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Thitid Tassanakajohn, aka chef Ton, at Little Bao in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Photo: Roy Issa

Why Bangkok’s chef Ton is trying to educate Thais about their own cuisine

  • While other chefs were importing ingredients, Thitid Tassanakajohn, of Michelin-starred Le Du, set up a network of local producers
  • ‘You can’t cook good food if you don’t have good local ingredients’, he says, something he learned in America
Thailand

Tell us your earliest memories of food. “Every day my mother and grandmother cooked for me and my two younger brothers. My father passed away in a car accident when I was five years old so we were raised by my maternal grandparents. On Sundays, I learned to cook with my mum, things like spaghetti and meatballs, stir-fries with Thai basil, fried rice, pork with soy sauce and garlic. Cooking is fun.”

When did you decide to become a chef? “During my third year at college, in 2006, I went to the United States for a work and travel programme. Ten friends and I spent three summer months working at a hotel casino in Nevada. For some reason, maybe destiny, I was sent to the kitchen as a pizza boy. I really enjoyed everything about the kitchen.”

How did you get to culinary school? “Ten years ago no one wanted their kid to be a chef, itwas considered a labourer’s job. I graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a degree in econo­mics and then worked in a bank on IPOs, but I quit after a month. I told my mum I wanted to become a chef. She said she would send me to culinary school after I finished my MBA. My grandparents and I had a big fight about it. I have to thank my mum for giving me a chance.”

What did your MBA focus on? “I studied the financial and administrative sides of hospitality. I wanted to open my own restaurantbut I didn’t have the skills or experience. I studied at the Culinary Institute of America [CIA] in 2008-09, and then interned in some top New York restaur­ants. Eleven Madison Park has a very creative kitchen. It was stressful because they demand perfection. I learned the most there. At The Modern, I learned a lot of technique. I worked at Jean-Georges for only three months as a busboy because I wanted to see how top restaurants do service.”

Le Du, in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Handout

What were the challenges in opening Le Du? “I came back in 2013 and opened my restaurant right away. Le Du was actually my CIA graduation project. In my paper, I named the restaurant Le Du and said it would be about seasonal ingredients, 100 per cent local. When I opened it six years ago, everyone in Thailand was importing foie gras, uni and wagyu beef. People think local food is cheap street food and I wanted to change that. People around the world love Thai food, but people in our own country don’t value their own cuisine. For me, that’s sad.

“When I started, no young chef wanted to cook Thai food. Everyone wanted to work in French restaurants, Italian restaurants. Only I wanted to open a Thai restaurant. People told me I was stupid and said no one would eat modern Thai food that’s expensive. I opened it anyway because I wanted to change Thai cuisine.”

How do you source local ingredients? “We started with 90 per cent local ingredients, sometimes we imported meat. The first year I worked hard to contact local farmers, beef farmers, fishermen. We started with a small local beef farmer and now he has a big company. I am proud to have been his first customer. I asked a local farmer to grow edible flowers for me and she said no one wanted them, but I said, ‘Believe me, people will want it.’ I told her what to grow and now she is super popular with chefs in Bangkok. When I see success in the US, it’s because they have a strong supply chain.”

A dish containing ant larvae served at chef Ton’s one-Michelin-starred restaurant. Photo: Handout

Why do you use ant larvae? “I want people to open their minds and try it. We have had it on the menu since we opened. It’s available only seasonally, about four months a year. About 1,000 people have come to my restaurant and tried ant larvae. It’s used in tom yum soup, stir-fries, omelettes. It’s a delicacy. The price per kilo is four times more than pork. White and plump, ant larvae tastes slightly acidic but the texture is very creamy. When it’s in tom yum, you get the spiciness and sourness but also the creaminess.”

You have one Michelin star, will you go for another? “I don’t want three stars, maybe two in the long run. I tell my team we are not about getting awards; the goal is to be a better restaurant.”

How do you educate people about Thai food? “I want people to know more about Thai food, domestically and internationally. I’m a judge on Top Chef Thailand, which is good for exposure, and I’m doing more documen­taries about Thai fishermen and farmers. This is the legacy I can leave behind to make people care more about our cuisine and our local produce.”

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