of the World”


Thiptara - Riverside Thai Restaurant
Thailand is known for its creative cuisine, and there are many Thai Restaurants around the world, including Muswellbrook. A Thai family operate a very popular Thai Restaurant at the local  Golf Club in  Muswellbrook, Australia.

Thailand is stepping up efforts to develop itself into the “Kitchen of the World,” with an emphasis on food safety. President of the National Food Institute Petch Chinabutr said that the institute would propose a project on the “Safe Kitchen of the World,” to the new government, so that the quality and safety of Thai food would gain greater recognition at the international level.
Benjarong Royal Thai Restaurant
He believed that the project would double the number of small and medium-sized food business operators in the next three years. The institute would offer assistance in terms of research and development in order to increase the value of Thai food products. Thai ready-to-eat food items, such canned rice and canned fish, stand a good chance for further growth in the export market.

Mr. Petch said that the project would also help promote Thailand as a food hub, in preparation for the realization of the ASEAN Community by 2015. Several Thai foods have become very popular among international consumers, so vast opportunities are open for Thailand to push for the safe kitchen of the world policy.

Thai Restaurant Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa
Thailand’s massaman curry was recently ranked first in the “World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods,” according to a survey conducted by CNNGo.com. Other Thai dishes on the list include tom yum goong (spicy prawn soup), ranking eighth; nam tok moo (Thai spicy salad with pork), coming 19th; and som tam (green papaya salad), ranking 46th.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan cited Thailand as the number one food producer in the ASEAN region and the sixth in the world. He is confident that Thailand has great potential for its Kitchen of the World project because of its readiness in all aspects, especially in terms of food security, raw materials, industrial technology, effective management, logistics, and exports.

He suggested that Thailand place greater emphasis on food safety, saying that food production processes must not create environmental impacts. Moreover, he said, Thailand should give a major boost to halal food production, as the current global market value of halal products and foods is expanding significantly. By so doing, Thailand will be able to develop itself as the Kitchen of the World. More importantly, it will also increase the country’s bargaining power in the international arena.

The special quality of Thai food is its ability to reflect three key values – nutritional, cultural, and medical – with the use of fresh ingredient and well-trained natural talent in cooking methods and presentation techniques. In order to ensure that Thai restaurants overseas serve authentic Thai food, the Department of Export Promotion has offered a “Thai Select” certification to the Thai restaurants abroad that use Thai ingredients and recipes. There are currently 1,200 Thai restaurants worldwide that have been given this certification.

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