Hi, welcome back to the blog.  

It looks like it is time for In-Depth again. This year I have chosen to change from creative arts (painting) to culinary arts. Originally, I wanted to form this project around various cultures and their cooking styles. I was hoping to get a widespread understanding of foreign cultures and their accompanying cooking practices. However, changing between cultures every month would keep me from going In-Depth with my studies. Instead, I have now chosen to frame this project around only one country’s cooking. The country I have chosen is Thailand. I chose to study Thai cooking because I fell in love with Thai food while traveling with my family a few years ago. The local ingredients they use combined with their cooking practices weave together making a beautiful symmetry between flavour and culture. 

I want to learn to cook for a variety of reasons. The first reason is I am turning sixteen this year and I plan to move out in a couple of years. When I am on my own, I will need to cook for myself. I want to be able to confidently cook food so I can be independent when I move out. The second reason is to learn more about foreign cultures. I figured I could learn about foreign country’s culinary practices through their food. I chose Thailand because it has an exotic culture with wonderful food. The third reason I want to learn to cook is to give back to my parents. They have been cooking for me for almost sixteen years and I think they would appreciate it if I cooked for them sometimes. The final reason is simple. Everyone likes someone who makes tasty food. 

The vision I have for the end of the project is to be able to cook flavourful cultural food confidently and effectively. I would like to know the techniques and skills to create different flavours and effects in dishes. Ex: Knowing when to use certain spices. Some of the skills I will learn over the course of this project are food safety, knife skills, moderating heat levels on a stove, ways to present food, proper spicing techniques. These will help me move toward my final goal of confidently cooking flavourful Thai food. My first objective is to learn food safety. Once I grasp food safety, I will make an introductory Thai dish, called Pad Thai. I plan to do this by February 14th, which is about when the next post will be. 

A challenge I can foresee is not being able to meet with my mentor. This would slow down my learning and make blogging difficult. A solution to this problem would be to find another mentor or to sacrifice some of my personal time to meet with them. Another big challenge I can foresee is my oven breaking. This would completely stop my hands-on practice and would make cooking food difficult. To get around this problem, I will be flexible, and I will learn to cook with a barbeque or camp stove instead of the oven. The third main challenge I can foresee is catching Covid-19. Catching Covid would make practicing cooking hands-on impossible, however I would still be able to meet with my mentor over the phone. I can prevent this from happening by social distancing and wearing a mask. 

I have a lot of varied resources to use for this project. The first is cookbooks. They contain insightful recipes and helpful nuggets of wisdom. Another resource is online videos. They can demonstrate techniques and put theory into practice. I can see how to make use of cooking utensils and how to handle ingredients. I also plan to use travel books as references. Travel books will give me information about Thailand and the local culture. I will also be getting help and advice from my mentor. 

I have two ideas for my final demonstration/ presentation of learning.  

My first idea is to make a cooking show where I guide the viewer through the process of making a meal and share some facts about Thailand. I could visually demonstrate different techniques and practices, as well as kitchen safety.  Creating a video would be a good choice because it allows me to present both visually and verbally. This format is intended for those who don’t want to read a long paragraph and would prefer to watch a short video instead. 

My second idea is to create a “very cultural meal”. For this presentation, I take the Thai cooking style to the extreme. I create a meal featuring my favourite Thai dishes. This would be good because it is personalized as my favourite part of the project. I could share the learning I made on my favourite part of the project. I would also be able to share my knowledge of the Thailand and their cooking practices. This would be shared through pictures and paragraphs instead of a video, making it better suited for people who enjoy reading. 

In June, once I finish my final demonstration, I plan to celebrate by eating a cookie and taking a nap. It is simple and easy, also very relaxing. 

I have been struggling to find a mentor for this project. I have found a lot of people who are qualified to teach me, but I haven’t been able to find their contact information. It has been very frustrating because I will find a potential mentor who is versed in Thai cooking, but I am unable to contact them. Most of the people I have found are chefs or professional cooks that work for a restaurant or school. They share their experience and position online; however, they very rarely include their contact information. It’s frustrating because I will find an amazing potential mentor with years of experience. Then I won’t be able to email them because I can’t find their email address. The result of this is I don’t have a mentor yet; however, I am working hard to find someone. I have started emailing more people and I am asking everyone I know. I am looking for potential mentors every day. Hopefully soon, I will have a mentor lined up to help me over the rest of this project.