The winners at "The Art of Thai Culinary Competitions 2019" are (L-R): Supaluk Sangruk, Nongrak Chantharapradit, Amara Mahayothee, Amorn Charoenkarn, and Supisara Singmanee.

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Continually carrying forward Bangkok’s policy of “Thailand: Kitchen of the World,” the Royal Thai Consulate General in Dubai spearheaded the fifth edition of “The Art of Thai Culinary 2019” five-hour competitions at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in Dubai on Sunday.

The 12 participants from Thai restaurants in Dubai bested one another in creating and presenting to the 10-member panel of judges the most authentic “Lon Goong” (a less known to the world creamy prawns/shrimps in coconut milk relish from Central Thailand) and the “Tab Tim Grob” (crunchy not-so-sweet water chestnuts in coconut milk, voted as one of the world’s top five desserts by the CNN).

As the 12 prepared their respective “Lon Goong” and “Tab Tim Grob” at the kitchen in two batches, the panel of judges were given a review on how these two should be as authentic as the days of yore.

The review was courtesy of Thai Airways International-Thai Catering Department-Restaurant Services manager Supot Phrohthong, 29 years in the food industry and who also referred to the guidelines set forth by Thailand’s culinary guru Srisamorn Kongpun.

From the competitions, Amara Mahayothee of the Bambooda in Roda Al Bustan Hotel was adjudged the best chef for “Lon Goong” as she also was second runner-up for the “Tab Tim Grob.”

From the sidelines, new Thailand Ambassador to the UAE Waravuth Poapinya explained that Bangkok’s policy of “Thailand: Kitchen of the World” began five years back and under the joint responsibilities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Public Health is driven on the concept of “Back to the Basics.”

“It is back to the basics since as we look back, isn’t it that in the days of our (elderlies), they had lived longer healthy lives,” Poapinya said.

He said that while organic farming has been on the spike in the Southeast Asian kingdom and among the principles of Thai cooking is the use of fresh raw materials and balanced spicy-ness, saltiness, and sour-ness, public and private individuals all over Thailand have also been into initiatives for added value on agricultural products like rice also being developed as “rice oil as studies have shown that this is good for the health since it does not have (bad) cholesterol.”

According to the ambassador, Thailand has been into various initiatives and experimentations for food security which the government wants to share with the rest of the world as part of global food security and health concerns.