All the cooking classes we had done before this one had been just that, a cooking class. This time it was much more of a cultural immersion experience. After being collected, we were taken to the Khlong Toei Wet Market, the biggest wet market in Bangkok, where we bought the ingredients we needed before heading to Poo’s home to make the food. Floor, Retail Center, CRC Tower, All Seasons Place, No.87/2 ,129A, Wireless Road, Lumpini, Patumwan, Bangkok 10320 In the eight years she’s run the school, Poo has seen the community change for the better. Now, she says, many students in “our family” go to university, and with the financial support, families are able to take weekends off and even have the occasional holiday from work. The twelve staff Poo employs are all neighbourhood friends. Since Poo trained them up they earn more money and rest time than they would otherwise. Khlong Toei is located near the popular glitzy ex-pat enclave of Thanon Sukhumvit and the Khlong Toei slum. I’m not quite sure whether it is classed as being part of the slum or not. All I can say is that it was definitely an experience, and not one you’d want to do while hungover!

About Us | cookingwithpoo About Us | cookingwithpoo

Khun Saiyuud Diwong, affectionately known as Poo (short for "Chompoo" or rose apple), is a long-time resident of Klong Toey, the largest slum in Bangkok. In late 2007, as the price of rice in Thailand doubled, she found that she could no longer make a living selling food from her house. One of Poo's neighbours and customers was Anji Barker, an Australian with Urban Neighbours of Hope who had been living and working in the slum for many years. She heard about Poo's situation and, together with some friends, supported Khun Poo to start her own cooking class. Now, ten years later Poo not only speaks excellent English, she has a dedicated cooking school (still in the slum) and employs numerous people from the area in her business. But this down-to-earth Thai matriarch is far from starry-eyed. She lives in the same wooden slum building as before and throws her heart into helping her slum community (which she naturally calls “our family”). Ten per cent of proceeds from every cooking class goes to local families and businesses. The school also funds five local projects: the HOPE shop, Second Chance upcycled gifts and jewelry shop, a catering business, and fresh food delivery service. Profits from the school and cookbook help lessen the burden of slum children’s school costs and the cooking team also bring food to a local preschool every couple of months. It’s not all been plain sailing though – a slum fire completely devastated Poo’s kitchen and much of her income. Business shut down completely until it was rebuilt.If just reading the above makes you squeamish, then there are plenty of vegetable and fruit isles to explore! They had such a wide variety of exotic fruit, of the likes we had never seen before. From spikey strawberries (rambutan) to yellow watermelons and everything in between. Some of the fruits are similar to what we are used to, only different. Just like the famous Thai saying “same same but different”. For example, their apples appear to have a porcelain film on them. Their tomatoes are pink rather than red, and their bananas are stumpy and green (you eat them when green!). Helping Hands is an organisation that supports Klong Toey residents to develop small businesses and helps individuals by linking them with markets and credit support. Cooking with Poo is just one of the Helping Hands success stories with other projects including handicraft production, a coffee stand and a sushi delivery service. You too can cook with Poo

with Poo in Bangkok!…And You Should Too I Cooked with Poo in Bangkok!…And You Should Too

Floor, Room No. plz.2shp029b Future Park Rangsit, 94 Paholyothin Rd., Prachathipat, Thanyaburi, Pathum Thani 12130 The buffet breakfast is enormous with every cuisine known to man; it’s a brilliant place to fuel up before a long day trip.They also offer buffet lunch if you fancy a lazy day. When we were there they were gearing up to open their cheese and wine room. First thing I did was, unfortunately, devalued it by testing out some of the recipes and marking all in it….dating and making my personal notes along side each one. I even had my son and his wife and kids sign their names next to one recipe we all tried together. They happened to stop by while I was cooking, so they had to taste test, too, and give it a grade. Hey, it’s just a book! Just in case anyone wasn’t aware of this, Poo warned us that wet markets are not like the supermarkets most of us are used to.It’s also walking distance from Siam Paragon – the food hall of which is just incredible. I can spend hours in there. What to Read Next Diwong may find winning the Diagram award brings other benefits: previous recipient Michael Young, author of Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way, said it had the unlikely effect of increasing his literary clout. "Since the award of the prize, I am pleased to say that my writing career is once again flourishing. Editors are keen to publish my words," he said. "Being the winner of the Diagram prize has, I feel, given both the book and me a great deal of credibility, which perhaps without the epithet 'prize-winning' we would never have achieved." When we got to Klong Toey market the main aim was to buy the ingredients we needed, but we still got to see some of the quirkier things on sale like frogs, insects and ant eggs.